St. Anne’s-Belfield School
Strategic Plan 2011-2016
“We wish our students to be strong in body, broad of mind, tender of heart, responsive in soul.” Mary Hyde DuVal, Headmistress 1910-1920
Our Philosophy
In asking students to master a specific body of knowledge, we seek not to impart knowledge alone, but to instill the lifelong habit of learning. Although we expect our graduates to be prepared for the nation's finest colleges and universities, our true purpose is to create a challenging yet charitable atmosphere where students gain skills necessary for both creative and disciplined thought, where they have opportunities to
achieve in athletic and artistic endeavors, where they understand their responsibility as a member of a community, and where high expectations for both their personal and intellectual lives are complemented by the School's commitment to nurturing students in the spiritual dimension of life.
[3] 2011-2016 Strategic Plan
We at St. Anne's-Belfield School believe that the transmission of knowledge, the encouragement of curiosity, the development of rational thought, and the cultivation of responsible, honorable behavior are the great ends of education.
Our Core Values
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HONOR we care most about the content of our students’ character
SCHOLARSHIP we ask the hard questions and we seek knowledge and develop skills to find the answers
SPIRITUALITY we seek purpose in our lives
COMMUNITY we are a small school because we want to know one another
DIVERSITY we celebrate the differences that enrich each of our lives
Why do we send our children to St. Anne’s-Belfield School?
• The close relationships between child and teacher • The quality of the academic experience • The intimacy of our school community • The respect colleges have for our school and our students • Our commitment to building character and nurturing the spirit • Our dedication to community service With these answers as its springboard, this Strategic Plan is designed to enhance what we already hold dear about St. Anne’s-Belfield School. It seeks to replace neither our philosophy nor our core values, but instead aims to improve how effectively we adhere to them. At the time of our last Strategic Plan, written in 2003, St. Anne’sBelfield School required a significant investment in capital proj-
ects. Today, with a growing endowment, a new Pre-School through Eighth Grade Learning Village, and a renovated Greenway Rise Campus, those needs have largely been met. In 2011, the focus of our new Strategic Plan shifts from buildings and endowment to people and community. This Plan is driven by high aspirations for what we teach and how we interact. With record enrollment and admission activity, as well as state-of-the-art facilities, we are now in a position to consider how bold improvements to our academic program and our community life will add St. Anne’s-Belfield to the list of the nation’s finest independent schools. Strategic planning is a fluid process. In the coming months and years this Plan will continue to evolve. The first step, which will emerge from discussions among the Head of School, faculty and administration, will be to develop specific methods for implementing the broad goals outlined here. In addition, the
[5] 2011-2016 Strategic Plan
This question, posed at a Parents’ Association meeting this past spring, gets to the heart of the 2011 strategic planning process. Its answers provided the starting point for our deliberations about the school’s future; they also defined clearly what will not change about St. Anne’s- Belfield School in the next five years and beyond. Among the most common responses to this question were:
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Board of Trustees and the Head of School, in consultation with all of the school’s constituencies, will revisit the Plan regularly, reprioritize its goals based on current needs, reallocate resources, and revise action steps as needed. The annual Charge to the Head of School will reflect these discussions and will be shared with everyone in the community at the start of each school year. Thus we will all stay informed about our current priorities and share in their realization. It is important to note that this is an ambitious Plan, reflecting the many hopes we have heard from parents, teachers, and alumni. Many of its goals and action steps will be accomplished in its five-year time frame, others will take longer to fulfill, and still others may never be fully realized but will remain key guideposts in our evolving vision for the school. And some of these goals, by their very nature, will be harder than others to evaluate for success. Nevertheless, we remain committed to making every effort to fulfill the broad strategic goals contained in this document. The sequence of the goals included in this Plan follows a logic that puts teaching at its center. The goals answer, in order, the following questions: What do we teach? How do we support those who teach? What do we ask of those who teach? What tools do we use to enhance what we teach? In what kind of environment do we teach? This organizing principle reflects our commitment to keeping excellent teaching at the core of our mission.
Throughout our discussions with hundreds of constituents, no broad theme was more clearly and enthusiastically articulated than that of citizenship. The most heartfelt aspiration we heard was for St. Anne’s-Belfield School to become, more than ever, a place where students grow into exemplary citizens in their communities — local, national and global. Parents and teachers expressed over and over the need to prepare and inspire the next generation of leaders, thinkers, entrepreneurs and problem-solvers. While our students are developing into outstanding citizens, they should be held to the highest standards of integrity, civility, honor, compassion and kindness. Finally, because accountability is an integral part of good citizenship, our school community seeks to be known for consistent accountability on the part of all its members. We believe that engaged, ethical citizenship is the thread that binds each of these strategic goals to our philosophy, to our core values and to our greatest strengths as a school. Achieving advanced citizenship is essential to thriving in this next century, maximizing its countless opportunities for progress and goodness, and addressing its unique challenges. Respectfully submitted by the 2011 Strategic Planning Committee, Ted Weschler, Co-Chair Kakie Brooks, Co-Chair
Strategic Goal #1
We will do so by: • Focusing on depth, rather than breadth, of study in a core curriculum • Insisting that critical thinking, problem solving, cultural literacy, collaboration and persuasive communication are explicitly incorporated into the curriculum
• Continuing our efforts to improve the quality of our instruction in reading, writing and computation • Ensuring that our pedagogy reflects best practices, considers current research on how students learn best, and applies skills and knowledge to real-world issues
[7] 2011-2016 Strategic Plan
The School will establish itself as an educational leader by ensuring that its academic program includes mastery of essential 21st-century skills and knowledge.
