One Year at Walker: Reflection from our Head of School (2 of 3)

One year at Walker:

Reflections from our Head of School part two of three

THE WALKER SCHOOL

A litany of reputable voices quickly emerged from a plethora of sectors, all coming to the same conclusions about the skills and values necessary for individuals and the collective culture and economy to succeed in the 21st Century: The “Five C’s” of critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, communication, character and the bonus “Sixth C” of cosmopolitanism (cross-cultural competency).

– Patrick Bassett, President National Association of Independent Schools, from “Bassett Blog,” January 16, 2012, nais.org

The true wonder of Walker

during your child’s years here lies in how we deliver the six “C’s” of 21st-century preparation Pat Bassett details to the left. I find the elements he points out incredibly relevant to our mission and to your child’s development and preparation for college and life.

Mr. Bassett also points out the far-reaching relevance of these traits, as cited by Harvard’s Howard Gardner (Five Minds for the Future ), the Association of American Colleges and Universities (College Learning for the New Global Century), and even Google (Google’s “Hiring Criteria” ).

These are skills that are perhaps most readily identified in our Upper School students, but I would argue that they’re present in each student from the early learning level onward, each in different forms and contexts. Over the years, they build and accrete and catalyze new learning. Which leads me to the seventh and eighth Walker-centric “C’s” to add to this otherwise comprehensive list.

Continuity.

The fact that we’re a pre-k through grade 12 school greatly influences both our character as a school and students’ individual learning. We know each student–and each other– remarkably well. Our pre-k teachers know our kindergarten teachers who know our first-grade teachers. The same holds true between the grade-eight, grade-nine, grade-ten transitions. So as a student progresses upward, she’s constantly under the guidance of dedicated and expert teachers who know her mind, her ambitions, her talents, her challenges. That’s no small thing.

Seniors sharing a campus with first graders provides for special moments throughout the school year. Our little ones see constant role models; our older students step up to meet those expectations and take on the added responsibility.

And many of our students have grown up together right here at Walker, which puts them at ease as they navigate the rigors of Upper School. Conversation and open discussion flow freely. Ideas matter more than outfits. Our students, as we say, value the experience over the applause. Because we at Walker bypass many of the cliques and social pressures so prevalent at larger schools today, we enjoy instead an inclusive, supportive, and joyful community, prizing learning for learning’s sake.

Cohesion.

While our individual class sizes remain small–and always will–our full school enrollment stands at about 1,050 students.

Add to that 120 faculty members, and we aren’t a tiny place.

But we’re an incredibly cohesive community, unified in our goals, fiercely protective of our culture, and yet also incredibly inclusive and inviting. I’ve never seen anything quite like it.

This sense of cohesion was never more apparent than during the drafting of our Promise Statement this past winter.

The Promise Statement represents a new undertaking for Walker, and it lays out, in detail, our internal covenant with each student and family. Many schools find that drafting such a document can easily turn fractious or just plain tedious.

Oftentimes, what a large committee arrives at represents a watered-down, indistinct collection of impressions that doesn’t bring the school closer to internal agreement.

Which is why I’m so proud of the Promise Statement process and the consensus we have achieved.

I share it with you here, as both a description of the Walker experience, and as a testament to the cohesion of this community that worked so hard, yet so closely and comfortably together to produce, debate, revise, and approve it. I suppose you don’t realize it until you sit down and formally compose a letter like this, but Walker truly embodies each of these aspects that educational leaders have defined as the core competencies of 21st-century learning.

Promise Statement The Walker School is Cobb County’s college-preparatory independent school for families seeking an engaging, perspective-widening academic program within an intimately scaled, caring environment where meaningful relationships engender transformative learning.

Walker’s dedicated teachers exude contagious intellectual energy, demonstrate authentic interest in the life of the mind that extends beyond their core subject areas, and model genuine respect for students and one another.

Through their actions and interactions, Walker teachers cultivate students’ spirit of wanting to know in every setting– the classroom and the hallway, the laboratory and the library, the art studio and the stage, the court and the playing field.

Walker students, feeling known and encouraged by their teachers and classmates, come to value the experience over the applause, developing along the way the confidence to explore new avenues of thinking, the wisdom to articulate meaningful insights, and the fortitude to act with integrity and honor.

At the culmination of this carefully guided, increasingly independent journey from pre-K through grade 12, Walker graduates have evolved from curious young learners into critically thinking, individually expressive, confidently collaborative, and admirably honest young adults thoroughly prepared for the intellectual and relational challenges of college and life.

My shorthand for that is: Walker students are overwhelmingly prepared for what’s next.

That means success in college, fulfillment in life, and the cultivation of an abiding love for learning that’s never extinguished.

Thanks again for your part in making Walker the incredible learning community that I’ve been so honored to lead this past year.

Sincerely,

Jack Hall

walkerwonders.org

700 Cobb Parkway North Marietta, GA 30062-2404

where wonders await.

THE WALKER SCHOOL