Dear Upper School Parents,
As we near the midpoint of August, I'm happy to report that our preparations for the start of school are coming along well — the power outage notwithstanding — and that we are very much looking forward to welcoming your children back to campus soon. We can't wait to see them!
To our stellar group of teachers, we welcome several new faculty members. Shawn Connors joins our English department after 15 years of experience teaching English and coaching wrestling in independent schools in Virginia and Georgia. Dr. Amanda Mead joins our Science Department to teach Life Sciences; she is a veteran of independent schools in Connecticut and Massachusetts, and also has experience conducting research. Sam Lowenstein joins our Computer Science, Engineering, and Design Department as a Teaching Fellow. Sam graduated from Haverford College this spring and has experience in academic research and in teaching at the college and high school levels. And finally, Stephanie Van Hatten is joining us as Upper School Counselor: she comes to us with deep clinical experience working with adolescents in and outside of schools in Fairfield County. I am grateful to be introducing faculty of such a high caliber, and I'm excited for them to get to know our wonderful students.
Programs We've made some changes to our advisory program for this year: grades 10-12 will be in advisory groups with other students from their own grades, to match the approach we've been using with the ninth grade. This change will put advisors in a position to keep tabs on what's happening in the grade so they can be an even better resource for students and parents. Advisors will reach out directly to their advisees next week to welcome them, and advisory groups will gather in person at orientation.
All Upper School students will attend orientation this year; everyone needs to learn new ways of being in the building together, and we are giving ourselves the time in advance of September 1 so we can jump right into classes at the earliest possible date. For all grades, orientation will involve a blend of in-person and virtual experiences; deans will communicate details — including a little homework! — directly with students next week.
Tenth Grade
Eleventh Grade
Twelfth Grade
During orientation, fall sports teams will offer an abbreviated athletic preseason with practices August 24–27, 8:30-10 a.m.
Our logistical framework for being at school safely during the pandemic led us to reconsider our typical school day, and we are excited to roll out a modified schedule that will give us the flexibility we will need to create a compelling, coherent, and excellent academic experience within the context of reducing the opportunities for virus transmission.
Rotation One: September 1 - October 29 Rotation Two: October 30 - January 15
Each week, students will order their lunches for the coming week from a menu of options; freshly prepared meals will be delivered to students in their classrooms each day. From there, we will have students eat in one of several indoor or outdoor lunch locations. We can't give students the level of freedom they're used to — we'll eat in shifts, for example — but we will give them as much as we're able to while maintaining appropriate distancing.
Advisory will meet weekly in person as usual. We will also continue to have announcements, class meetings, assemblies, and Friday Speakers; for these larger group events, we will meet in advisory groups and join together virtually.
Clubs will meet mostly virtually to start: there will be times set aside for synchronous meetings, and student leaders will coordinate meeting times as usual. We're hoping to have an opportunity to layer in some in-person club meetings once we get underway.
We are working on plans for seminars and service learning, and we will keep you posted as we get closer to starting those programs.
Athletics are an opportunity for students to be part of a team, collaborate with their teammates and build that important life skill — but also to exercise and move their bodies after a day of work at school. Especially in a year like this, we want to give students an opportunity for that release at the end of the day.
Fall teams will start practices on August 24, at the beginning of orientation. All teams — including volleyball — will gather outdoors in groups of less than 15, and they will start with fitness, contactless skills, and strategy drills, keeping at least six feet apart. We'll have more details later about how these plans may evolve.
We acknowledge that this is a different year; we'll also be looking into some other non-team fitness alternatives, and of course we're going to be flexible everywhere. Please let our Athletic Director, Tauni Butterfield know if playing your sport isn't going to be right for your child this year, or if another kind of fitness alternative might be more appropriate.
Performing and Visual Arts Much of our performing and visual arts program will continue in the usual format: classes are all scheduled to meet as usual and music technology, studio art, and the like will unfold in much the same way as we're used to. The musical ensembles are scheduled to meet during the second rotation, and before they begin, we will have more information about what kinds of culminating experiences those programs will offer and how we will break up groups into workable sizes.
Our theater productions will also look different, and Mr. Stout will be sharing more information with interested students closer to the start of school.
This year, our seniors will inaugurate our Advanced Inquiry program. Those courses are scheduled to begin in the second rotation, but faculty may reach out before that to touch base with seniors about their summer work. We are looking forward to this year's World Perspectives Symposium, which will showcase a broader range of student work than ever before!
Putting our faculty and students in position to deliver on these programs requires a significant reimagining of our indoor and outdoor spaces at school. Several of our usual classrooms are big enough already to accommodate a full class — the Visual Arts wing, Science wing, and some of the History wing, for example. To allow for adequate distancing, other classes — most notably Math, World Languages, and English — will be held in a handful of larger spaces around the school, each of which is being equipped with the necessary technology and supplies.
We will be enjoying our beautiful outside spaces even more than usual this year; they will give us an opportunity to take off our masks (while we are maintaining distance), and move a little more freely than in the building. Because we will all likely be spending much more time outside than usual, our dress code will be a little more flexible than usual. Students will be heading straight from classes to athletics as well, without stopping at the locker rooms, so we will be allowing some slight departures from the usual attire to accommodate those needs. Deans will be in touch with students directly on Monday with more details, but our intent is for families not to need to do significant shopping.
Key Dates, First Semester Finally, I want to put a few "don't-miss-them" dates on your calendar. All parent events will be held virtually this year, and while we'd certainly rather be together in person, my hope is that this will allow some of you to attend who might not have been able to come to campus for the occasion. These events are also listed on the GFA Calendar:
Parent Visiting Night: September 22 Advisor/Parent Conferences: October 2, in the afternoon Parent Connections: the week of October 5 (Grade 12 Monday, Grade 9 Tuesday, Grade 10 Wednesday, Grade 12 Friday); all meet from 8 - 9 a.m. Parent/Teacher Conferences: November 23-24
All the best,
Andrew Jones Greens Farms Academy | 35 Beachside Avenue | Westport, CT 06880 |