15 minute read
going boldly into the next century
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Throughout the two years of our Centennial Celebration (expanded due to the COVID-19 pandemic), we reflected on Rectory’s founding, the first hundred years, and the School’s growth along the way. With the centennial celebration behind us, we now look toward the next hundred years and our endeavor to “go boldly into the next century.”
Regarding the founding of the School, Mrs. Bigelow wrote in 1936, “We felt that with our love for children and intense desire to help them, we could start such a school and make it a place where boys would be happy. Our ideals were always to work with the individual boy that he might become better adjusted emotionally and educationally.” If we replaced “boys” with “boys and girls,” that reflection still holds today. It also sets the stage for two series of articles on Rectory’s intentional, personalized student experience (pages 4-6) and Rectory’s continued commitment to gender equity (pages 7-9). >>>
By Dawn Chmura, Director of Communications
Rectory’s intentional design to create exceptional experiences for our students goes far beyond what happens in the classrooms. At Rectory, the student experience isn’t just pedagogy...it’s personal.
School administrators put a lot of thought and effort into developing an intentional student experience that, in the end, may look different for each student. The student experience is considered with a 360° lens. At every point in each student’s journey, Rectory students have the tools available to build a foundation of skills to succeed in life. Throughout this series of articles that will continue on Rectory’s website this academic year, we invite you to learn more about the different aspects that encompass the student experience at Rectory School. >
“The vision was always to design a collection of nature-inspired classrooms near each other so that children can explore and learn in community while supporting each other.” -Maria Carpenter, Director of Elementary
Space and Curricular Design “When thinking about the future of Rectory’s academic program, we focus on the students’ experience,” said Director of Academics Lisa Hart. “This includes curriculum design but also the smaller details like the classroom layout, the paint color on the walls, and the furniture students use. When we create or update our curriculum, we think about the scope and sequence of the curriculum. We intentionally focus on building skills from one grade to the next to ensure students’ growth.”
The wall colors in the classrooms and hallways were a deliberate choice because colors impact students’ emotions and mindsets. Furniture for spaces is determined by how teachers use it; it can be put together for groups or pulled apart for individual use—even in the library. The Hale Elementary Wing in John and Millie Green Hall was designed by New England Design after receiving input from the elementary faculty on how the spaces were used by the children. The intention was to create warm and inviting gathering spaces for collaboration in the lobby and hallways. According to Director of Elementary Maria Carpenter, “The vision was always to design a collection of nature-inspired classrooms near each other so that children can explore and learn in community while supporting each other.”
Student schedules and curriculum at Rectory center around 21st-century teaching and brainbased learning. In 2015, Rectory introduced a new middle school schedule that meets the needs of an increasingly sophisticated, rigorous, and dynamic curriculum. The intentionality between how we build the programs and the spaces that surround our students is powerful.
Achievement For All Learners “Our two children, whose interests and personalities are vastly different from each other, both feel a deep sense of belonging within the Rectory family. They feel challenged, uplifted, cared for, and valued by their teachers and classmates,” said Alyssa & Hal Walker P’25, ‘27.
At Rectory, our students are expected to immerse themselves in our broad programmatic offerings, which provide essential opportunities to develop critical academic and life skills. Whether in English class, the art studio, the science lab, or our outdoor environment, students are guided by experienced professionals who strive for engagement, encourage creativity and critical thinking, and promote communication and collaboration. Our instructional approach leverages the power of technology as a teaching and learning tool, and children are taught how to use these resources responsibly and safely.
Students in middle school need a unique approach to academic learning and social/ emotional growth. Because each student has different needs and interests, a cookie-cutter approach isn’t effective. Rectory moved to a more personalized approach, placing students in classes that meet their specific capabilities, unlike the typical middle school placement experience where students travel together in their English, history, and science classes. This method works whether a student is neurodiverse, highachieving, or twice-exceptional and incorporates appropriate rigor to reach their potential.
Professional Development and Faculty Collaboration “To support student achievement through the curriculum, it’s important to support faculty professional development and connections to develop opportunities for cross-curricular studies. Our faculty are learners too. We host on-site professional development opportunities, bringing in top experts in their field, and we send our faculty to regional and national conferences. Finding time for faculty to collaborate and design curriculum across disciplines is a challenge, which is why building in time for professional development and collaboration across the year is so important,” said Mrs. Hart.
Rectory’s academic philosophy is focused on student engagement. Professional development
for faculty is critical to improving our students’ learning experience, and it is also very intentional.
According to Mrs. Hart, before the pandemic, the committee for academic excellence (CAE) also started hosting faculty luncheons as a more casual way to provide opportunities for those cross-curricular discussions. While these luncheons were suspended due to the pandemic, this year, monthly faculty luncheons have already been added to the schedule. “We are very strategic in our planning and how we support faculty growth and how that, in turn, supports the curriculum and the students’ learning,” said Mrs. Hart.
