Long Term

PHILOSOPHY

MISSION STATEMENT

Sewickley Academy inspires and educates students to engage their hearts, minds, and hands to cultivate their full individual and collective potential in the service of a greater good.

CORE VALUES

Character - Sewickley Academy upholds the highest ideals of honor, integrity, responsibility, respect, empathy, and kindness and the actions that flow from them.

Educational Vigor - Sewickley Academy is committed to the highest standards and expectations in academics, while recognizing the essential contribution of athletics and the arts, and the maintenance of an appropriate balance among the three.

Diversity - Sewickley Academy is dedicated to being a community that represents and celebrates different backgrounds, talents, interests, and divergent yet informed opinions.

Community - Sewickley Academy seeks to foster a deep understanding and appreciation of our connections with one another and those beyond our borders, as well as our obligation and responsibility to serve and lead inherent in these bonds.

BACKGROUND

As Sewickley Academy continues our efforts to strengthen the educational experience for our students, we seek to enhance the range of tools our teachers have at their disposal so that they can create a seamless educational experience inspiring students to do their very best.

At the heart of any great education are vigorous academic programs and the relationships that support and inspire learners. Sewickley Academy excels at providing learners with a strong academic foundation that prepares them for future challenges by fostering relationships that inspire learners to pursue areas of interest and passion that will develop and deepen over time, or perhaps shift, to create novel and unexpected avenues for exploration.

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020 caused us to make adjustments to the delivery of our programs in order to meet health and safety guidelines put into place by the state and health officials. Specifically, at that time, we moved to a Virtual School model. Since then, we have strengthened our ability to pivot quickly to a Virtual School program. With our values and commitments in place, we are prepared to deliver educational experiences that inspire our students to continue their learning and growth in a way that challenges them to be their best selves, regardless of the physical environment. Our expectations regarding our Mission, Core Values, Community of Respect, Relationships for Learning, and Community Expectations remain. In addition, the expectations for student use of devices and virtual learning tools as described in our Responsible Device Use Policy remain in force. In all that we do, whether on campus or online, we seek to model the qualities that make our school a supportive, affirming, and kind community.

Using a combination of both online and in-class strategies to achieve educational goals is called “blended learning” by educators. Blended learning seeks to maximize the potential of both online and in-class learning activities and experiences through careful planning to leverage the best attributes of virtual and face-to-face interactions to increase student involvement, engagement, and input. Blended learning is not about the tools (i.e., technology) but how these tools (technology) and assets (teacher knowledge and skills) are leveraged to create a seamless and enhanced learning experience for students.

A blended learning environment seeks to take the best of in-class practices and complement them with the best online learning strategies. Sewickley Academy became a “1-to-1” school in the 2015-2016 school year by adopting the “Bring Your Own Device” (BYOD) model to take advantage of the enormous power of technology by ensuring that it is in the hands of every student in Grades 6 through 12. In Grades 4 and 5, each student is assigned a Chromebook and iPad to use in school to support their expanding use of technology as they learn.

Being a 1-to-1 school ensures that each student has the tools necessary to do the increasingly collaborative and dynamic work that is at the heart of a robust 21st century education. Using a range of powerful digital tools, students collaborate online and in class to discover, create, problem-solve, and leverage as never before the power of both in-class and online experiences.

Teachers remain the orchestrators of the lessons they teach, but they increasingly provide more space for student autonomy within the classroom – and beyond. Combining the best teaching practices in the classroom with the best practices in the online environment, teachers can ensure more fulsome engagement on the part of students, and active engagement has been consistently shown to be correlated with better educational outcomes. Furthermore, the online environment can be accessed anytime and anyplace, freeing students and teachers from the limits of place and time that can hinder the accomplishment of educational goals.

VIRTUAL SCHOOL

While blended learning (described above) is an approach that seeks to combine the best of face-toface teaching with the digital resources available in the online environment, Sewickley Academy also has the capacity to deliver instruction wholly or partially online. We refer to this approach as Virtual School. Sewickley Academy can enact Virtual School at any time, most typically when inclement winter weather makes travel to school unsafe, but also in the event of state and/or national recommendations and orders to curtail or end on-campus activities or to put safety procedures in place that do not allow for all students and faculty to be on campus at one time.

Virtual School in Pre-Kindergarten through Grade 12 is supported by three learning management platforms which are determined by the developmental needs of the children in each grade: MySewickley, Seesaw, and Google Classroom.

• Pre-Kindergarten through Grade 3 – Seesaw • Grade 4 – Google Classroom • Grade 5 – Google Classroom and MySewickley • Grades 6-12 – Google Classroom and MySewickley

Throughout this document, where learning platforms are mentioned, it will be a reference to these identified platforms for each grade.

For short-term campus closures that are not COVID-related, Sewickley Academy has plans in place to sustain learning. These plans go into effect for all students in Grades 4-12 after two consecutive canceled school days. Faculty members have prepared lessons that students can access online if school is canceled on a third consecutive day. Faculty are mindful that after two days out of school, students may not have all of their classroom materials with them at home. These assignments are electronic or focus on a task a student can complete from home without additional materials.

• When does it happen?

On the third day, after two full consecutive days of school have been canceled.

• Who is involved?

Students in Grades 4-12.

• How does it work?

The Sewickley Academy community will be notified via text message, email, and listings on the local news stations that our campus is closed. Students, parents, and visitors will not be able to access the buildings, including the Events Center and the libraries. An email will be sent to all students and families as soon as we know school will be canceled for a third day. The message will read as follows:

FOR STUDENTS IN GRADES PRE-K - GRADE 3

• Students should engage in free play, leisure reading, and other healthy activities.

FOR STUDENTS IN GRADES 4 AND 5

• By 10:00 a.m., students and parents will receive an email from the classroom teacher with instructions for the day.

• Your teacher will tell you how to submit the work and whether you will need to hand it in electronically today or hand it in the next time you have class in person.

• Your teacher is available for questions until 3:30 p.m.

• Your teacher will post directions for you on how and where you should ask your questions.

FOR STUDENTS IN GRADES 6-12

Students and families will receive an email from the school with important information, announcements, and the schedule. In the Middle and Senior Schools, it will be sent by the division offices. Students are asked to check-in no later than 10:00 a.m. via a Google Form link included in the email.

• By 10:00 a.m., you should log into MySewickley and look at the class pages for each of the classes you are scheduled to have today. The easiest way to do this is to use the links on the MyDay screen after you log in.

• Your teachers have left you news updates, assignments, and due date/times. Check your email and look at the Announcements section on the Bulletin page in MySewickley as well as the Assignments page to find them.

• Your teachers will tell you how to submit the work and whether you will need to hand it in electronically today or hand it in the next time you have class in person.

• Your teachers are available for questions until 3:30 p.m. Your teacher will post directions on how and where you should ask your questions.

• During short-term campus closures, if you are not able to get online to check MySewickley and have tried everything you can, send your Division Head an email. • Middle School: Dr. Mulholland: smulholland@sewickley.org • Senior School: Dr. Lau: plau@sewickley.org