Thank you to everyone who joined us last Friday for our PA BVR Chat featuring Director of Middle School Tiffany Smith.
If you missed it, read the five takeaways—or watch the full conversation— below.
5 things to know from the chat
(and the video timestamps if you want to hear more)
1.
{37:28} We have schedule updates and changes—and a few things we are considering for later this year. At this moment, three days on campus per grade is the "sweet spot" for Middle School, while maintaining our Friday online day for the entire division, and our rotation will remain the same through Spring Break. We have updated our month-by-month calendar to reflect February and March. For the spring, we are looking at our Fridays, how we're using them, and what that could mean when we have more spaces available outdoors. More details to come!
The Semester Switch is this upcoming, Monday, January 25. This means students in Visual Arts now have Theater Arts, and vice versa. Class times have also changed; click here for the updated block schedule.
2.
{09:00} Here's where we are (and what we're thinking about) in regards to a few key programs and mindsets: In her presentation, Tiffany highlighted the BVR Student, the Feedback Loop, the Learning Speedway, DEI work, and more. You can see the slides here.
3.
{43:09, 50:35} We're rethinking MS events, activities, and traditions to keep our community strong and prepare our students for what's next. One of these is the Social Justice Retreat, happening next Friday, and the other is the 8th to 9th grade transition, which we are in the process of finalizing and will be sharing more with families in the coming week.
4.
{47:24}We have new programs on the horizon that are very exciting. This includes Speech and Debate, which we're piloting with our BVR Studio students, and then bringing to the rest of the Middle School in March.
5.
{55:15} We're always thinking how to engage with parents—and parents with us. Tiffany asked Middle School parents to think about what prompts they want and need to help them parent the BVR kid. (Email your thoughts to the BVR PA, who will have a follow up conversation with Tiffany.)
Mark your calendar for the next BVR Parent Association Event
BVR Lit
February 2, 12:15–1:15 p.m.
BVRlit, Beaver’s book club for the BVR parent/guardian community, is excited to share our selection for our winter read: Intimations by Zadie Smith. Join us on February 2 to discuss the book with BVR parents/guardians and English faculty. Read more & R.S.V.P.