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Dear Upper School families,
It is a pleasure to welcome you to the 2017-18 school year. I trust that you and your son have enjoyed the recreational and recuperative opportunities that summer often affords us. Though the halls of the Upper School are strangely quiet, we at Haverford have been preparing for your son's arrival in September. For teachers, this means reading up on the latest developments in their fields, fine-tuning their curricula for the coming year, and attending a variety of professional development workshops. For Mark Fifer, Adele Kasmen, and me, it means providing you with the information you need so that your son can hit the ground running in September. To this end, please access the back-to-school forms and documents by clicking this link and going to your son's grade.
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Student Class Schedules
These are available on My Backpack. Click here for My Backpack login instructions. You will also find your son's advisor listed there. Form III students will receive hard copies of their schedules, as well as customized planners, from their advisors on Sept. 5. As a reminder, we use our well-established evaluation program to help our teachers grow and provide you with the quality assurance to which your son is entitled, but we do not accept teacher requests.
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Contact Time and Exams
This summer, we made increasing the contact time between your son and his teachers a priority. Thanks to a few modest changes, we have been able to add nearly three weeks of class days to your son's schedule. One of those changes has to do with midterm and final exams. This year, students will have two exams in mathematics, both in the fall and in the spring. In the other departments, they will sit for only one exam, both in the fall and in the spring. Exams, then, will be staged on Dec. 18, 19, and 20, and June 5 and 6. Please do not plan to have your son dismissed during either of these time periods. (As an aside, the change will also allow us to return to semesters that are equal in length and value.)
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Expanded Peer Counseling
In keeping with the goals of our school's Strategic Vision, we have taken steps to expand our highly successful Peer Counseling program, a bi-weekly program for interested V and VI Formers that includes four components: theory, modeling, peer support, and practice. Beginning this fall, all students at all grade levels will experience a modified version of the program, one that targets the developmental needs of each particular age group. Dr. Reichert, the School's consulting psychologist and long-time co-director of Peer Counseling, will engage students in large and small group sessions at strategic intervals throughout the year, adapting what has worked in the flagship program to this more modified set of offerings. We are confident that this program enhancement will help your boy respond to the important questions posed by the "Circles of Responsibility" page of the Strategic Vision: "Who am I?", "Who are we?", and "How are we connected?," and in so doing, gain new insights into his relationship with, to again quote that document, his "Self" and "Others."
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Handbooks
One of the side effects of moving toward paperless communication is that your audience may not be reading quite as closely as they once did. Nowhere am I more uneasy about this possibility than when it comes to the various school handbooks. This summer, please visit the School website to read the Upper School Parent and Student Handbook and the Honor Code handbook. I won't claim that either are beach-reading page-turners, but you can learn so much about the policies and procedures that will govern your son's daily life in the Upper School.
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Books
Once again, the School will provide many, but not all, of the books. Textbooks will be purchased by the School and checked out to the boys by their teachers, with the expectation that the books will be returned in reasonable shape. There are other books, primarily paperbacks and workbooks, which need to purchased by families. Lists of such materials were sent in the June mailing and also are listed by course here. If you haven't already done so, please begin this process as soon as possible - some books may take some time to arrive.
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Health Forms and Required Education
I know the process by which you have to submit medical forms every year can seem cumbersome and that it is not always easy to schedule appointments. I occasionally have to be reminded of my parental responsibilities in this area as well. Your son's physical form is not due until shortly after the date of his scheduled annual physical, but it is essential that you complete and send in the medical emergency form, a copy of which can be accessed here (top right). All required medical forms must be completed in order for your son to participate in any School programming. Please make this a priority in the coming weeks.
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New Teachers
Included in this mailing is a document that provides some biographical information about each new teacher in the Upper School this year.
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Finally, please accept my thanks for sending your boys to Haverford. I strongly believe in the School's mission and in the people who enact it on a daily basis. The enthusiasm and support of parents is no small part of that equation. See you in September! Sincerely yours, Matt Green
Head of Upper School
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