Mapping a Path for Success

BY LAUREN CORTRIGHT

As educators, we nurture the inherent promise of each student, demonstrate our faith in their abilities, and challenge them to develop the motivation and discipline necessary for personal, social, and academic success.

—from the Buckingham Friends School Educational Philosophy, June 17, 2019

At BFS, the whole child experience is nurtured through learning opportunities that speak to each individual as well as to their place in the larger community. During the Middle School stage of development and learning, students enjoy exploring their own potential and working cooperatively in groups. They tend to respond to projects and assignments that build a sense of unity and cohesion, and they have a growing sense of moral responsibility beyond themselves. They also like to negotiate and take pride in their finished work. Curriculum is designed to support these emerging traits and fosters a healthy sense of self with sights set for the increased challenges of Upper School. These skills are nurtured in 3rd Grade, enhanced in 4th Grade, and embraced in 5th Grade.

The 5th Grade year is a milestone in the BFS timeline. With gained independence and with the added responsibility of being the leaders of the Middle School, students tend to engage more thoughtfully with the lesson or task at hand. Up to this point, according to Chip Wood, a leading national educator and author of Yardsticks , students tend to “relax in their childhood, gathering strength for the impending storm of adolescence and consolidating their gains from early childhood.” He adds that this is “a great time to plant the seeds for the more formal and more abstract cognitive challenges ahead.” Unique “rites of passage” for 5th Grade students are built in throughout the year to allow them to practice—and showcase—their maturity. Making the weekly school-wide announcements, teaming up to take care of the flags, and helping Specials teachers in their classrooms at the end of each day are just a few of the ways they keep one another and themselves accountable as role models in the School community.

Student accountability is important because it encourages students to take responsibility for their learning and actions. Students, in turn, learn to value their work and likely increase their levels of confidence. This prepares students for life beyond high school, whether it be furthering their education, going into the workforce, or a combination of both. When students are taught the value of accountability from a young age, it carries over into all aspects of their lives, creating a more well-rounded person.

—Jessica Shaffer, fifth-grade teacher M.A. In Administration, Leadership, Georgian Court University NJ Teach Hub.com June 22, 2021

The trust that is placed in each 5th grader to handle these added responsibilities builds their resiliency and competency for the growing independence that will be critical to their future success.

The signature 5th Grade American History Fair is another example of how these students are prepared for the next leap in their journey at BFS. Students are tasked with choosing and researching an American historical figure, writing an original script, preparing props and a costume, and performing a oneperson skit before the whole School. This project teaches the organization, time management, and presentation skills that independent learners need throughout their school career.

As the year comes to a close, 5th graders take their first BFS overnight field trip to Pocono Environmental Education Center. “The team building at the signature trip to P.E.E.C. last year was really fun. We just bonded as a class and now this year in Upper School our relationships and how we work together and help each other as a group is pretty awesome.” —Keira ’25. This experience is a true joy and a true test of students’ growing independence as they represent our School away from our campus.

Finally, the 5th Grade students round out their year with service to others. As the lunch hosts for the traditional Grandparents’ and Special Friends’ Day, they serve lunch to more than 200 valued guests. Tending to the needs of our visitors requires poise and a sense of responsibility to personally care for our community members.

When 5th Grade students move up to 6th Grade, once again they are the youngest members of their division. However, their Middle School journey has intentionally prepared them for increased expectations in Upper School and, eventually, their path beyond BFS. •

Alumni Reflection

The year before coming to BFS as a seventh grader: Back north, from lower grades in an Appalachian mission school, in sixth grade in a three-room public school in western New Jersey, we were given a test from Junior Scholastic, a weekly current events kids’ magazine in the 1940s that still exists. The test was multiple choice for half an hour or so. Finishing mine fast and by far first, sitting there smugly – probably with arms crossed like the snotty kid I was –and figuring I had done very well, was a winner’s moment. Waiting for always-elegant Mrs. Fabrizio to collect everybody’s and turn us out to our lunchboxes, I was enjoying having a sixth grader’s good day. That afternoon when she was handing back the test, commenting that I had done the best by far while smiling down with mine marked a hundred, I looked around, genuinely overwhelmed, proud, and through that childish epiphany realizing that it would be a good thing, and maybe possible, to keep it up.