October 22, 2021
Calling All Substitute Teachers! We are currently seeking additional substitute teachers to have on-hand for the 2021-2022 school year. The requirements for substitutes are either a four-year degree or prior approval from our Head of Schools. If you know anyone who might be interested, please refer them to Adriana Alejandre in the front office at Adriana.Alejandre@rollinghillsprep.org
Dear Husky Community,

How fun it has been to see everyone wearing sweaters as the weather turns to beautiful crisp mornings with the amazing sunshine we are famous for in the afternoons! This week I want to highlight our lower campus. For those that don’t know, we own a total of 31 acres of land, 18 of which is on the lower campus area (of the 18, eight is former military housing and ten is the Palos Verdes Blue Butterfly Reserve). While we don’t use our lower campus for classes as it needs to be developed we do still use it for many things. One of those is partnering with local police and fire departments in providing them with a space to run drills. Pictured above is me with one of the LAPD K9 units, Cobra, that came by this past Wednesday to do some training. In exchange for the use of space these organizations do everything from coming by to help us work on campus safety, to doing demonstrations for our students, to having more patrols come by our site during off-hours. Many of us have direct lines to communicate with specific people in each of these agencies which also provides us with the opportunity to get questions answered quickly and oftentimes information on events happening around us quicker than if we did not have these relationships. 

Another exciting thing that our lower campus is often used for is as a filming location. Recently we had an episode of 9-1-1 filmed on campus and next week HBO is coming out to film. We have an agreement with a production company that both markets us and seeks out filming projects for our site. Since I have been on campus we have had everything from music videos to a Christmas movie to TV shows filmed on our lower campus. It is always exciting to see these shoots taking place.

Finally, we are working on cleaning up our lower campus to focus on getting it primed and ready to go when we eventually are able to start developing it for our schools’ use. We are working on getting things that have been dumped there in the past hauled away and securing the area. I will continue to keep you informed as we make progress.

I saw the potential of the lower campus when I first visited as a finalist. We are so fortunate to own this property and I am looking forward to phase one of our intentional and focused work on getting it developed for our use. I make no promises that it will happen soon but I can say it will happen!

Have a great weekend Huskies,

Amy Hollinger
She/Her/Hers
Head of Schools
Pictured Above: Congratulations to all the students who performed at Coffee House on Monday. It was a fantastic experience to have two live audiences for the outdoor performances and we look forward to the next one!
Homecoming Dance | Sign Up Deadline 10/27
Upper School ASB has been hard at work planning the tropical-themed homecoming dance that will take place on Friday, October 29, from 7-10 PM. The homecoming dance is an upper-school-only event and formal attire is completely optional. Interested students must register by Wednesday, October 27, if they wish to attend.

To attend the homecoming dance, students must fill out the form linked below, along with a guest form if they plan on bringing anyone from outside of our community. The cost of attending is $25 per person to attend and payment can be made via cash or check to the front office. If paying by check, please make the recipient "Rolling Hills Prep" and add "Homecoming" to the memo line. Ms. Alcott will accept both cash and check payments in the front office.
Important: Blackbaud ID Update
Over the summer, Blackbaud (the host of mySchoolApp) began rolling out their new account system called Blackbaud ID. We had hoped to roll this change out after Thanksgiving break, however, due to a large number of issues being reported with the old account system, we have decided to implement the change immediately.

Please click the button below to access an instructional PDF or visit our "announcements and events" web page under the community tab for more information.
Spirit Week Schedule | 10/25-10/29
Spirit week poster design by Nicole F. '23
A Message from the Dean of Students
This message is to raise your awareness about a trend going around on social media, specifically TikTok, called “Devious Licks.” This is where a group of students takes a video while damaging school property. We, like other area schools, are unfortunately experiencing an uptick in this behavior on our campus. We would appreciate your help in periodically checking your student’s social media accounts to see if they are posting or liking any posts that show our campus property being damaged. 

Thank you,

Mr. Peterson
Dean of Students
Kelly's Korner - Lunch Service | Tuesdays - Fridays
Please check the updated menu button below. The menu on the Kelly's Korner website is out-of-date and we encourage using the menu featured below and on our "Current Parents" and "Current Students" pages of our website.

