Weekly divisional updates

Our regularly-scheduled Weekly Update from Head of School Julie Smith will be posted soon. In the meantime, here are highlights from this past week of distance learning:

ELEMENTARY
The Elementary Division is happy to be back in Zoom sessions with all of our wonderful students. Mark your calendars for Monday, May 4th for parent-teacher conferences through Zoom. May 4th is also Star Wars Day ("May the fourth be with you!"). Check out the Disney+ streaming service to make a fun Star Wars movie night. The Elementary Division will have our annual Elementary Awards via Zoom on Wednesday, June 3rd in the afternoon, after our regular classes. The online ceremony will mark the end of our school year, so we hope you will all be able to celebrate with us (look for more details coming as the date gets nearer). Summer School plans are still being processed and will be offered either through Zoom or possibly on-campus as directed by county health guidelines. We are now in our final six weeks of school—keep up the great work and Stay Strong Bulldogs!
—Danny Martin, Head of Elementary

MIDDLE SCHOOL
As we settle back into our online routine after Spring Break, students seem refreshed and ready to dive back into the content. We have two exciting updates in the Middle School:

• P.E.: We have added two additional P.E. classes to keep our students active and regulated during the week! There will now be P.E. on Monday and Friday from 12:30 to 1:00 p.m. (in addition to the existing class on Wednesdays at 1:00). Thank you, Jeff, for offering more of your time to the Middle School!
• Online STAR Sheets: To help keep our students on track, we are rolling out online STAR Sheets to make sure students are being rewarded for their hard work. Students will earn points and gift card rewards for: Attending Zoom classes; participating appropriately in online learning; and completing classwork. We will be emailing students and families with the student’s results/points regularly.

There are few events on the horizon that you should be aware of:

• Spring Parent Teacher Conferences are on Monday, May 4th. We will be reaching out shortly with the time of your conference (if you requested one in the survey). Email me (Genevieve) if you would like a conference but have not yet requested one. Please note that the regularly scheduled academic and social content will be canceled on Monday, May 4 since teachers will be busy with conferences.
• There will be a Stanbridge High School Information Session for current 7th- and 8th-grade families and students (exact date and time TBD). Please submit your availability for the info session via the Doodle poll that was emailed to you by Monday April 27th (you don’t have to sign in and it’s very easy). 

Again, thank you to all of the families for supporting online learning at home. We really appreciate it, and we couldn’t do it without you!
—Genevieve Lawrence, Head of Middle School

HIGH SCHOOL

• “Just because the past didn’t turn out like you wanted it to doesn’t mean your future can’t be better than you imagined.” —Anonymous

Over Spring Break and during the past week, we have been engaging in many conversations focused on the future: Spirit Week, Prom, Graduation, Summer School, and finally, the upcoming 2020-2021 academic year. Even though we may not be together physically for some of these experiences, they are still being given the same—and possibly an even greater—level of thought and care. Student Government has come up with a very creative and fun way for us to engage in Spirit Week and Prom. The plans for graduation at each level continue to evolve as we explore the innovative ways in which we can honor our students’ transitions to their next level of learning. Linda is challenging all of us to rethink and reimagine our Summer School offerings so that they can be fun, educational, and captivating, whether they are delivered on-campus or virtually. Finally, the 2020-2021 schedule is taking shape as we consider our student body’s wide array of interests and strengths, as well as the feedback we have had from students and parents over the past year. All I can say is, “The future’s so bright, I gotta wear shades.”
—Colleen McQuade, Head of High School