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Dear NCA Families,
We are excited to have the students back in the building with us, living our mission together. The true, good, and beautiful things of our curriculum unite us in a shared pursuit. I have seen a lively joy and zeal for the curriculum and moral mission in our teachers, students, and parents, and we look forward to a year growing together as a community. I want to take some space in this newsletter to talk about what might be the most immediate sign of our unity in the building, the school uniform.
The dress code at Naples Classical Academy may be different from what many parents and students have experienced in the past, so I want to share five goods we seek with the uniform. Although these are not the only goods one might list that we can seek by a uniform, they are, nonetheless, important enough that I think they merit brief mention here at the start of the year. After describing these five goods, I will talk about some of the particulars of the different pieces of the uniform and address some common questions and points of confusion. First, five goods we seek…
Attention On The Curriculum:
Everything we do in the building should be directed toward the students learning the curriculum and pursuing the virtues. Dress can sometimes distract students from learning when they feel they need to keep up with trends or display certain things about themselves through their dress. By maintaining the uniform, we can remove some of these distractions for our students.
Unity:
Just as players on an athletic team might wear a jersey, so do our students wear a uniform. We are pursuing one curriculum together and the uniform is a sign of our unity in pursuit of that common goal. Students should see by the uniform that they are part of one team, working toward the same end with their peers.
Order:
By maintaining the proper uniform, students practice order in a smaller thing. As they progress from kindergarten to the later years of school and become more responsible for their own dress each day, they take greater ownership of that habit of order.
Safety:
Tucked in shirts, clothing of an appropriate fit, and the absence of outerwear in the building are three small ways we can make it less likely that items we do not want on campus are not concealed on a student's person.
Humility:
A uniform can require us to sacrifice something we like for ourselves (the ability to dress however we want) in service of a communal good. When we are asked to dress a certain way for work, for school, for worship, or for whatever the occasion may ask of us, we subordinate our own will, and that often requires humility. The dress code offers an opportunity to practice this virtue which we all need in order to be docile, to learn, and to grow.
CLICK HERE to view some details of the uniform policy which merit special discussion at the start of the year. Please take some time to review these items with your children:
Sincerely,
Mr. Duff
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