Head of School
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Happy New Year!
Dear families,
As the new year began this week at Tower Hill, I wandered the halls and poked my head into classrooms to find our students reengaged in purposeful, confident, calm and dedicated ways. They seemed rested and ready to take on the challenges of their Tower Hill education. We are focused on continued conversations about the power of "community," our word for the year. We also continue to implement our Strategic Plan priorities, informed by feedback provided through the most recent market research study that Tower Hill parents participated in last year.
There are exciting and interesting findings in this study. Parents noted significant improvement in various aspects of their children's Tower Hill experience compared with 2016 market research results, as well as areas in which we will continue to challenge ourselves as a school to do even better. Areas that garnered considerable importance according to the majority of our parents included the following:
- Academic rigor and excellence within a well balanced and exhilarating experience
- Innovative teaching and learning, including experiential offerings and STEAM
- High academic standards with an appropriate degree of flexibility and individualization
- Focus on the whole child, with robust wellness and character development programs
- Diversity and inclusion
- Positive school culture
We are, and will continue to be, committed to these priorities. Our students actually know best what these characteristics feel like, look like and sound like! I like to think that every morning when our students walk up the steps to enter the school building, they truly believe that they are in charge of their education, no matter how old or young they may be. Yes, our teachers are here to instruct, guide, mentor, encourage and hold expectations high; however, it is your children who engage every day, and they do so with willing hearts and minds. Their feedback is also very important to our community; education today involves encouraging our students to think of themselves as architects of their school experience.
The more our children see school as their choice, their interest and their job, the more exhilarating it becomes for them. This doesn't always happen overnight, and there are certainly times when school is challenging and demanding. Hard work is often underrated in our society; however at Tower Hill we know that students learn when they feel ownership, when they are inspired and when they are respected by their teachers. At Tower Hill our students are surrounded by peers and teachers who believe that hard work is "cool."
Thanks for reinforcing with your children that hard work pays off and that there are few shortcuts in life for dedication, practice and perseverance. We are proud of the ways your children walk up the steps to Tower Hill with pride, knowing that this is their school and that they have important things to create, share and offer our community each day.
Happy New Year!