We are pleased to announce that Kelly's Korner will resume service to our schools, starting October 13, and we are keeping choicelunch as another option as well. Families who are interested in ordering from Kelly's Korner will have to set up a family billing account with them directly and they have asked that all orders are placed a minimum of one day in advance. We will be providing additional information for other ways of ordering in the near future, but for now, we encourage calling Kelly's Korner directly to set up your account and placing orders by phone.

You may view the Kelly's Korner school lunch menu by clicking the button below. Additionally, this menu will be located on both the "Current Parents" and "Current Students" pages of the website for the foreseeable future.

Kelly's Korner Phone Number:
(310) 541-2234
Grandparents' and Friends' Virtual Event - 11/5
Grandparents' and Friends' Day has been a long-honored tradition at RHP & Renaissance Schools. Due to COVID-19 protocols, this year again we will be hosting a virtual program for the safety of our families. While we are disappointed to miss this opportunity to see our grandparents and special friends on campus, we are pleased to offer this virtual experience on Friday, November 5, at 11:00 AM for REACH and 1:00 PM PST for RHP and Ren. We look forward to welcoming our families back to campus next year for this special event!
 
This event is for grandparents and special friends in your student’s life. Please register your student’s grandparents and special friends for this event via the link below. Your guests will receive a confirmation invite email containing information about the details of this zoom event. We are asking for our families to supply pictures of your students with their grandparents or special friends for this event. Please submit your favorite photos via the link below or you can email a digital copy of the photos to Jennifer Hoffman at jhoffman@rollinghillsprep.org.
Admissions Open House - 11/13
Our enrollment team is hard at work launching the admission cycle for the 2022-2023 school year and we will be hosting an Open House on Saturday, November 13. Referrals from school families are always appreciated and you may share an open house video linked below, the flyer shown above (a link to the downloadable PDF can be found below), or you may encourage your contacts to visit our registration page:


Thank you for helping us grow our community!
Tuesday Parent Coffee - October 26| 9:30 AM
Parent Coffee with Amy
Tuesday, October 26 | 9:30 AM
Hosted Virtually on Zoom

Each Tuesday, our Head of Schools, Amy Hollinger, hosts a recurring parent coffee session to address various topics relating to our schools, programs, and the safety of our students.

No RSVP is required for these parent coffees, but we will provide a question form each week in the Friday Letter to allow families to ask questions in advance. Click the button below to ask questions for next week's session.
Upcoming Athletic Events
Tuesday, October 26 | 3:30 PM
Middle School Soccer vs. Valor Christian
On-Campus - Gaudenti Field
Friday, October 29 | 3:15 PM
Varsity Football vs. Laguna Blanca - Homecoming and Senior Game
On-campus - Gaudenti Field
Wednesday, November 3 | 3:00 PM
Cross Country League Finals - Senior Day Meet
Cheviot Hills Park
2551 Motor Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90064
Things To Know - Read this section every week!
Makeup Picture Day - 10/27: Makeup school pictures will be taken on Wednesday, October 27. Students must wear business casual attire and seniors may opt for a cap and gown photo. Your student will be given a white card by the photographer that has the website address for photo orders and your student's personal access key.
Student Family School Directory: The Student Family Directory is live in your Blackbaud account. You can view the directory by logging into your Blackbaud account. Tabs are located across the top of the page (Resources, News, Calendar and Directories). If you click on the Directory tab, a drop-down menu will appear and you can access the Student Family Directory. If you have any questions or problems, please contact jhoffman@rollinghillsprep.org.
After-School Program Signups Still Available: RHP students may still sign up for ASP by filling out the form linked below. Your tuition account will be billed for the services. ASP is already included in the tuition for upper school Renaissance students. For Renaissance middle school students, there is a separate fee structure, please contact Tanya Henderson at THenderson@RollingHillsPrep.org.
Family Association - Volunteer Signups: Calling all volunteers! There are many opportunities to get involved with the Family Association at Rolling Hills Prep, Renaissance and REACH Schools. The Family Association works in partnership with the Schools to support our mission, and all parents and guardians are automatically a member. Even though parents are not physically on campus at this time due to COVID, there are many ways to connect and get involved. We welcome and encourage you to attend meetings and participate in whatever capacity works for you and your schedule. Volunteering is a great way to get to know the Husky community and your involvement in our events and activities, no matter how much time you are able to give, is greatly appreciated. Please let us know your area of interest by completing the volunteer form below.
The next Family Association meeting will take place Wednesday, November 17 at 9:30 AM on Zoom. An invite will be sent an hour before the event starts. You may view a recording from our October 13 meeting by clicking the button below. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to Sue Mathews at SMathews@RollingHillsPrep.org.
Sign up for COVID-related updates from LACDPH: The LA County Department of Public Health recently launched a new mailing list for parents of school-aged children. You may sign up for the mailing list by clicking the button below.
Purchase your yearbook and ads today - Early bird pricing ends 12/18: Don't forget to purchase your yearbook and yearbook ads from Balfour, the company that handles our printing. Books cost $90 until December 18 and prices will increase after that date. Additionally, you may purchase class rings and other items from their website.

