Waring School Viewbook

t.978-927-8793 35 Standley Street, Beverly, MA 01915

UN COUP D’ŒIL noun, French [\kü-ˈd (r), -ˈd -ē, -ˈdœ-y \]

A PEEK

Waring School 35 Standley Street, Beverly, MA 01915

t.978-927-8793

Bienvenue to our community. . .

à notre communauté . . .

Community Members All-School Meeting Tutorial Camping Trip French

of lifelong learners. . .

d’apprenants à vie . . .

Traditional Curriculum Progressive, Integrated Approach Core Teaching Assistant Program Travel Endterm Evaluations

who grow together as individuals.

qui se développent ensemble en tant qu’individus.

Presence Music & Soirées Athletics Student Convocation Speech

Since its founding in 1972 by Josée and Philip Waring as an alternative approach to schooling, Waring has set itself apart by its commitment to creating an environment where learning can thrive. We strive to maintain a culture that honors and supports the human desire to learn.

Waring offers a full program of intellectual, aesthetic, and physical activities - a program that balances academic rigor with breadth. It asks all students to study Humanities, Science, Math, French, Art, Writing, Music, Theater, Athletics, Travel, and participate in Camping Trip and Endterm.

In Convocation and Graduation speeches, Waring students often describe the growth they experienced when the program asked them to take risks and engage with subjects and activities outside their comfort zone, from an art assignment or writing piece to a physics project, and this speaks to the school’s commitment to helping students find their voices and build their skills in many different ways.

ALL-SCHOOL MEETING - Since its beginning,

when Waring’s population numbered 14, the entire school has met together daily. These gatherings are the heart of the community conversation. Stude nts and faculty make announcements, debate, prese nt special projects, welcome visiting speakers, and discuss current events.

FOCUS / FLEX - Periods in our schedule allow

all students and teachers the time for individual and group projects, time to read a book, set up a lab, play a game of chess, practice the violin…

This is time outside the regular norms of school life that allows for spontaneity, intensive focus on a proje ct, or a chance to curl up with a book for pleasure.

THE FORUM - Our science building, equipped with state-of-the-art science labs, opened in 2002 .

We chose the name because a forum is a medi um or place where people freely exchange ideas.

The building is designed to connect the pathways of the campus. The foyer is a streetscape rather than a hallway and connects the inside to the outdo ors by incorporating rocks and trees.

THE HOUSE - In the early years when Philip

and Josée Waring first moved the school from their home in Rockport to the current locat ion, the House was where they lived along with a few boarding students. Each day the boarders woke to the smell of freshly baked bread served in the Salle à Manger. The only language spoken at these meals was French, Josée’s native langu age.

NOTECARD - This is a short writing assignment. The notecard is usually a reaction to a reading or experience, which students write in preparation for class discussion. By preparing thoughts for discussion we learn to be thoug htful about what we bring to conversation and debat e.

à notre communauté...

The Waring community values risk-taking and originality of thought, and we insist that all members of our community contribute to an atmosphere of respect. Waring faculty and staff are friends and mentors. In these crucial years of self-discovery, young people are experimenting with who they are and what they might become. The faculty and staff serve as role models for lives that are full and interesting, enriching the world around them.

At Waring, It’s not Associate Head of School, it’s

It’s not Science Teacher, it’s

It’s not Librarian, it’s

It’s not Humanities Teacher, it’s

It’s not Grounds Keeper, it’s

It’s not Scary Senior, it’s

It’s not Little 6th grader, it’s

It’s not Cecilia’s Mom, it’s

Four days a week, the Waring community meets together in a large circle for 30 minutes in one room. After sharing announcements and recognizing recent achievements, we enjoy a focused time during which we may discuss global and community issues or listen to presentations by faculty, students or guest speakers.

Sometimes we compete together in trivia games, or enjoy a sampling of someone’s favorite project, be it musical or visual. Alumni and parents periodically attend All-School Meeting (ASM).

ASM has been an important part of the program since the School’s founding, when students and teachers gathered in the original Grande Salle at the Rockport school.

We continue this tradition today because ASM helps to foster a sense of community.

