Radcliffe Radiance
Feel the Love!
As Valentine's Day quickly approaches, we are sad that Friends of Radcliffe Day will not be held on our traditional day of celebration. Instead, we are looking to host families, donors, and special friends of Radcliffe on April 29, 2022. Please mark your calendars so that you can experience the best of Radcliffe Creek School alongside us. It is one of my favorite traditions! For now, I would like to give you insight into some of the mini-miracles we get to see unfold each day. Here are just a few of the observations and conversations from just this week:
A student who has significant school anxiety and had a very hard time in his last school pulled up to school and hopped out of the car. I told him I had missed him while he was absent, and he cheerfully replied, "It was only 2 days!" As he entered the building, he was greeted with a chorus of "You're back, Yay!" This was a child whose anxiety was so incapacitating that he was tearful and did not want to be separated from his parents during our admissions screening. This week, he rushed over to talk with his friends with his head held high, his shoulders relaxed, and his eyes are twinkling; his hunched posture has completely changed.
Another student let me know her friend had a stomach ache, described the specific symptoms, and asked what we can do to help. As I tended to the friend, she circled back, checking in and making sure we were "on it." One of the reasons why this sweet girl came to us was that she was struggling to make true connections especially with children her own age. Now, she is emerging as a kind and caring leader in her classes.
A third-grader came to RCS with reading challenges and struggled to recognize the relationship between sounds and letters. Sounding out a three-letter word was almost impossible because, by the time he got to the third sound, he had forgotten the first two sounds. In the hallway, I passed by a teacher who happily reported that on recent testing, not only was the student able to decode words just below his grade level, but he is now able to read and write sentences. His confidence is growing each day and he is tackling reading unfamiliar words on his own, wanting to use his newly acquired tools and strategies!
We have a student who started this year at Radcliffe who was particularly reluctant to interact with his peers or the majority of his teachers. Initially, he was shy and in his own world. Today after school, teachers were celebrating how he has blossomed. He engaged his teachers in full conversations, chatted and giggled with his friends in homeroom, and sought out friends to play with on the playground instead of hanging out on the periphery.
Finally, two eighth-graders sat on the couch in the foyer, and they were reading a short story together and text-mapping. Despite the potential distractions of this busy open area, they were highly engaged in a discussion. Another younger student called out "Hello" to them as she passed by, the girls paused and briefly grumbled to each other about being interrupted. I quietly chuckled to myself thinking about how hard it used to be for those girls to initiate tasks and remain focused.
Every day at Radcliffe allows us to bear witness to these mini-miracles where we see children begin to optimize their potential. These examples are simply a small sample of the mini-miracles we get to witness with each and every student who attends our school. Every child is celebrated for their accomplishments with the belief that with best-practice instruction and approaches, care, connection, and love, everyone grows.
Wishing you a lovely Valentine's Day,
Head of School
