The Foundation(s) is Strong!
New to PSCS this year is the term “Foundations.” It refers specifically to the first two weeks of school, 9 school days in which the staff help the students build the foundation on which the rest of the school year is built. For instance, as this post is being written, the high school teaching staff is conducting a session with the high schoolers about the importance of self-reflection.
What do we mean by self-reflection?
For PSCS, it’s the ability to candidly and accurately measure one’s involvement in an activity. And it is something we want our students to learn how to do this year, and do even better than PSCS students have ever done before. That requires some structure and some guidance. And a foundation.
Other activities during foundation include a retreat, an explanation of the school’s code of conduct, how to run an effective check-in, how to be a good audience member, the scheduling circus, conflict resolution, and more. Of course, there is a lot of time to just play and get to know each other, understanding what it means to be part of a community.
On that note, right now the middle schoolers are working together to make lunch for the entire school today.
And, oh, the picture accompanying this post? It comes from this year’s retreat at Camp Burton. Groups of students were formed with the directions to create something on the beach. This group created a way to move that large stump from one place to this one, whereupon they created a fun place to sit.
They also built a foundation of collaboration and community. That’s PSCS.