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Foundation

“Whatever an education is, it should make you a unique individual, not a conformist; it should furnish you with original spirit with which to tackle the big challenges; it should allow you to find values which will be your road map through life; it should make you spiritually rich, a person who loves whatever you are doing, wherever you are, whomever you are with; it should teach you what is important, how to live and how to die.”  

John Gatto

Location

The school is located in Toughkenamon, Chester County, in southeastern Pennsylvania. It is five minutes from Route 1, five minutes from Hockessin Delaware, and five minutes from Avondale and Kennett Square, Pennsylvania.

It is close to and welcomes students from Avondale,  Kennett Square, West Grove, Chester County and Delaware County in Pennsylvania and Newark, Hockessin, North Star, and Pike Creek in New Castle County, Delaware.  

Our Founder

Andrea Shoap is White Clay Learning Center’s Founder, Director and leading teacher of our intermediate group. She graduated from Penn State in 1987 with a  Bachelor of Science degree in Education and a minor in Biology. Andrea went directly into teaching and taught in various grades for a few years in the Kennet and Avon Grove school districts, as well as in the Tower Hill School in Wilmington, DE. Andrea and her husband Michael then spent two years at the Iraklion Air Force Base on the island of Crete, where Andrea was a fourth grade and Kindergarten teacher for the Department of Defense.

 Andrea and Michael returned home to the U.S. in 1992. She opened up her preschool in 1993 just after her first child was born in order to provide the best of schools for her children, as well as other families who were interested in an individualized alternative approach to education. After several years of evolving and perfecting her program, White Clay Learning Center became an accredited K-12 nonpublic school in 2000. Andrea has since taken masters level courses in learning differences and has guided her school in the direction of Dr. Mel Levine’s certified Attuned Schools. Such schools are trained in identifying, differentiating and enhancing learning strengths and weaknesses in all of their students.  Andrea and her husband Michael have three children, who all spent their elementary and middle school years at White Clay Learning Center. She enjoys being very involved in their now larger worlds in public high school, as well as horseback riding, running and yoga.

 

Summer Services

White Clay Learning Center also offers the following educational services during the summer:

Equine therapy for confidence building, strength and balance training, as well as a variety of other neuro and gross motor and emotional strengthening needs.

Summer Spanish Camp for two separate weeks during the summer.

Reading Tutoring throughout the summer for all grades.

Math Tutoring throughout the summer for all grades.

Please call our school for further information on any of these services.