Namaste Charter School, a public elementary charter school in Chicago, was founded to address two of the most difficult, growing educational and public health issues facing low-income, minority urban children - lack of access to good quality education, and the dramatic increase in childhood obesity. These concerns evolved into Namaste's unique holistic approach to education through the integration of health and wellness components into the every day programming and academic curriculum. Namaste is located in the predominately low-income Hispanic neighborhood of Chicagos McKinley Park, and draws ethnically diverse students from Back of the Yards, Chinatown and Bridgeport neighborhoods. When Namaste opened its doors in 2004, it served 90 kindergarteners and first graders. This fall, Namaste will serve 300 students in grades K-5 and will add one grade each year to reach full enrollment of 450 students in grades K-8 by 2011. Over its first four years of operation, Namaste has made large strides ensuring that its students are achieving academically, socio-emotionally, and physically. Preliminary results from our partnership with Childrens Memorial Hospital indicate that the percentage of overweight students has dropped, body mass index scores remained consistent and students increased their vigorous activity levels by 47.6%! Academically, Namaste students achieved an average of 1.2 years of improvement in each of the past four years on the Developmental Reading Assessment.

Namaste's philosophy is to help students achieve optimal academic performance by nourishing and stimulating the mind and the body of each child through rigorous academic instruction, health and nutrition training and regular exercise. This philosophy is based on research showing that students who are healthy and active perform better in the classroom. At Namaste, physical fitness, nutrition and healthy lifestyle disciplines are integral components of the educational program.

Namaste continues to employ goal setting and assessment as a means to drive improved instruction, and not only student achievement, but fitness and health, professional development and parent involvement. Namaste maintains aggressive goals for the growth phase of Namaste. In order to foster higher academic achievement among inner city students, the Namaste team developed its own educational program based on five key principles: 1. Inner city students need significantly more productive instructional time. Namastes extended daily and yearly schedule not only leads to more productive instructional time, but also to less reviewing and re-teaching after school breaks. 2. Elementary students learn better with a lower teacher-student ratio. Namaste is committed to hiring two adults for each K-5 classroom. This co-teaching model not only provides students with more individualized instruction and attention, but also facilitates a teaching environment where practice is public and constant feedback is encouraged. 3. The quality and constant development of teaching staff is critically important. Namaste implements many innovative teaching programs, such as our dual-language and serves as a model within its community. Each week, the staff has three uninterrupted hours of professional development and collaboration time. Namaste also strives to expand its reach by partnering with other schools to increase and improve professional development opportunities for teachers. 4. Students who are healthy and active perform better in the classroom. Namaste promotes its healthy lifestyle initiative not only through the provision of healthy food, but also through constant nutrition education, daily physical education and a focus on the mind/body connection in order to be ready to learn. 5. Parent involvement with their children enhances student achievement. Parents know they are valued and welcome at Namaste. Family Workshops are held weekly, the Family Lending Library helps adults meet their own learning needs and parents attend Friday Family Breakfast modeling the importance of time and conversation with children. These five principles clearly distinguish Namaste from what is found in traditional public schools and comprise the basis for establishing a more rigorous, holistic educational environment. Our partnership with Children's Memorial Hospital has allowed us to be much more than a typical school and to provide services including nutrition counseling, cooking classes, weight management counseling, health and wellness planning and healthy lifestyles programming. Namaste also provides exceptional programming and services for the many interests and needs of the students. Namaste partnered with Girls in the Game, May I Have This Dance, Girl Scouts of America, One on One Basketball, Chicago Run and Lookingglass Theatre Company among others to ensure that students receive opportunities for enrichment, team-building and physical activity outside of the classroom.