Letters from our Leaders

I’m excited to report that we are off to a fabulous start to our school year 2022-2023. Starting the year with routine in all of our traditional spaces, such as lunch in the Dining Room and Chapel in Bell Hall, has been wonderful. Thank you for attending our Lower School Parents’ Night this past Thursday. Teachers enjoyed seeing class parents, and I’m sure it was fun for parents to sit at their child’s desk or table for the evening. 

Some parents who I was able to chat with on the evening of Parents’ Night asked a good question- if parents hear from their child’s teacher or me regarding an incident that we addressed at school, should the parent discuss the school incident at home? Great question, and the answer is a resounding yes! ALL kids are going to make mistakes. Mistakes are learning opportunities, and when learning is occurring, we all need to to take advantage of a teachable moment. Having your child hear us using the same language and sending the same message will be to your child’s benefit. It’s important for  children to realize quickly that school and home talk to one another and work together. It grounds their sense of security and trust in all the adults in their life. One of my favorite lines used during Covid (so I hesitate to use it here) that we should remember and use forever is, “We’re all in this together!” While we are the experts at school, you are the experts at home, and we can learn from one another to make the most of your child’s formative years.

We all strive to make sure the young people around us are happy and eager to learn during their days at Montgomery. I was also in a high school parent assembly recently. The speaker asked simply, “what do you want for your child in life?” One person did say he only wants his child to be able to have a good job, but all the others in the room said, “to be happy!” Of course that is what we want for our kids - and a good job to go along with that isn’t a bad thing either. How do we get to that happiness and feeling of wellbeing? Felicia Huppert once wrote,

"Sustainable wellbeing includes the experience of functioning well, for instance having a sense of engagement and competence, being resilient in the face of setbacks, having good relationships with others, and a sense of belonging and contributing to a community." 

"Being resilient in the face of setbacks…" and sustainable wellbeing go hand in hand. Setbacks are going to be something we have to learn to face, and face with grit and resilience. Our students embrace a setback and learn from their challenges. “A sense of belonging and contributing to a community,” is in alignment with our values at Montgomery. All students are given opportunities to contribute and lead, and they do this because of their self-confidence and comfort with others.All students are given opportunities to contribute and lead, and they do this because of their self-confidence and comfort with others. Montgomery students are so lucky to be in a community where they happily take risks and where they are known by students in other grades and the adults on campus as well. We look forward to many happy connections throughout the year. 

Upcoming Events in Lower School

• Monday, September 26 - Rosh Hashanah - no school for students
• Wednesday, September 28 at 9 AM - New Lower School Parent Coffee in the Dining Room, following Lower School Chapel  
• Thursday, September 29 at 7 PM - Grade 5 and Middle School Parents’ Night
• Consider attending a Middle School team event and cheer on our Herons! Our athletic fields are beautiful and are located behind our schoolhouse building, up the hill. Visit our athletics schedule on this page on our school website.

If you ever have any questions about anything, please feel free to reach out to me.