Happy Halloween

Have a safe, warm, and  happy halloween!

Thank you to all the parents, staff, and students who made this such a special, fun, and "thrilling" day. 

PALS

Some schools call their parent association PTA or PTO. At St. Paul’s we call it PALS (Parents Actively Lending Support). This acronym is spot on when describing the role of this organization. PALS supports our school in so many ways.

Today our school got an extra free dress day and I had to (or got to) wear my PJ’s as a reward for reaching our Innisbrook Fundraising goal. I am not sure how “rewarding” it is to see your principal in PJ’s but I guess it must be! Innisbrook is just one of the many ways PALS helps raise money to support our school.

You may wonder where all of the money PALS raises goes. It goes directly to making our school a wonderful place for staff, students and parents. Some things that PALS has paid for already this year are:

• Lower school entryway improvement
• Art enrichment
• Musical instruments
• Passport Club supplies
• Books for classrooms 
• Teacher appreciation lunches
• Every field trip students have taken this year

This is just the beginning of ways that PALS funds go straight to making your family's experience at St. Paul’s Academy richer. Kara Crotty, our PALS president, and parent volunteers make sure there's always a friendly face and parental support in everything St. Paul's does.

I hope to see all of you tonight at another fabulous PALS event- The Fall Festival!

Ms. Martin and her class celebrate in PJ's

Buddies

This week as I walked through the Lower School, a kindergartener screamed in excitement, “Mrs. Bucsko, our buddies are coming!” This expression of joy is not uncommon among students regarding buddy time. Students at every grade level in our school are paired up with a buddy at the start of the school year. This pairing consists of one older and one younger student and lasts for the rest of the year.

The teaming allows both students to experience different benefits. The younger buddy enjoys the one-on-one attention received from the older one, and relishes in the fact that they have a “big kid” friend. The older student helps his or her young counterpart advance academically by providing assistance and giving them a role model. The older buddy gets to practice leadership skills by assuming the role of teacher and mentor.

Both students get so much value out of buddy time that it is no wonder students are screaming in excitement!

a second grade student with her upper school buddy

A Kindergarten student with his third grade buddy

A first grade student with her fourth grade buddy

The fifth grade class and their Little Epistles Preschool buddies

The Mystery of PD Days

This week we had two professional development days. These days can be a big mystery for our students. They often wonder, “What do my teachers do at school when I’m not there?” When I taught first grade some years ago, a student asked me, “Do teachers cry when the kids are gone and they have to have school?” I hoped that she thought the teachers would cry because they missed their students - not because they had to go to school!

In-service days can raise questions for parents also. You may be wondering, “Why do staff members need two days for professional development?” I hope this blog post will help alleviate this shroud of mystery.

Extra time for development is really important for St. Paul’s Academy this year. At the end of April 2015 our school will be visited by an external review team. This team will be a mix of administration officials, and teachers from all over the Pacific Northwest who specialize in the field of education.

They will comb through all of the pieces of our school (purpose and direction, governance and leadership, teaching and assessing for learning, and resources and support systems). At the end of the visit they will give us advice and insight into how we can be a stronger institution and better serve you (our families). They will also decide if they want to renew our accreditation status based on findings and evaluation.

There is lots of preparation required before this visit. Before we have an outside source look at our school we must review ourselves internally and provide evidence that we are an institution meeting all of its claims. This process will not only help the evaluating team, but enable us to take a better look at ourselves.

Next time you see a professional development day coming up, I hope instead of thinking of it as a “mysterious” time, you will know that it is time dedicated to making St. Paul’s a better place for you and your child.

Core Commitments

Last week, I wrote about what makes independent schools unique. This week I want to talk about one way independent school students are unique.

I love when I get to see Natalie (our Admissions Director) give a tour, not only because it’s an opportunity to meet new families, but also because our St. Paul’s students shine. We do not tell the students what to say, but often after a tour is done new families remark on our students’ manners, maturity, and how well spoken they are. These comments reinforce what I discovered the first day of school - we have wonderful students!

The staff at St. Paul’s works hard to help all of our students grow - not only academically but in all of life’s skill sets. This year we adopted “core commitments.” These commitments are: I will Engage, I will Reflect, I will Create, I will Care.

Our head of school, Jamie Estill, recently said, “We'll strive all year to make those commitments realities and not just pretty words.”

So how are we making our commitments a reality at the Lower School? By guiding our students on tasks that foster engagement, encourage creativity and reflection, and by modeling and urging caring for themselves and others.

I will Create

I will Reflect

I will Engage

I will Care

We want our visitors to see that our students are unique, but we also want the community to know they are. We hope these core commitments will be our guide in this endeavor.