Strategic Plan Progress Report

Goal 1: Belonging

Build a sense of belonging and identity within the Derryfield family.

RETHINKING COMMUNITY TIME

For Derryfield faculty, staff and students, assembling each Monday in the auditorium for Community Meeting is simply routine. We convene to celebrate great triumphs, contemplate the big questions, and share our talents and interests. This spring, as we found ourselves home and unable to gather in person, there was tremendous comfort in sticking to this routine. Every Monday at 1:20 p.m., the entire school huddled around their devices as members of our community continued to celebrate one another, navigate this challenging time together, and listen and watch our talented peers perform.

All Community Meeting recordings, including Founders’ Day, are posted on the Derryfield YouTube Channel.

Goal 2: Leading

Develop a cohesive, coordinated middle and upper school program with an emphasis on academic and co-curricular skills most relevant to a 21st century education.

VIRTUAL CLASSROOMS IN THE TIME OF COVID-19

If you had dropped into a remote classroom at Virtual Derryfield this spring, you would have seen a Brady Bunch quilt of students and teachers connected by laughter, lively debate, project pitches, and challenging discussion—transformative teaching and learning with that Derryfield twist of joy.

When COVID-19 hit, we were ready. While we too shouldered uncertainty, our teachers and our students transitioned nimbly and with courage into this new mode of learning because we were well versed in change. Eight years ago, when we joined the Malone School Online Network, Derryfield teachers began teaching online, learning how to build community in a virtual classroom and how to design inspiring projects that required students to practice real-world skills of problem solving in virtual teams. When we went “one-to-one,” learning changed exponentially as the walls of the classrooms expanded to include digital platforms and experiences and resources in the real world. Suddenly, Ph.D. students from national university research centers were interviewing our Advanced Topics Biology students and NHPR reporters video conferenced with tenth graders about podcasting.

Integrating technology and digital communication into our classrooms aligned with our goals: students were inspired to be engaged in real-world experiences that put their learning to work, and they are thriving. As a community we all learned to be flexible, to experiment and adapt, and to laugh as we collaborated.

We transitioned smoothly because of the thoughtful work of our teachers over the last three years. Derryfield teachers researched and designed a new Academic Vision and a new schedule to create more time. We introduced 14 new Advanced Topic (AT) Courses anchored in interdisciplinary research and collaborative projects. We created LEAD, a program designed to educate students in emotional and social intelligence, resiliency, and leadership. Across the disciplines, in grades 6-12, teachers have moved toward

learning through real-world projects and assessments, building on Derryfield’s historic commitment to critical thinking and creativity. This in turn has led us to redesigng communication, collaboration, and problem-solving in light of 21st century media and technology. Those programmatic additions have served us well during this time.

So, join us. Go to the Virtual Learning page of the website to see more of what is happening in virtual Derryfield classrooms. In AT Investment Math, watch as seniors consolidate a year of high-level math with a pitch as they market their hedge fund to four new clients, a CFO, average investors, and our Dean of Innovation. You’ll hear them explaining how their algorithm anticipates the fluctuations of the market in the pandemic, and reaching out to customers with new tools and positive financial gains. In Anatomy and Physiology, students researched the body’s response to stress; on the recording of our Community Meeting on Youtube you can watch their videos on strategies to alleviate that anxiety. Click on the writings, “On Living in the Time of COVID-19,” by the junior and senior Creative Writing class, written in response to C.S. Lewis’s “On Living in an Atomic Age.”

While COVID-19 has been an unprecedented challenge, it has also been a gift as our community embraced the core value of character stated in our Academic VIsion: Derryfield cultivates ethical, community-oriented leaders who are innovative problem solvers of real world challenges.

Goal 3: Building

Invest in a sequence of multiple physical plant upgrades by following a traditional master planning, campaign, and construction cycle.

CAMPUS UPDATES CONTINUE

While the Derryfield campus was empty of students and faculty this spring, a small but mighty team from buildings and grounds was working on a number of critical projects. In addition to getting a head start on deep-cleaning that typically happens during the summer, the team worked with contractors on an overdue replacement of the turf field and the renovation of the old science classrooms, which included asbestos abatement.

Looking towards the fall, Derryfield has hired public health experts from Fusion Cell to perform a COVID-19 Readiness Assessment. Recommendations from their thorough examination of campus will result in more projects for the buildings and grounds team. The administration is looking to convert as many spaces as possible into satellite classrooms, allowing classes on campus to have appropriate physical distancing and safe working conditions. The addition of the Athletic & Wellness and Science & Innovation Centers last year puts us in a good position to achieve this goal.

Goal 4: Elevating

Raise our profile in the state for the purpose of expanding enrollment and ensuring long-term financial strength.”

KEEPING THE CONVERSATION GOING

At first, Dr. Carter’s Fireside Chats in March were simply a way to communicate broadly, to pull together our community, to deliver updates, and to remind us that we are #teamderryfield in the midst of a scary and uncertain time. Along the same lines, Director of College Counseling and Outreach Brennan Barnard offered his Thursday Night Live college advice series in order to handle the influx of immediate concerns in the Derryfield community about how COVID-19 would impact the college process.

Both series organically and quickly became even more: a way to deliver valuable news and content to both current and newly enrolled families; a way to provide access to Derryfield leadership, to answer questions, and to assuage fears; and to serve as a resource in the wider educational community. In particular, the Thursday Night Live series gained huge momentum and registered hundreds of watchers and followers, elevating Derryfield’s profile through Brennan’s connections with admission deans from colleges and universities across the country. As a result, Derryfield’s culture is more visible and vibrant in some ways than ever before. We invite you to view and share!