TA News

Dear TA Families,

Question: “If you were in a traveling circus, what role would you have?”

First response: “The lion tamer, no doubt!”

This fun discussion prompt, which quickly elicited spirited answers from friends around the table, was one of many interesting conversations I caught little pieces of while strolling around on lunch duty earlier this week. Sharing current favorite shows on Netflix, troubleshooting the design of a robot, throwing a football on the quad, giggling about who knows what, sitting quietly with a book. Students at lunch this year are taking a pause during their school day to eat, connect, rest or run around, and have a few minutes of downtime. This isn’t new, of course, but what is different is the absence of phones. In the past these activities and conversations would likely have been mediated or distracted by phones – diminishing the focus and quality and value of the time, I’d posit.

As we come up on the 3-month mark of the school year, it’s a good time to check in at home with your student about their perspective on the phone-free rules and yondr pouch routines we’ve implemented this year at TA. Many high school students opt to leave their phone at home or in their car, and we trust that they are telling us the truth about this routine. Many middle school students and their families traded in the yondr pouch at the beginning of the year for a phone-free tag on their backpacks, and that system is working well. For the most part, things are going smoothly and we are experiencing infrequent violation of the rules.

But we know we don’t always have the full picture. Some students report that they know classmates who are ‘cheating the system’ and sneaking phones into school. We are also aware that a handful of students have misplaced their yondr pouches, and we are eager for those to be located. So this is where we invite families to check in and have conversations on the homefront. What is your student’s phone routine each day? Are they complying with the school rules? Do they know where their yondr pouch is? Maybe it’s a good time, too, to ask about benefits of being phone-free that students might be noticing (and willing to admit), like lunchtime conversations with friends and less distractions in class. And if questions arise that you want to follow up on, feel free to reach out to Dean of Students Siobhan Lopez, [email protected].

Best wishes to all of the cast and crew of The Crucible, who will be exceedingly busy this weekend putting on four performances! Tickets are still available and can be purchased online. Campus will be bustling with activity on Saturday, as the TAAA annual craft bazaar will be happening as well, 9am-2:30pm. More details here.

As part of our Thanksgiving traditions at TA, students reflected on the theme of gratitude in advisory and created ‘I’m thankful’ cards that are now hung throughout the hallways. On Tuesday we will have our annual all-school meal together before heading out for the holiday. Thetford Academy is closed Wednesday-Friday for Thanksgiving break.

Have a good weekend,

Carrie Brennan, Head of School