Dear Upper School families,
As I settle into my new role at Brookwood, I am focused on providing engaging opportunities for both Upper and Lower students to explore their interests and make connections with peers outside of the regular school day. Because Upper School students balance a longer school day with sports and additional academic responsibilities, offering enrichment opportunities in the same format as Lower School students creates a barrier to their ability to participate.
I am currently working with Jay Tebbens and Emily Norton to explore different structures for enrichment classes to better meet the needs of our Upper School students. For example, we are looking at utilizing the weeks between sports seasons as well as our half-day parent conference days to offer engaging special programming specifically geared toward our Upper School students.
Your child’s years in Upper School is a great time to dig into an interest, explore something new and build upon their talents in a particular area. These are opportunities that can help students learn more about themselves as they approach high school and connect with peers with similar interests. Upper School students recently completed a survey to get a sense of their interests as well as what they perceive to be the barriers in place to their participation in our enrichment programs as they are currently structured.
Summary of the student responses:
- Around 50% of the students who filled out the survey chose the option “highly unlikely” to enroll in enrichment classes related to visual and performing arts, writing, leadership, and science/technology.
- Categories with more than 10 students showing very high interest in enrollment were sports and job preparation enrichment classes like babysitting, CPR, business.
- Several students noted their interest in cooking and baking classes in the open response questions.
- Nearly 80% percent of students cited “too busy” as the reason they might not enroll in an enrichment class. “Taking the bus” “too tired after school”, “don’t want to take classes with younger students”, “would have to miss too many classes due to sports” and “not interested in the options” were also top reasons students said might prevent them from signing up for an enrichment course.
- In the open response section, a student noted that many Upper School students have other responsibilities outside of the school day such as sports teams or other groups they belong to. The student suggested offering short term enrichment offerings like one day options.
It is helpful to know what the students are thinking, and now I am seeking your feedback to guide me as I tailor the enrichment program to the needs and interests of your Upper Schoolers.
Thank you for taking the time to complete this brief survey.
Sincerely,
Trisha Gordon
Director of Auxiliary Programs
