We are a community of mighty thinkers and doers. We value each learner as an active participant on a personal journey toward success. We seek to understand ourselves and work together to impact our families, our community, and the world.
Educational Philosophy
At University Park, we are committed to nurturing the whole child. Our teachers are lifelong learners with training to differentiate their instruction, challenging gifted students while ensuring success for all. Our instructional team collaborates to identify student strengths and needs, and then works collaboratively to ensure a comprehensive, targeted approach to teaching and learning. Physical fitness, wellness, the arts, and technology are integral and valued parts of our educational experience. At University Park, we love learning and foster a caring community built on respect, responsibility, and cooperation.
At University Park we are a caring community of learners…
Our neighborhood school enjoys a longstanding, working partnership with our neighbor, the University of Denver.
We value cultural and linguistic diversity, and we are proud to have students from around the world among our learning community.
About 50% of our students “choice-in” to our school.
We focus on social emotional learning and character building, with an emphasis on UPark’s five core values of caring, cooperation, responsibility, respect, and joy.
Our dedicated parents and community members participate in all levels of our children’s education, from helping in our classrooms to aiding our leadership team in making executive decisions through the Collaborative School Committee (CSC) and the Parent Teacher Association (PTA).
…who are respectful and responsible.
Older students mentor younger students in reading, art, and other programs.
Our six core character values are highlighted every day with our Owl Tickets and morning announcements, weekly with our Owl Tickets photos, and monthly during our Wise Owl Assemblies.
We share a love of discovery…
Students receive instruction in visual arts, drama, and music every week. Our annual Art Night encourages families to be creative together, and all of our students participate in musical / drama performance.
Our full time librarian supports a love of reading and teaches research skills using both books and technology.
All students attend physical education twice a week, and our full-time PE teacher instills a love of movement and an appreciation for a healthy lifestyle. Our Wellness Program also encourages and supports healthy eating and physical activity both at school and home, and earned us Denver Post recognition as the “healthiest school in Denver.”
We are one to one blended learning school! All K-1 students have access to their own iPad and students in grades 2-5 are each assigned their own Chromebook.
Gifted and Talented: Our GT teacher works with teachers to develop high-quality, differentiated instruction and a challenge program. Our GT instruction rivals offerings at magnet schools with programming running Monday through Thursday every week.
Our UPark Band program provides opportunities for 4th and 5th graders to explore their musical talents.
Neighborhood Center: Approximately 30 paid before and after school enrichment classes each trimester, with scholarships available. Enrichment classes include theater, painting, sculpting, STEM, coding, robotics, cooking, chess, fencing, karate, Spanish, Mandarin, dance, songwriting, tennis, and more!
Discovery Link: Tuition-based before and after-school licensed childcare for our students.
English Language Acquisition Program: Ten different languages, including Mandarin, Arabic, French, and Spanish, are spoken by UPark second language learners. We celebrate our cultural and linguistic diversity with our annual Multicultural Night.
…and take joy in our journey.
Our PTA generously donates a lump sum to the school’s budget every year which helps us with our goal of keeping class sizes as small as possible.
Festivities include school supply drop-off and family picnic night, back-to-school night, the Fall Fun Run & Carnival, Multicultural Night, Band Night, grade level art shows, Art Night, musical and drama performances for every grade level, teacher appreciation lunches, and much more!
We celebrate student achievement and celebrate our core values by honoring students from every class during our monthly Wise Owl Assemblies.
