Dear Families,

Happy New Year to you all! We are eagerly awaiting the return of our students, along with the arrival of 15 new students joining us this week! Our boarders return to the dorms tomorrow and classes resume on Jan 9. Our full faculty and staff (lovingly referred to as our “staffulty”) have been in meetings these past two days, preparing to welcome students back for an amazing Semester 2. In our professional learning day yesterday, we highlighted three topics for the focus of our second semester work with our students: (1) DEIBJ (diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging, and justice) - with a hearty focus on creating a campus of inclusion and belonging for every student, (2) Student Engagement - with a revisit of our systems and structures in alignment to our Engagement Matrix, our tool which defines the attributes of engagement to enable us to coach our students towards increasingly more joyful engagement with the act of student-centered learning in our global community, and (3) Student Support - with a focus on diagnosing the difference between students engaged in the healthy struggle of demanding learning from those who are in need of intervention. From our trio of care (advisor, UAC, and House Parent) to our learning support and English language support services, and from office hours to faculty-monitored study hours, we pride ourselves on the multiple ways in which we support students.

It is going to be an amazing Semester 2! We are looking forward to the conclusion of our winter sports season and the launch of many spring sports this year, including golf & tennis! In Semester 2 our Robotics, E-Sports, and Model United Nations Teams become immersed in their more competitive seasons and our Drama program pivots towards the production of our Spring Musical. In the spring semester we also see students’ hard work in their courses from Semester 1 begin to develop into a collection of evidence that demonstrates their mastery of the course competencies, an exciting conclusion to a year-long learning journey in each course. We also enjoy witnessing the positive impacts of our community and residential life programming on our students. With each passing semester of participation in our school community, you will see your children develop more poise, self confidence, thoughtfulness, and a uniquely well-developed global world view. EF Academy is a magical place to learn and grow!

Wishing you all a wonderful beginning to 2025!