When faculty, students or graduates give a presentation about a particular passion, they model what it means to be a lifelong learner. At All-School Meeting, we come together as learners: a 6th grade student is not just learning from, but speaking to and teaching the rest of the community.

At ASM, all voices in the community are honored and validated.

Topics at ASM have included: Francis, Physics teacher, discusses what he did on his summer vacation at the Haystack School of Craft. He studied with Arthur Ganson, the famous kinetic sculptor and artist-in-residence at MIT who uses mild steel wire to construct a number of machine sculptures. Francis incorporated Arduino microcomputers into his work and developed the curriculum for this year’s Core winter STEM offering, largely devoted to creating work like Arthur Ganson’s.

Alice, in 11th grade, recounts her trip one year ago to Bosnia and Herzegovina with a group of graduate students and professors from Salem State University, and her mother. They traveled to Bosnia to study the Balkan Wars in the 1990s, as well as the Srebrenica Genocide which occurred during that time.

KB, Art Department chair, runs a “Look” meeting designed to encourage engagement with art and visual culture. Look meetings happen periodically throughout the year.

As the title suggests, students are invited to look at a group of images chosen by various guests. The group dialogue covers art history, personal response, formal artistic issues, how to access and discuss art, and what its myriad stories offer us.

Joy, Jonesy, Clara, Tassy, Peter and Sam, our Chinese students and Vietnamese students, discuss the Lunar New Year and the celebrations in their home cultures.

In a school built on community, Tutorial is the family unit for students. Tutorials are mixed-age groups of students who meet together with their Tutor (a teacher and advisor), eat lunch together, do activities, go on outings, and talk about school life.

The Tutor serves as each student’s academic advisor, conducts parent conferences, and is the liaison between the student’s parents and the rest of the Waring faculty.

Tutorials become a community within a community, with many students forming a lifelong mentor/mentee relationship with their tutors. At the end of a student’s time at Waring, the Tutor offers words of appreciation to their graduating Tutee at our Baccalaureate ceremony.

Waring begins the school year with a four-day trip to North Woods Camp in Wolfeboro, NH. For faculty and students alike, Camping Trip serves as an important transition between summer and the rigors of the academic year. The trip takes full advantage of its location on Lake Winnipesaukee, near the mountains and in the woods of New Hampshire. Students hike, canoe, write, discuss summer reading, sing songs by the campfire, practice soccer and other sports, and participate in theater.

resistance to jump in with hands, feet and all appendages…

“You can resist, but truthfully, if you’re really going Come be little bit of the Waring adventure you’re able to take. is futile. So don’t resist. Enjoy and embrace every – Lynn Barendsen and John Rossi, parents rest of us.” sleepy, confused and VERY thankful along with the

je suis tu es il est nous sommes vous êtes ils sont

The mission of the school is tied to the study of French and Francophone culture, in both its ethos, which pushes students to look outward and beyond their own culture, and its emphasis on a curriculum that is common to all students.

The school-wide French program unifies the community around a shared language of study, and seeks to inspire lifelong learning through an intensive seven-year program during which many students reach near-fluency. Without using English, students learn French in Immersion classes from the very first; many will advance to the AP course and beyond. Because the French language and culture are pervasive at Waring, it is not uncommon to hear conversations in French around campus, or to have AllSchool Meetings conducted entirely in French. Waring’s ninth grade exchange with students from Angers, France, includes a month-long homestay in a rich, immersive cultural experience and a three-week hosting of French students in Waring families.

We believe that a foreign language should be taught not just as an academic subject, but as a means of communication and a culture, and that everyone should learn the same language, in order to foster its use not just in the classroom, but in different contexts.

An early appreciation of other cultures is an important resource for Waring graduates.

It helps them deal sensitively with the rest of the world in all their future endeavors and is an important part of Waring’s students’ cultural proficiency. This positive experience engenders a desire to study other languages and cultures as well. Alumni learn Spanish and Italian with ease, and many study more difficult languages such as Mandarin, Arabic and Russian.

d’apprenants à vie

Waring School’s educational program is based on the premise that, in order to learn, students must be challenged with worthy intellectual material, exciting creative projects, and ample opportunities to display their talents and expand their ideas through meaningful interactions with peers and adults.