Support and Enrichment “The pathway of the students makes Rectory stand out,” said Director of Learning Services Andrea Fahl. “The students here feel like they have a trusted adult they can talk to if they have an issue. They feel safe. Their experience has the support systems and the people who help them on their journey. They develop as a better person because of their experience at Rectory.”
To ensure the student experience is considered through that 360° lens, the dean of students position was reinstituted this academic year to work directly with the students to anticipate and respond to their needs.
Opportunities to develop self-advocacy and selfefficacy are embedded in our students’ schedules. Skill Block, a once-weekly class, is designed to foster organizational and effective study habits and is an opportunity for students to hone their academic skills. Students also are provided with Enrichment blocks twice a week; this is time set aside for students to meet with teachers to clarify classroom content and learn to advocate for themselves. Student support goes far beyond what happens in the classroom. Sometimes the best relationships are formed and the most helpful learning is realized when you go beyond academics!
Rectory counselors have extensive experience supporting adolescents as they navigate what can frequently be a challenging time developmentally. It is an invaluable opportunity for students to talk with a trusted adult about their day or about the challenges they may be experiencing in the classroom and in their peer relationships. Guiding students through these challenges is one way that Rectory builds strong, independent learners and happy and healthy young men and women.
We’re excited to bring back Rectory’s Enrichment Series after the two-year hiatus due to the pandemic. This series offers opportunities that many schools don’t have. Because they are opt-in programs, students join if they are interested and pass on the programs they are not interested in, which makes it a high-engagement program. These programs have included blacksmithing, shark dissection, celestial navigation with a sextant, and many more.
Student Choice: Creating an experience that is unique for each student “We’re making a conscientious effort to provide more opportunities for our students,” said Head of School Fred Williams. “The breadth of our programs is exceptional. When you combine our academics, athletics, and arts offerings, students can pursue existing interests and develop new ones.”
Especially beginning in middle school at Rectory, students can make personal choices with arts, electives, athletics, and MELP. Additional choices are available as students progress through their middle school years, including in their academic courses. By the time students reach the ninth-grade year, they have opportunities only available to them; there are ninth-grade-only MELP options, they choose their related-arts courses and can take an online world language class. High-achieving students in the ninth grade can also take honors courses and participate in the Bigelow Scholars program, which allows select students to take an additional course rather than a study hall.
A Safe Space to learn and try new things “Safety is important for all of our families, and that means a lot of different things,” said Director of Enrollment Lesley Gibbs. “Safety at Rectory doesn’t only mean physical safety; it means that students feel comfortable trying new things and knowing that the adults around them will support them along the way.”
Rectory has a Safety Committee made up of school administrators and faculty. The charge of the Safety Committee is to develop and oversee the implementation of a comprehensive school safety plan relevant to the needs and resources of Rectory School.
Safety at Rectory goes beyond the physical and includes respect for people and property and the ability to receive help when needed, whether mental, social, emotional, or physical. We establish an environment of trust; there are no locks on dorm-room doors, and there are open cubbies in the academic building instead of lockers. Perhaps most importantly, students at Rectory are encouraged to take advantage of the breadth of offerings available to them and try something new. When students talk about their time at Rectory, they often reflect on those things they had never done before and the new passions they developed here.
At Rectory, students are at the center of everything we do. Creating a meaningful experience for each of our students is a top priority. The people at Rectory look at that experience from every angle and make intentional decisions based on the needs of each child. This series will take a deep dive into each element of The Intentional Student Experience at Rectory School. Look for future articles at rectoryschool.org/news!
With the construction of a new female dormitory and the renovation of the girls’ locker room this year, Rectory School continues its commitment to gender equity, an initiative that was greatly advanced in 2007 with the inclusion of female boarders. In this series of articles, members of the Rectory community will discuss the transition to co-educational boarding, reflecting on the factors that inspired it and the impact it has had on our school. Looking toward the future, they will also consider what more can be done to ensure equal footing for our female students.
