Great Oaks Learning

08/23/2026

Three big asks at the school… Do I have any dads willing to come help clean gutters (and maybe have an extension ladder as mine isn’t quite tall enough)? Do I have anyone that has a large carpet shampooer that we can use Wednesday night? And do we have any strong guys… And I say strong guys because this was the catalyst for my wrist injury last year… Who can help us move lockers sometime between this evening and Wednesday night? Please feel free to share. We are getting to crunch time and I am admitting I cannot get it all accomplished alone.

08/19/2026

My village is amazing! Slowly getting ready for all of our students to come back and to safely go between the two buildings. 

08/19/2026

We have the best families!! A huge thank you to the Wigfield and Brunet families (specifically Shawn and Charles) for coming out late tonight to get two window AC units up and running so our campers can return tomorrow. You guys are amazing!!

08/18/2026

Hi friends!! I need some help. The AC at the school is out and the property management company is bringing us a couple of window units to help us get through until the main unit is fixed. They are bringing them out tonight around 8. Is there anyone who can meet me at the school tonight or early tomorrow morning to try to get them installed in the two front windows? I've never put a window unit in and the lady bringing them doesn't know how to put them in either... Thank you!!!

08/17/2026

Good evening!! Thank you to everyone for your patience while the kids and I took the last week to unplug and enjoy a family vacation. Now we are jumping back into reality! Great Oaks Learning and Southside Ballet Studio will have a booth at the Isle of Wight County Fair this year to showcase both amazing organizations, the arts in education, and accessibility to the arts and to education! We will showcase things our students have created, as well as the community performances Southside dancers have performed the last two years. We are looking for a few more adults to help us staff our booth (we will have a large 20x20 tent outside of the main vendor booths - so cooler than the large tents!). Please sign up below if you can help us :)

Please review the available slots below and click on the button to sign up. Thank you!

08/10/2026

One hour left of voting!! Whether we come out on top or not, I am incredibly humbled and blessed by our community - for seeing us, for loving and supporting, for being there every step of the way, whether you understand the need we are serving or not. Thank you for reminding me that what we do is important. That these kids deserve this, even when I cannot always see the forest through the trees. All three categories are filled with amazing schools, teachers and administrators and I feel lucky to be grouped with them, and even more so that our students and families have so many options to meet their individual needs. So tonight as I sign off before taking a much needed break with my kiddos for the next week, I just want to say thank you. Without our community, we would be nothing. 💕 -Sarah

We are once again humbled to be nominated for our local Hammy Awards in the categories of best private school, best principal and best school teacher. We would love if you would vote for us. You can vote once a day, so please share with friends and take a look at the other categories while you are there. There are some amazing businesses, people and organizations that do great work in Smithfield. 

To make it easier on you, you can click the top link to vote for Great Oaks as the best private school and the bottom link to vote for a very own Miss Sarah. 

Best Private School: https://voteei.com/tstb/great-oaks-learning

Best school teacher and principal: https://voteei.com/tstb/sarah-edwards-great-oaks-learning

08/07/2026

Sometimes trimming hedges is about more than just yard work. GOL’s main mission is to make sure that EVERY child feels safe and has a place where they can truly belong. Today that safety and new found friendship happened over a plan to take over Ms. Sarah’s yard work. A sense of ownership, a sense of belonging, a new friendship and life skills. That’s what we are all about. Feeling so very blessed and reminded my WHY, even when things get hard.

08/07/2026

Just wanted to take a minute to thank the Massa family and the anonymous individual/family who sent us so many great goodies. We are blessed to have such an amazing community support us. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

08/06/2026

Such a fun morning with the Smithfield PD. Thank you Officers Will, Bobby and Josh!! You have made their week!

08/06/2026

We still have spaces in our summer camps (running through Sept 3rd), and in the fall, our supplemental micro school program for homeschoolers, and our full day private school. Please reach out to [email protected] for more information!

To register:
Camp: https://forms.gle/KTcDARd6yT4gsMLF6

GOL Academy (full day private school, K-12): https://forms.gle/f6aMWzEBTo2CWEeu9

GOL Micro School (1/2 day, 1-4 pm, M-Th, 2, 3 or 4 afternoon options): https://forms.gle/aFTAZkJy6ktBmDEY6