Central to this goal are courses and experiences that stimulate and engage our students. Requirements for graduation include studies in Humanities (an integrated literature and history course), French, Mathematics, Science, Writing, Art and Music.

Classes in Visual and Performing Arts and participation in Athletics, Theater and Chorus are mandatory.

Waring offers numerous elective and experiential options so that students may pursue interests outside of the academic classroom. In all of these offerings, students are encouraged to voice their ideas, see things in new ways and show their best work.

They are expected to ask questions, think critically and find answers, and defend their own ideas.

As I entered college I was amazed by how well Waring had prepared me. At first it wasn’t obvious: I had no idea what it would be like to have 1600 classmates, or suddenly to receive grades! But as the classes started up, I realized that Waring had endowed me with the ability and courage to speak up, to be a leader in countless ways, and to be a positive presence in a community. Waring is not like college: in college, professors may not reach out to students to ensure success, as they do at Waring. But Waring teaches us how to take the initiative to reach out, whether to professors, classmates, or anyone in the community; that skill is invaluable.

Mateo, class of 2015

Our sense of community is promoted not only by a common curriculum but also through experiences that reach across traditional boundaries of age and grade level.

Our All-School Meetings, Tutorials, Focus-Flex scheduling, the Teaching Assistant program for juniors and seniors, and Camping Trip are purposely designed to strengthen connections between students of all ages and their teachers. In addition, Humanities, Mathematics, Writing, French and Endterm have students from mixed grade levels.

At Waring, students are given the tools to learn. They are encouraged to connect their learning to their own lives and the lives around them. There are many ways in which Waring promotes an implicit curriculum throughout our program. Experiential learning and unique programs that thrive at Waring drive the traditional curriculum beyond facts, dates and numbers.

Focus-Flex periods in our schedule allow all students and teachers the time for individual and group projects, time to read a book, set up a lab, play a game of chess, practice the violin… This is time outside the regular norms of school life that allows for spontaneity, intensive focus on a project, or a chance to curl up with a book for pleasure.

At Waring, the group of 6th and 7th graders is “Core”.

We introduce our youngest students to the rigor of Waring academics with French Immersion classes, instruction in organization, and developing the discipline of study skills. The two grades travel, meet, and perform together. This helps build a bond and security in the smaller group which leads to a richer connection with the larger school community.

Core students, like those in the rest of the school, study Math, Science, Humanities, Creative Writing, French, Art, Theater and more. The Waring Athletics program gives all Core students the chance to play on Junior Varsity or participate in instructional teams. There is also a Core Chorus that meets twice a week. Students generally begin private music lessons in Core and take music theory classes. Core students take frequent trips, such as visits to Boston Symphony Orchestra rehearsals, outings to museums, a yearly trip to Montréal and other locations, all of which serve to enhance our program.

We give our youngest students the tools and experiences that allow them to develop habits of active thinking and reading and a willingness to take positive risks, both in our multi-faceted academic program and as members of a strong community. In Core, students learn how to read, write, speak French and how to grow into leaders of the Waring School.

Juniors and seniors may apply to become Teaching Assistants (TAs) in any of our curricular areas: Humanities, French, Math, Science, Music, Theater, Art, Health, and Athletics.

In most cases, TAs assist their supervising teachers in a variety of ways, including helping students individually and in small groups. Some TAs teach under the supervision of faculty: for example, Writing TAs teach Core and Group 1 (Grade 8) classes.

The TA program is an essential element in the creation of the Waring experience. The TA program shows the younger students what lifelong learning should be, and lets them see older students engaging seriously with academics. The program also allows the TAs to validate publicly what kind of students they are becoming. As the TAs experience the challenges of planning classes, running discussions, and evaluating others’ work, they come to a deeper understanding of their own and others’ learning.

The program also strengthens the TAs working relationships with their teachers.

Travel is a central part of Waring’s curriculum. Waring students have traveled widely from Europe to Sikkim, Louisiana to Alaska. To be culturally proficient is to be well traveled, to experience other cultures, sketchbook and journal in hand.

