TA News

Dear TA Families,

We wrapped up Student Appreciation Week on Friday afternoon with a Panther Party. It was the perfect weather for outdoor activities, including a cookout lunch, volleyball on the quad, an epic hopscotch obstacle course, disc golf on the new course, good old four-square, a cotton candy station, and a huge water slide. We hope students enjoyed the special activities each day, starting on Monday with assembly on the front lawn featuring a few special (large!) four-legged guests, Matthew Whitney’s steer and Chenoweth Donohue’s horse!

Here are highlights for next week:

Spring Concert & Arts Expo – Wednesday 5/29

We are looking forward to a night of celebrating the arts. Many students are involved – and lots of artwork in many mediums will be on display! Required participation by Jeff Seabaugh’s 2nd semester middle school chorus classes and Whit VanMeter’s 2nd semester instrumental music/band classes. The community is invited; admission is free. The concert portion of the evening begins at 6pm in the Martha Jane Rich Theater. More details about the whole evening here: https://thetfordacademy.org/2024/05/celebrate-the-arts-at-tas-spring-concert-and-arts-expo-on-may-29.

Safety Committee Lockdown Drill – Thursday 5/30

TA practices a variety of emergency protocols and drills throughout the school year. Efforts are led by the TA Safety Committee, with the school nurse, director of buildings and grounds, and dean of students in the lead on priorities and planning. For our final lockdown drill of the school year, we will include testing our emergency notification system. This means that all of our school contacts will receive a text and email as part of the drill (very similar to a weather delay or cancellation). Please be prepared at approx 9:15am on Thursday morning and do not be alarmed; we will clearly state that this is a test. We will also send out a reminder closer to the actual drill.

Senior Roundtable Presentations – Friday 5/31

We have our next Roundtable Day coming up on Friday. This is an especially important milestone for seniors, half of whom will be presenting their portfolios to classmates and faculty panels. We look forward to hosting senior parents for the presentations – just check in at the front office and we will direct you. Learn more about roundtables, portfolios, and transferable skills at TA: Check out the explanation and links I shared in my weekly email on April 6, leading up to the first Roundtable Day this spring. Don’t forget – Friday 5/31 is also a half-day schedule, 8:10am-12:10pm, due to teacher professional development time in the afternoon.

Theater Festival – Saturday 6/1

The One Act drama class will host our first-ever Thetford Children’s Theater Festival next Saturday, 1-3pm in the MJR Theater. The festival will feature children’s books adapted into short plays by TA drama students. The community is invited; admission is free. Please tell your friends and neighbors! Event contact: [email protected].

Annual Parent Survey Deadline – Monday 6/3

The annual parent survey opened on May 10, and we have 47 responses so far. It would be great to (at least) double that # before the survey closes. We pushed the deadline out a few days to include next weekend and will send one more reminder next week. Please take 10 minutes now and just click through to share your thoughts. We value your input!

Wishing everyone a beautiful holiday weekend of remembrance and recreation,

Carrie Brennan, Head of School