Candlewood Lake Elementary School
CLES Mission and Beliefs
At Candlewood Lake Elementary School, we are a student-centered community dedicated to challenging, supporting, and empowering all learners to contribute positively to our world.
To achieve our Mission.
We create a safe and welcoming climate so everyone can develop academically, socially, and emotionally.
We build collaborative partnerships with parents and guardians as they are a child’s first teacher.
We ensure that the curriculum promotes critical thinking and creative problem solving allowing all learners to persevere and find their own way.
We provide meaningful and engaging learning opportunities so all students feel connected and are active, motivated learners.
We honor everyone’s progress and celebrate growth as well as achievement.
Overall Description of Our New School - Architectural Design
“No house should ever be on a hill or on anything. It should be of the hill. Belonging to it. Hill and house should live together each the happier for the other.”
-Frank Lloyd Wright
The new Candlewood Lake Elementary School should be a celebration of Brookfield and Community. The design and concepts of the school are intended to relate and live within the natural outdoors to allow the community to experience the building in more ways than just being a school. Materials were selected as a nod to our Town such as the heavy timbers, Connecticut field stone, and ironspot brick. Restoration of streams and walking bridges adorn the site to help create a welcoming and inviting environment for our students and community. Throughout the school, images from town such as the Happy Landings windmill, birch tree forest, Hop Brook, and Lake Lillinonah are highlighted along with boulders and other natural materials. The aesthetics are heightened in various ways such as the Still River terrazzo floor at the main entry and tree and canopy forests in the Lower Cafeteria and Gross Motor Skills room.
The individual classroom wings are themed to represent various ecosystems as follows:.
PreK- Ponds
K- Forests
1- Oceans
2- Grasslands
3- Rainforests
4- Reefs
5- Tundra
Graphic wall panels and highlighted sculptures replace institutional looking hallways as natural light floods the entire building creating support for an enhancement of human health and general well-being.
Highly engaging instructional approaches are enhanced through the design and implementation of various technologies and spaces within the new school.
From outdoor amphitheater classrooms, breakout spaces, interactive wall and floor displays, and by providing flexible spaces for activities and teaching methods; the only limit will be our own.
The goal of the new school project has always been to show our community what a building can be and how it can better our students and their well-being through proper planning and design. We are excited to share and celebrate this experience with everyone.
CLES Completion Narrative By Month - Presented to BOE 12/14/22
221213 CLES COMPLETION NARRATIVE BY MONTH FOR BOE.pdfCLES Completion Plans for BOE - Presented to BOE 12/14/22
221213 CLES COMPLETION PLANS FOR BOE.pdfBrookfield ES - November 2022 Progress Photos.pdfCLES - August 2022 Progress Photos (1).pdfCandlewood Lake Elementary School Brookfield - Leadership Team.pdf22 0215 Brookfield MBC-BOE Final Furniture Presentation.pdfGroundbreaking Ceremony - Saturday, May 1, 2021
New School Name Updates
In the very early hours of October 1st, the State legislature passed HB 7010 which authorized the State grant commitments for school building projects including $16,745,712 for our new Brookfield elementary school! The grant application was submitted on-time, well over a year ago, and represents a lot of hard work as well as support from this community!