Travel has been an integral part of Waring since the early days of the school. Travel promotes intellectual and individual growth and encourages curiosity. On Waring trips, students are exposed to history, art, and culture; they are asked to observe, sketch and write about their experiences and relate them back to the curriculum as well as to their personal experiences. Waring trips are a direct extension of many Waring programs and are designed to enrich, make real, and deepen our students’ studies as well as to allow for learning that could happen no other way. Travel removes the classroom from the act of learning and shows students that learning can happen everywhere.

Each trip has slightly higher expectations and demands, taking the students a little further away from home and entrusting them with more independence and responsibility. Many Waring students also travel as part of their coursework.

Waring students are able to approach a new culture as learners, with respect and curiosity. As students learn new approaches, they are better able to know and understand their own culture. They appreciate those things they hold in common with others and honor their differences.

Endterm is an all-day, two-and-a-half-week opportunity for a small group of students of different ages to get to work with teachers on a project of interest to all. The experiences offered are almost always hands-on and interdisciplinary, and the time is fluid. Often we travel off-campus and always we get to know a topic and ourselves in deeper, fuller ways.

Endterm is the period at the end of each school year during which students pursue intensive studies that take them out of the classroom and into the world. Waring offers abundant choices for these explorations. Examples have included sailing aboard a 125-foot windjammer, traveling to North Carolina to build a new home for flood victims, hiking the mountains of Québec, examining math through music and design, and working in a home for the handicapped. In recent years, students have learned how to understand Mormon culture in Salt Lake City, Utah; how to create a score to a movie; how to go on hikes and tend to medical emergencies that might arise on the trail; or how to take apart and put together an auto engine. Groups have explored the unconscious and then used dreams as the creative raw material for a theatrical piece; they have learned how to program a computer; how to run a store in downtown Beverly; how to combine meditation, writing, and art; and how to understand politics while traveling to Washington, D.C. Between 10 and 15 students from all grades make up each Endterm group. Endterms provide an opportunity for multi-age connection and often result in lifelong friendships.

At Waring, teachers write detailed narrative evaluations as opposed to giving letter grades. We believe that letter grades are dead ends in the cycle of good teaching and learning. (A student may receive all “A’s” one semester, but what does that say about her areas of strength and need for growth?) Teachers’ narrative evaluations are just one important facet of a larger, ongoing conversation between the teacher and the student: how can I grow as a student? How might I add more to class discussion in Humanities? What are my strengths and weaknesses in the science lab? How is my French accent (and my French “r”) compared with how I am able to write in French?

How do I live out the values of Waring in my classes?

As opposed to our narrative evaluation system being a disadvantage for college admissions, it actually makes Waring School leap to the attention of College Admissions Officers. They learn more about our students and our program and we have long-running relationships with many of the country’s best schools.

qui se développent ensemble en tant qu’individus

As individuals, each of us shoulders the personal responsibility for what we say and what we do, both in and out of school. Waring School’s core values are based on personal integrity and the values of the school community. We believe that learning is an essential and defining human activity that involves the whole person throughout life. We believe that a supportive and stimulating learning culture affirms intellectual tolerance and social unity. As a community of individuals, we continually reaffirm our mission and core beliefs through our ethic of meaningful ritual and participation, genuine discussion, and authentic relationships.

Waring teams maint ain a competitive att itude against other I am confident in my teams while fostering abilities as an athlet a huge amount of sup e but I also feel confi port and love for ea dent in my ability to ch other. be a good teammate . – Laurel, Class of 2008

Soirée Musicale - Every 5th week or so, friends and family gather for an evening of music performed by Waring students. These are intimate gatherings held in The House.

Since Waring provides a haven from popular culture, the Soirée performances are predominantly of classical music. From time to time students present original pieces.

Music at Waring is both about the growth of individual talented musicians and the coming together of all community members. Chorus is for all students and they perform alongside faculty and staff members at our bi-annual public concerts. Our choruses include novices and opera singers!

The Waring School Athletics Program fosters the development of character and personal responsibility through sports. It promotes teamwork, sportsmanship, fitness and individual mastery of athletic skills. As an integral part of Waring’s mission, athletics promotes the leadership and interpersonal skills necessary to a community built on respect, camaraderie, stewardship, sacrifice, discovery, and pride in individual accomplishment. The Athletics Program cultivates lifelong habits for good health, enhances mental alertness and emotional stability, and encourages students to excel to the best of their ability.

