First Day of School

It has been a pleasure to welcome your sons and daughters to the start of another school year with a wonderful convocation ceremony this morning. It was great to see students from all three divisions, who this year come from 43 different countries, come together to celebrate. 

The mission of the school is very important to us and as a faculty, we are wholeheartedly committed to helping your children reach inside themselves to learn with passion, act with integrity and serve with respect. Today, our students spent the day with their advisors. The Class of 2012 spent the first day of their senior year at College Boot Camp. Through a series of speakers, presentations and small group work with their college advisors, they laid the foundation for the next chapter of their educational career.

Our underclass students spent the day attending various small group sessions that taught them more about themselves and Darlington. Each student grades 9-11 met with the people at Darlington who will help them reach their full potential in all that they do. Students also completed a “Learning Sketch,” which will help them, their advisor and you understand how they can best learn in the classroom. In the coming days, each student will meet with their advisor to go over the details of their individual assessment, after which the advisor will share this information with you. During the day, the underclass students also participated in team-building activities and discussions about honor and citizenship. 

At the end of the day, the entire Upper School community came together once again. To help prepare all of our students for a successful school year and ensure that they are fully aware of – and understand – our expectations, we went over many of the policies contained in the Student Handbook and the philosophies behind them. Once topic was the school’s new Substance Abuse Policy, which can be found in the handbook, which is available exclusively online. I encourage you to read this policy and discuss it with your sons and daughters. If you have any questions regarding this policy or any other information contained in the Student Handbook, please feel free to contact me. 

I look forward to partnering with you to help push your child ever forward to an extraordinary life.