Ask a child what they did at school and they might tell you about a single moment that mattered to them. At Hillbrook, much work has gone into making sure each day and every week is packed with moments that matter, whether children tell their parents about them or not.
The start of the school year brought a new schedule to Hillbrook School and new opportunities for students to engage with learning and discovering their passions. For parents and students, the first noticeable difference was the end of A-F days and the beginning of a Monday-Friday schedule, but that’s just the calendar view. Look a little deeper and it’s amazing what rethinking the day has meant for learning and engagement at Hillbrook.
Several weeks into the 2018-19 school year, the new schedule is making a positive daily difference for students and teachers, but to understand the changes it helps to take a step back because the schedule update actually started two years ago with Vision 2020. You’ll recall, Vision 2020 is the latest strategic plan for Hillbrook and it included the desire to reimagine the student experience to allow for more individualized learning, more problem-based learning, and more opportunities to reach beyond the Hillbrook campus to make a difference in the world. Head of Lower School Colleen Schilly led a process of exploration to find out what was working in the Hillbrook daily schedule and what could be improved. The process included visits to other schools, classroom observations at Hillbrook, and many conversations with students and parents. After months of analysis and thoughtful work, the result is a reimagined daily and weekly schedule that puts student choice and engagement front and center. It also makes room for deep-dives in learning, cross-curricular lessons, and increased time to engage with peers and play.
The daily difference at Hillbrook is palpable. The new schedule has already improved learning and engagement for students. It has also provided teachers with more opportunities to work in small groups or one-on-one with students to help them reach their highest individual potentials.
In the lower school, the new schedule includes longer blocks in homeroom and fewer transitions so students can really dig into the learning experience. It also means more opportunities for flexible groupings of students and individualized learning, more time for cross-grade level projects, and more opportunities for students to discover what interests them and to choose the way they want to explore it.
In the middle school, the new schedule strikes a balance between giving students more time to do deep dives in learning, more cross-curricular opportunities where subjects come together to enhance learning, and more ways to explore topics they want to investigate. Longer, integrated studies blocks mean multiple co-teachers can engage students in history/science lessons and work on projects that weave together lessons and skills learned in English, math, and world language classes. These longer blocks also provide opportunities for multiple teachers to have eyes on individual students so that they can better support student learning in individual and flexible ways. There is also more time for lunch in middle school and more time to play, hang out with peers, or check-in with teachers.
Schoolwide, the new schedule also includes designated Reach Beyond Blocks. These are dedicated periods of time once a week where students can explore new interests, work with the community, and do project-based learning. These six-week sessions are designed by teachers and staff to be challenging, engaging, and inspiring. According to Schilly, “It is a block of time where students are empowered to identify their interests and dreams, transferring skills learned from other areas of their school experience to reach beyond themselves and make a difference in their world.”
The explorations are age-appropriate and vary across the campus. In the lower school, Reach Beyond Block this fall has focused on building community, honing leadership skills and understanding needs on the Hillbrook campus and beyond through games, experiments, and explorations. Topics have covered everything from playground safety to inclusivity in sessions such as, “Our Selves, Our Stories, Our Community” and “Teamwork and Task Forces for Good.” In middle school, students in Reach Beyond Block explorations can choose to pursue personal interests like cooking or rock-climbing, tackle community-wide issues like plastic pollution, or help Hillbrook design and build playground spaces and new learning spaces. With the first six-week session in the books at Hillbrook, it’s already clear Reach Beyond Block is reaching students and achieving its goal of engaging and inspiring young minds.
So what did your child do at school today? More than you can imagine.