I have to admit something. I don’t like the week after school ends; it reminds me of life without children. Of course, the campus has plenty of activity right now, with summer camp preparations, renovations projects already underway and our offices continuing their planning and maintenance. But it is different, and, more significantly, the energy that 1140 students (and another 150 faculty) bring to this place is not present.
However, this is intentional. At ACS, we approached the summer holiday knowing that the long break is a rite of passage for students and colleagues, and we planned for it carefully and deliberately. Just as we started the year with orienting students to the year ahead (planning the activities, deadlines, trips, course of study, etc.) so we closed off the year with equal care and attention. I have been in schools where the two options have been either a) watching ‘fun’ videos and eating lots of chocolate for the last few days or b) full speed ahead until the last minute. Neither of these is what we want; the former is disrespectful to everyone’s time and energy; it suggests a mistaken view of learning and ‘fun’. The latter misses an important opportunity to improve student learning for the current year overall and indeed the next year to come.
At ACS, we believe that education for our children should be engaging, demanding, challenging and, at times, uncomfortable. There is no denying that this can mean that our School is also intense. So ending the year well, making space to enter the vacation having ‘parked’ a lot of thinking, is an important process. It provides closure, and marks a re-entry point for next year. We took time to have our students reflect on their year, whether through portfolios in the middle school, getting student feedback on our HS courses, reviewing our writing portfolios, and even in the moments where we celebrated moving up and promotion. The power of carefully focused conversations about how we did is hard to overestimate, because even a slight increase in self-awareness or self-efficacy yields a hundredfold return as we start on September 6.
That being said, the campus, and the people that make it truly special, need the time to recharge. For our faculty, who work consistently and intensely with children, taking this break allows for attention to wellness, for refection and for self-care. For our staff who continue to support the school on campus, their attention can be towards items that are not possible when serving a community of both children and adults during the school year. However, we rarely take the time truly away – we are attending workshops, online courses, and keeping up on research and educational trends. In addition, all of the adults at ACS are reading Mindset, by Carol Dweck this summer as a common read. I recommend it for any parent as well!
The fact is I miss the morning greetings of our students. I miss them on the playgrounds, in the hallways, in our cafeteria or in classrooms. However, I also know they are with with their families, learning in other meaningful ways, getting bored for a while, visiting places that inspire or inform, and resting.
I look forward to the renewable energy that the student body, including over 100 new students, will bring to our campus starting in September. Until then, I hope parents’ time with their children is extraordinary.
Building Cairns 