Students participate in team sports throughout the academic year: soccer and crosscountry in the fall, basketball in the winter, and lacrosse in the spring. Other options are also available depending on age and fulfillment of sports requirements: theater in the fall; yoga, martial arts, YMCA and theater in the winter; and running, theater, ultimate frisbee, and occasionally martial arts in the spring.

Karl Suessdorf “Moonlight in Vermont” s, percussion Adam y Quinc ; drums ossi, dsen-R Baren Luca Campbell Boisvert, violin; e Holz & Sparhawk Mulder, guitar Benny Weedon, sax; Will Stomberg, trumpet; Phoeb g, vocals Tappin r Eleano piano; , Fedele Anand Herbie Hancock “Watermelon Man” guitar ossi, dsen-R Baren Tano ; drums Luca Barendsen-Rossi, Anand Fedele, piano; Peter Fedele, bass R. Schumann

Stückchen

J.P. Penaloza, piano arr. L. Bates & M. Kelsey

“Wade in the Water”

Maddie Jutras, piano F. Mompou

Musica Callada III

Ella Bellin, piano F. Kuhlau

Sonatina Op. 55, No. 3 Allegro con spirito

Alice Sullivan, piano

Viennese Sonatina #1 in C major 2nd movement

Serenade, Op. 99 #10 “27” “You Are Not Alone”

W.A. Mozart Jared Wood, piano

r Tapping & Swara Douglas, piano 4-hands

Eleano

Vanlis Sarah Malboeuf, voice & piano I. Frost Ilana Frost, voice & piano

“Bring Him Home” from Les Misérables Gabi Kenney, trombone Ilana Frost, piano “Video Games”

A. Gretchaninoff

C.M. Schöenberg

L.D. Rey Wren Schmith, voice & piano

ber ring students in early Septem I happened on a group of Wa to Through sheerest serendipity, ugh group was kind eno tering spot in Wolfeboro. The ” by at Seven Suns Café, a local wa ment, “Brown Girl Dreaming g their summer reading assign sin cus dis in join to e, me tim ite in s inv backward transported both forward and felt I you tell st mu I on. ods Jacqueline Wo high hope for the future of the g-ago days in the Academy & with nostalgia for my own lon these. duce lifelong scholars such as nation and planet if we can pro ng youngsters. In brief, ly burst of chat from approachi Hogging the table, I heard a live and chairs to y sought to join enough tables the as m the h wit t spo my re ed.

I offered to sha 13, and the discussion was join th their adult & me we made Wi . ber num ir the e a dat self mo om him acc cs Director and Tutor – is of Michael Kersker, Athleti I The group were under the aeg haps two; by end of time I felt – well more than an hour, per flew e tim The . ring Wa to dit cre arkable grandchildren. had suddenly acquired 11 rem prise both a beacon and a students, scholars & school com , ring Wa t tha say to it fice Suf a love which never the love of liberal education, for th you ing par pre e tinu hope. Please con the soul’s voyage. ceases as long as we keep on

Students at Beverly’s Waring School build giant labyrinth

By Jennie Oemig beverly@wickedlocal.com

After spending weeks learning about medieval history at the Waring School in Beverly, a group of students were able to take a more hands-on approach to their learning by constructing a giant labyrinth on campus. “It’s the same size and dimensions as the labyrinth in the Chartres Cathedral,” said Josh Scott-Fishburn, the teacher of the medieval history class.

The labyrinth at the Chartres Cathedral in France, which was laid in the 13th century, measures 42 feet, 3-⅜ inches by 42 feet, 4 inches.

The students started out by taking a rope and measuring the distance outward from the center of what would eventually become the labyrinth.

From there, given the radius

with which they were work- finished without it,” he said.

Turner Britz, a Waring ing, students were able to do During those periods of free student from Newbury, said the geometrical conversions time, students would work to he was also surprised by the to determine how many linear move and position the stones number of students and faculfeet of stone they needed to in the designated pattern. ty members he has seen trycomplete the circuits.