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While it may have had the reputation of an all-boys school, Rectory has, in fact, had girl day students right from the start. Indeed, the student directory from the school’s second year listed two girls, Ruth Palmer and Florence Grosvenor. Throughout the years that followed, female day students, while significantly fewer in number compared to boys, contributed much to our school community— holding their own among the boys as much on the sports field as in the classroom—even though they had to leave the campus at the school day’s end. All that changed in 2007 when Rectory’s administration, under the leadership of thenHead of School Tom Army, chose to include girl boarders for the very first time in the school’s history. And while this certainly necessitated some careful consideration and reconfiguration, the addition of female boarders wasn’t a complete sea change. Indeed, Assistant Head of School Glenn Ames recalled a seamless transition. “We had always allowed girl day students,” he said, “so it wasn’t a chasm-deep leap.” Rather, it was an open acknowledgment of the strong female presence the school has always had since Mabel Bigelow was headmistress and co-founder. But that doesn’t mean the switch to coeducational boarding was effortless or without resistance. Board Member Elizabeth Zimmermann ‘84, one of only nine female day students in her graduating class, recalled her frequent banter with then-Head John Green. “I would say to him, ‘When are we going to have girl boarders, come on?’ And he would adamantly say, ‘There will never be girl boarders at Rectory School.’ That was just the culture at the time. Rectory’s primary mission was as a boys’ boarding school.” And while Ms. Zimmermann recalled a feeling of imbalance—less so in the classroom than on the sports field and in other aspects of student life—she still felt that the culture was quite positive. Alumna and former tutor Claudia Abbott ‘60, who was the lone girl in her graduating class, also has many fond memories of those days. “I wasn’t cognizant of [being one of only a few girls] at the age of five. For me, [the boys] were just my friends. My nickname was Rough Tough Cream Puff. We had competitions in class over who would get the higher grade. The relationships that I had, they were very important to me.” That said, Mrs. Abbott did express some frustration. “Since I had to play two roles in the play Androcles and the Lion, one as a shrew and the other as the sweet Lavinia,” she said, “it would have been nice to have another girl around.” At the turn of the millennium, others at Rectory School also began to feel that it was high time to have more girls around. Director of Enrollment Lesley Gibbs remembered many conversations on the topic, as well as a clear
market demand. “There were ten junior boarding schools,” she said. “There were a couple that were all boys, but there were none that were all girls. So there was always this market for girls out there.”
Kerri Nagle, who was assistant director of admissions at the time, agreed. “Part of the decision to do it was that there weren’t a lot of schools that allowed girl boarders,” she said. “There were not a lot of choices for girls, and that population was not being served.”
According to Mr. Ames, this increased demand for female boarding options coincided with an overall drop in students, as many new independent schools began to open up in areas from where Rectory had historically drawn. This made the financial incentive an important motivating factor. Said Mr. Ames, it was less a question of whether the school should make the change, “and a lot more of, ‘Okay, how do we make it work?’”
Some, however, did raise objections, much of it related to longstanding Rectory tradition.
“Change is always difficult,” said Head of School Fred Williams, “and the new can always be fearful. After all, you’re going against what had been decades and decades of tradition.”
“People just get really attached to and have fond feelings for the way it was,” Ms. Zimmermann agreed.
Others’ concerns had to do with managing the mix of genders.
“If we have girls and boys boarding, what’s going to happen?” Mrs. Gibbs said, recalling some of the fears expressed at the time. “Are they going to be sneaking out of dorms? Are there going to be more things to worry about, like relationships and having to oversee that?”
Mr. Williams said he understands such concerns. “For kids this age, we are their mothers and fathers in absentia to their own parents. And, oh, my gosh, I never want anything to happen on my watch,” he said. “I’m sure that many of the adults feel the same way. So to create the setting with middle schoolers in a co-ed boarding situation, sure, it would cause a little bit of concern. But we were well prepared to do this safely and successfully.”
And as the discussions continued, it became clear that the benefits to the school greatly outweighed such concerns and potential negatives.
According to Mrs. Gibbs, many at the time were excited to have a stronger female perspective in classes and on campus. And much of the alumni was enthusiastic. Said Freddy Nagle, director of development, “When this happened, I remember alums saying, ‘It’s about time’ and ‘It’s a great thing for Rectory.’”
“One senior faculty member, who is now retired, said that he wasn’t sure about this decision when it was made,” said Mr. Williams. “But since then, he feels it was in the best interests of the school. He believes that having the girls here has raised the intellectual level on campus, and I would completely agree with that.”
“Thinking back to when the decision was made, I don’t remember any negatives about adding girl boarders to our campus,” said Maria Carpenter, director of elementary. “From all the different constituents and departments, it was always seen as a positive move forward for Rectory. And it’s created an opportunity for us to be really strong in our foundation, which may not have been as strong if we remained a boarding school only for boys.”
“Some of the most important folks in the history of the school have been women.” -Fred Williams, Head of School
In future installments of this series, we’ll take a look at the first years of female boarding at Rectory, at the physical and programmatic changes now being implemented to accommodate the female population, and at the work still to do. We’ll also hear from members of the community on the overall impact that co-educational boarding has had on the school. Look for future articles at rectoryschool.org/news!