Seniors - your yearbook is included in your Senior Package! If you would like to purchase a senior ad, please visit the link below.
Service Learning: While students are not required to complete service-learning hours for the 2021-2022 school year, we still encourage them to participate in activities in which they can help others. Our service-learning webpage will be updated with events as they become available, and students should contact Rachel Rubin (rrubin@rollinghillsprep.org) if they find additional events that interest them.
Advisory and Grade Level Announcements
Weekly advisor letters are taking a different route this year and will be presented in the form of grade-level announcements in the Friday Letter each week. Please click the buttons below to see the general advisory update document and grade level updates.
Counseling and Wellness Corner
Dear Parents and Guardians,
 
It’s hard to believe that we are already two months into the school year and the holidays are just around the corner. As a follow-up to a previous note about our social-emotional-learning (SEL) curriculum by www.ReThinkEd.com we are eagerly diving into the results of the student survey for all middle and upper school students (Grades 5-11) in RHP, REN and REACH. The results allow us to methodically match appropriate SEL lessons so that we can target certain learning domains for specific grade levels based on data. 
 
We know research shows that social and emotional learning is critical to positive outcomes in school both academically and socially. The Rethink Ed SEL lessons and surveys focus on the Center for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning’s (CASEL’s) five core competencies that directly impact learning outcome - self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making. The survey results fall under these five domains. Within each domain, the curriculum provides 30 minute lessons that either the counseling team or the advisor will teach. Most lessons begin with a short video, discussion questions, individual reflection and follow up opportunities for discussion.
 
Our children have not been in a regular school year setting since March of 2020. This also means that social and emotional opportunities that children typically have were put on pause for up to 18 months. Putting this in perspective for a developing brain, this means that typical skills learned in a school environment were not learned. This includes executive functioning skills such as attending, listening, social interaction, self-regulation, task-management, and decision-making. Some of the results of our students’ survey within the five domains listed above based on their greatest need and areas of support are as follows:
 
Grades 5, 6: Self Management, Self Awareness, Responsible Decision Making
Grade 7: Self Management, Self Awareness, Social Awareness, Responsible Decision Making
Grade 8: Self Management, Self Awareness, Responsible Decision Making
Grades 9, 10, 11: Self Management, Self Awareness
 
It is important to note that this is just one snapshot of a moment in time when our students took the survey. Many variables may be at play just as any snapshot of an academic assessment. It does not fully capture any individual student but globally represents group needs based on grade level. With this, we have targeted specific lessons that will give our students greater practice and awareness of these social and emotional areas. We are excited about this intentional approach and look forward to the teaching, learning and another end of the school year survey so we can look at pre and post data. Please contact me directly if you would like clarification on the SEL domains or have any questions about our programming. 
 
Kindly,

Christina Morse
Director of Counseling and Wellness
Husky Strong: Annual Report 2020-2021
Each year, we release our annual report to highlight our fundraising efforts and acknowledge the generosity of our community from the previous school year.

Appropriately titled Husky Strong, this report recognizes the resiliency of our community throughout a challenging year. As with most independent schools, our tuition does not cover the cost of our programming and the donations from our community help close that gap and ensure our schools' ability to educate radiant minds for years to come.
Rolling Hills Preparatory and Renaissance School | RollingHillsPrep.org | RenaissanceSAS.org