“Even though it took a lot ing to traverse the maze. “We The students then trans- of work, it gives you a lot of weren’t sure it was going to ported stones from the other insight into what it was like get used,” he said. Unlike a side of campus to the spot to build something like this regular maze, labyrinths don’t where they constructed the back in that time period,” have any false paths that will labyrinth. “It offered them a said Waring student Ella lead to a dead end. “There are different kind of learning,” Bernard. no choices to make. There’s said humanities teacher Kyra “It took us about three only one path,” Britz exMorris. “They were able to days to put it all together,” plained. “The deceptive part get that visceral and physical said Sarah Bradshaw, a War- of it is how much there is in sense of labor ...; I even had ing student from Gloucester. this little area.” some students ask me if they Several of the students Morris, who’s in her first could do push-ups as home- who helped construct the year of teaching at Waring work so they would be able to labyrinth said they were School, said she enjoyed seecarry more stones.” pleased to be able to see all ing the students work hard Head of School Tim Bak- their hard work pay off when and collaborate to create the land said construction of the it was finally completed. “It elaborate structure. “It turned labyrinth was aided by the was a triumph because it was out more wonderful than I had new focus/flex form of sched- so hard to build,” said War- expected,” she said. “I loved uling the school introduced ing student Ben Hanna of the whole process of it.” at the start of the academic Amesbury. “And we always year. “It couldn’t have been see someone in it.”

Convocation speech by Dylan Macy (Class of 2016) A few mornings ago, I exited the library, took a left turn towards the quad, and as I rounded the corner, the harsh morning sun created a glare that made it hard to see much of anything. But as I walked across the quad, I began to make out figures through the rays of light, figures chasing and laughing at one another, figures sitting on the grass with large thin rectangular boards in their laps. As I took a few more steps, more details became apparent, and these figures became a Core art class. I was slightly hypnotized by this moment I had just walked upon. Whether it was this seemingly divine scene or just my early morning daze, I forgot that I was “at school” in this moment and Waring made sense. I stopped walking, and I looked on at 6th and 7th graders, some sat leisurely, but concentrated sketching trees and the roof of the school. Others, those who had decided now was a good time for break, played soccer all around the quad, interweaving between the spread out artists still at work, while the sun shaded the grass with shadows.

As I stood there, I thought about how Waring has always been a somewhat abstract concept, something else, something in between and beyond a school, and something that one can not grasp from hearing speeches or anyone talk about, Waring needs to be lived and seen in concise moments like these. From the outside Waring is strange, just a French school on a farm with no grades. And from the inside, Waring is still strange, still a school with no grades and where students and teachers are friends, but a place filled with strangeness that you can’t help but want to be a part of.

Camping trip, in and of itself, can sum up the peculiar nature of our school. We never think twice about joining Nick Page in a whole school spiraling song and dance circle on the first night. In the moment there is no choice but to embrace it and sing along-loudly, but when you take a moment and step back, one must wonder from an outsider’s eye if they would be able recognize this massive harmonizing snake as a school. But Waring has always raised eyebrows, always covered itself in a mysterious layer of intrigue so that one must come closer to begin to see the full picture of what this place actually is.

We have never fit one definition. There is never just one answer to what Waring is, and to all new students - I wish I could tell you what makes Waring, Waring. But words are useless in this case, you have to see it, in a moment that catches you and gives you a brief insight into the essence of what makes this place un-definable, un-comparable, and a school where you can forget you are at school. You may spend much of your time here seeing this place as just school, hearing speeches like this, but not having any particularly deep feelings on the subject. And that is fine.

But sooner or later, Waring will hit you. Just keep your eyes open. Take moments to stop and see, and Waring will let you in on who it is, while always helping you to discover who you are. Thank you.

Come see for yourself. . . contact the Waring School Admissions Office at 978.927.8793 or visit www.waringschool.org to schedule a visit.

Design: KLeaderDesign.com Text: Shelley Morgan, Becky Schaeffer ‘00, Clare Stanton ‘10 Photography: Jason Grow Additional Illustrations: Asher Leahy ’18 Art Consult: KB Breiseth

t.978-927-8793 35 Standley Street, Beverly, MA 01915

UN COUP D’ŒIL noun, French [\kü-ˈd (r), -ˈd -ē, -ˈdœ-y \]

A PEEK