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Strategic Goal #2
We will do so by: • Ensuring that the work our teachers are asked to do is essential to the school’s mission, maximizes their impact on students, and respects their time, energy and talents
• Defining standards of exceptional teaching and providing the resources to enable our faculty to realize them • Recruiting the finest teachers, those who are experts in their disciplines and who are fully dedicated to our school’s philosophy, mission and expectations
• Creating a professional learning environment that provides significant time and resources for professional development, collaboration, ongoing evaluation, and pedagogical and curricular innovation
• Providing sufficient technical support to facilitate and optimize the use of technology in the classrooms
[9] 2011-2016 Strategic Plan
The School will focus the bulk of its resources on supporting its teachers in order to continue promoting pedagogical excellence.
Strategic Goal #3
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The School will continue to cultivate enriching relationships between faculty and students, both in and outside of the classroom, in order to deliver on its promise that each student be known well and appreciated individually. We will do so by: • Affirming and supporting the efforts of the many teachers who commit to after-school activities to engage even further with their students, and ensuring that all teachers are meeting the same expectations
• Keeping our class sizes small and offering extracurricular programs that bring teachers and students together • Ensuring that our homeroom and advisory programs are effective and that their quality is consistent throughout the school
Strategic Goal #4
We will do so by: • • • •
Weaving together what we already do well in our classrooms with the potential of technology to enhance teaching and learning Considering all of the implications, both at school and in the home, of any technology initiatives we might undertake Teaching our students to create an on-line presence defined by civility, honor and a commitment to the common good Guaranteeing that any technology we use is educationally sound as well as developmentally and age-appropriate
[11] 2011-2016 Strategic Plan
The School will be a model for the thoughtful adoption and effective integration of technology into our classrooms.
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Strategic Goal #5
We will do so by:
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• Ensuring that our residential life program is rich and fulfilling, and that our boarding students are genuinely integrated into
2011-2016 Strategic Plan
The School will prepare our students to appreciate other cultures and lead in a multicultural world.
our school community
• Insisting that learning to partner with others in a multicultural world is an educational priority • Making efforts to diversify our faculty further • Recognizing that diversity comes in many forms, and that each child must be supported and welcomed in our school community
• Embracing the vital importance of global and multicultural awareness, and “internationalizing” the curriculum at every opportunity
Strategic Goal #6
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The School will more deliberately foster an ethos of inclusivity, integrity, civility, compassion and kindness in an effort to cultivate the highest standards of citizenship throughout our community. We will do so by: • Insisting on civil discourse among all members of our community— students, faculty, administrators, parents and alumni • Creating grade-level experiences that connect students with one another and with teachers in pursuit of common goals • Supporting an equitable balance among academics, arts and athletics, and validating every student’s unique contributions in these areas and others
• Continuing to strengthen our community service program and to provide leadership opportunities for our students • Ensuring that our learning environment is characterized by the highest standards of behavior and adopting policies that reflect this goal, including those governing discipline, honor, etiquette and dress
• Continuing long-cherished traditions and school-wide events that build school spirit, pride, and community
The Strategic Plan Steering Committee Kakie Brooks, Co-Chair Ted Weschler, Co-Chair Rich Booth, Chair of the Board of Trustees, ex officio David Lourie, Head of School, ex officio Andrew Brennan, Head of Lower School Fred Chandler, Head of Middle School Beth Miller, Dean of Academic Affairs Phil Stinnie, Dean of Student Life, Director of Diversity and Community Outreach Michael Waylett, Associate Head of School Lisa Mann, Associate Head of School for Development Caitlin Dean, Faculty, Lower School
Elizabeth Beckwith, Faculty, Middle School Jordan Taylor, Faculty, Upper School Karen Moran, Parent, Lower School Anne Jones, Parent, Lower School Lu Alvarez, Parent, Lower and Middle Schools Gary Evans, Parent, Middle and Upper Schools Alex Moore, Parent, Lower and Upper Schools Erika James, Parent, Lower School Brett Goodloe, Class of 2009 Ladi Smith, Class of 2009 Sarah Johns, Class of 1999
St. Anne’s-Belfield School
Body. Mind. Heart. Soul.