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Dear Woodlynde,
Even after many years working in schools, I still find myself surprised when the end of the first quarter seems suddenly upon us. To be sure, these first months of school have been chock full of activity.
Today, our L.E.A.D. Student Life Program will be treating Middle School students to an evening of frightening fun at The Bates Motel and Haunted Hayride. It's just the latest in a string of activities like pumpkin painting and outings to places like Dorney Park that have made this first month of fall so busy, yet unforgettable.
Our fall sports teams, too, have been hard at work...racking up victories! Our Middle School soccer team, under the leadership of Coach Rick Deak, just finished their season undefeated. Congratulations to them and all of our student athletes!
All of that doesn't even begin to touch what's been happening in our classrooms. One of the things I valued most about my own son's experience as a Woodlynde student was the constant progression, the forward momentum that his teachers and learning specialists were able to draw out of him. Nourishing that kind of growth in our students doesn't happen accidentally: It begins, in so many ways, with intentional investments in our colleagues.
Professional development days, like the one we had earlier this month, are one such investment. This year we've launched Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) to empower colleagues to dive deeper and tailor their continued learning to the Woodlynde area of strength about which they're most passionate. During this inaugural year, we'll be running four colleague PLCs:
- Educational Technology (EdTech)
- Executive Functioning (EF)
- Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)
- Universal Design for Learning (UDL)
Woodlynde has never taken a one size fits all approach to our students. Embracing a similar approach when it comes to our colleagues' growth, then, seems fitting, especially given our belief that each of us becomes who we are meant to be through hard work and feedback, sharing and collaboration, innovation, accountability, and the identification of a true passion.
Our hope is that this new model will also empower colleagues to become leaders in a given area, within our community and beyond. This will be important as we prepare for the release Woodlynde 2026, our newest strategic plan, later this fall. The plan, which brings Woodlynde to its 50th year, finds its foundation in things like EdTech, EF, DEI, and UDL and focuses on how each of these areas of expertise can meaningfully transform the lives of our students and our colleagues.
Nourishing growth in our students starts with nourishing growth in our colleagues. I'm so proud of how they've embraced these new opportunities for learning and leading and so grateful, as I'm sure you are, for the progress and forward momentum they've drawn out of our students during these first months. My thanks to them and, of course, to you, for your partnership and support.
On the topic of colleagues, below I share an official welcome to some of the new faces you may have seen around campus alongside some dates to remember and news items.
Wishing you a wonderful autumn weekend!
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