Thank you to all who attended last evening’s lower school curriculum night. The remarks below were shared by Betty Chu Pryor, lower school head, to welcome families and kick off the event. (These remarks were edited for length.)

Good evening, and thank you for taking time out of your busy schedules to join us this evening for our lower school curriculum night. 

As Brendan [Largay, head of school] just mentioned, our guiding theme for the school year is building bridges.

What is a bridge? A quick Google search came up with this definition, which is probably not too far off from one that any of us would provide: “A bridge is a structure designed to provide passage over a physical obstacle like a river, road, or ravine, allowing people and vehicles to cross. More broadly, it can refer to anything that provides connection or transition.”

If we focus on the latter part of that definition, building bridges is a metaphor that is resonant of much that occurs in a child’s lower school experience at Belmont Day. The lower school is a pivotal stage in your child’s academic and social growth. Connections of all types are continuously being made daily. Picture a pre-kindergartener starting their first formal year of schooling and learning how to write their name and make new friends, or fast forward a few years and think about an upper elementary student learning how to manage homework and also navigate shifting social relationships. The seven years in the lower school are marked by multiple critical turning points in a student’s progression. The faculty seated behind me are integral in supporting every step of the journey for your children, equipped with their expertise in child development and subject matter.

While every child may travel along their lower school journey with approximately the same ultimate destination, no two journeys are identical. While we provide the building blocks to guide your child’s travels, their voyage over those proverbial bridges may not be exactly at the same pace as their peers. For those of you who use the Waze app to commute, it may be a familiar concept. While you will get to work eventually, the path to get there may differ tremendously depending on the current conditions and possible obstacles along the way. Some days you may have smooth travels, while at other times, you may have to take some unexpected detours. 

Last year, I had the privilege and delight of being invited by Alex Tzelnic, one of our lower school physical education teachers, to the pre-kindergarteners’ biking unit graduation. Without giving away too much to our current pre-K families, guests gathered to witness the progress that the children had made after seven weeks of practicing. As I looked around the Downing Gym at this event, I could not help but think that this biking unit was representative of how the journey is for our lower school students at any given moment, with any skill that they are introduced to or any challenge that they encounter. For instance, whether it be mastering math facts, grasping how to write a five-paragraph essay, or navigating a social conflict, each child may access these concepts and skills differently.

During this celebratory showcase, I observed some students pedaling and doing laps around the gym with ease, while other students fell down occasionally. A handful even had to be gently reminded to go in the same direction as the flow of traffic. Each rider, regardless of whether or not they were successful at pedaling and balancing, had made progress relative to where they had started at the beginning of the unit and felt a sense of personal accomplishment. I heard from some parents that prior to this unit, their children had never even felt comfortable getting on a bicycle. It was our faculty who had helped to bridge that gap in that instance and will do so at other points along their lower school journey, pun intended.  

I encourage you to keep that in mind as you notice student work this evening. There will inevitably be a range of skills and abilities that you will observe in your child’s classroom. From personal experience as a parent, I know it can be tempting to compare your child’s progress with that of their peers. Our lower school faculty are skilled at meeting each individual child where they are academically, socially, and emotionally, and they ensure that each child is guided along their travels at a pace that is just right for them. What sets BDS apart is our faculty’s keen ability to know each child and to challenge them appropriately. This is a concept we have labeled “rigor with care,” a term that you may hear tonight and throughout the school year. 

As of this school year, both of my own children are now middle schoolers. Besides the fact that it is a bittersweet reminder of how quickly they are growing up, I look back at their teachers in their formative years with fondness. Those were the educators who were instrumental in laying the foundation for the lessons that they will learn moving forward. Those are the teachers who got them excited about a unit, a topic, or a project, and who encouraged them to take risks and to get back up when they fell down. Similarly, these talented faculty are constructing the many bridges by which your children will move through the lower school, thoughtfully presenting them with new challenges at every turn and skillfully creating opportunities that will foster independence, confidence, and a deeper love of learning.

It is my son’s first year in middle school, and it did not surprise me that the first people he chose to write to when he received an email account a few weeks ago were the teachers he had in elementary school. This act is a testament to the impact that these earliest teachers have had on his educational journey. If they have not already, I suspect that many of your children will experience something similar with our excellent lower school faculty.

In closing, the lower school is not just about your children building connections and achieving milestones, but it is also about all of you and your paths. Brendan has remarked in the past at new parent events that just as much as your children have been welcomed into our BDS community, you as their caregivers are also joining us for the ride. 

Recently, a colleague shared an anecdote that she overheard when a sixth-grade student was giving a tour of the Schoolhouse to a new classmate. The veteran student who had just passed by the nurse’s office then pointed in the direction of my office and remarked,  “And that is the lower school head’s office. She is there if you ever want to talk about how you are feeling or how things are going. She is also there if you ever find yourself in any type of predicament.” 

I encourage you to follow this student’s sound advice at any time this year or throughout your time in the lower school. I welcome the opportunity to hear how you are feeling and how things are going for you and your child. While the teachers should be your first contacts, if you ever find yourself in “any type of predicament,” please know that I serve as one of many bridges between your child’s teachers and the school. My door is always open, and I am just a check-in, email, text, or phone call away. As the sign on my desk declares, “Everything is figureoutable,” and I am here to help, to listen, and to support you in any way that I can.

Thank you for being here tonight and for sharing your children with us every day.