January 20, 2012
Message from the Head of School: Smaller Is Better
Recently I have enjoyed becoming acquainted with Byron List, who leads Rivendell School in Arlington, VA and Amy Imbody, who leads Lorien Wood School in Vienna, VA. During the early stages of Cambridge’s formation, Rivendell School served as a model for Cambridge because of its alignment with the educational vision of Cambridge’s founders. All three of our schools now participate in a group known as the Comenius Consortium, founded by Esther Powell, who currently teaches 5thgrade at Cambridge. This consortium is named after Jan Amos Comenius, a European educational reformer who lived during the 17thcentury. During modern times, more and more educators have begun to recognize the value of his contributions to educational philosophy and practice. Comenius believed in the importance of educating the whole child—heart, mind, body, soul, and spirit. He also believed that learning should be enjoyable and that children’s curiosity should be valued. He was strongly committed to the development of children’s moral character and their capacity to appreciate the wholeness of God’s world. Sounds a lot like Cambridge to me! I am thankful for this opportunity to partner with like-minded schools for the purpose of maximizing opportunities to cooperate, to share resources, and to encourage one another. A key trait that we immediately identified in our conversations was that of size, all three schools affirming the value of being relatively small and keeping class size at 16-17 students. The enrollment at Lorien Wood is 132 students, at Rivendell 145 students, and at Cambridge 135 students. Each school has a capacity of approximately 150, assuming one class of students in each grade and 16-17 students per class. How strange to celebrate “smallness” in a culture that constantly bombards us with the credo “Bigger is better”! Fact is, however, Cambridge School is small, not because we believe that small schools are superior or that that smallness in itself is necessarily good. Instead, Cambridge’s commitment to being small aligns with an educational vision that emphasizes integral learning and that also encourages each student to flourish in accordance with his or her unique identity as created in the image of God. Also, all three schools are committed to the belief that children should enjoy learning and that learning should involve meaningful hands-on experiences in which children are active participants in the learning process and not passive recipients of information. Hence the Cambridge curriculum includes exciting and interesting field trips, interactive exposure to literary and artistic works that have stood the test of time, and numerous other types of learning experiences that cultivate imagination and curiosity. Cambridge realized early on that small class size was a must in order to implement its philosophy of education effectively, and happily Cambridge has not compromised on this commitment. Yes, we certainly have space for more students at most grade levels, and we will continue to market the mission of Cambridge in our community as strategically as possible. One of the main features that captures the attention of prospective parents when they tour the school, however, is our student to teacher ratio and the obvious personalized attention that each child receives as a result. As you interact with neighbors, friends, and acquaintances, I challenge you to invite them to consider Cambridge, a learning environment that speaks for itself once they experience Cambridge firsthand. Heather Jordan and I are at your service if you wish to pass on to us the names of prospective families who might appreciate a personal invitation to visit and an opportunity to explore Cambridge for themselves (hjordan@cambridgeschool.org, jblumenstein @ cambridgeschool.org). Thank you for choosing Cambridge and for granting us the privilege of serving as partners in the education of your children. Soli Deo Gloria! (To God Alone Be the Glory!). John Blumenstein
P.S. The Cambridge Community Prayer Gathering Saturday, January 7 was well attended, providing one more example of how we can celebrate being small. The fellowship and the interaction were rich, and the prayer time was especially meaningful. We prayed for the entire school community, and at the end of the prayer time, the parent community gathered around the faculty and staff and prayed for us. Such a gathering and such a turnout would be extremely unlikely in a large school setting.
Save the Date: Auction, Saturday Evening, April 14, Time: TBD
The Auction planning committee wishes for this event to engage the entire community in a fun, spirit-building manner for the purpose of raising funds. We need many hands at work to accomplish this. The first planning meeting is this Friday, January 20th at noon; childcare will be provided. It will be held at Erin Curry’s home (212 Melancthon Ave, Lutherville, 21093). We need lots of volunteers, so please feel free to invite anyone else who you think would like to be involved! RSVP’s are appreciated – email Erin (ecurry68@verizon.net) especially if you have little ones or just show up on Friday!
For more information on how you can be a part of the Auction, please contact either Whitney Hays (whitneyhays@ hotmail.com) or Erin Curry (ecurry68@verizon.net).
AIMS Membership (Association of Independent Maryland and DC Schools)
Caroline Chapin, Head of School at Christ Episcopal in Rockville, MD, will visit Cambridge, Wednesday, January 25. Ms. Chapin has been appointed to serve as chair of the accreditation team that will visit Cambridge next fall. The purpose of her visit is to become acquainted with the school and to begin the process of preparing for the team’s visitin the fall of 2012.
Mark your calendar: Learning Expo – Friday, March 9, 4:00 – 6:30pm
Our theme this year is: Gathering Around the Table: Food and Community. Our Learning Expo week will culminate on Friday evening with a community gathering where parents and their children can digest classroom presentations, devour student’s knowledge, and delightfully dine on a festive meal. Students will be remaining after the usual carpool dismissal time with details for that schedule given out closer to the Expo date. For now, please be making preparations for our “gathering around the table.”
Cambridge Community Gathering, Thursday, March 1, 2012
When: Thursday, March 1, 2012, 7:00-8:30 PM
Where: Cambridge School Gym
Please put this meeting on your calendar. That evening you will receive updates on various strategic priorities related to the future, with time allowed for questions and feedback. We will cover such topics as the revision of student assessment standards, upgrading Cambridge’s technology infrastructure, and plans for the 2012-13 school year.
Communication in the Digital Age
As Cambridge continues to use electronic and web based communication more and more, please let us know if we are not using a preferred email address or if we need to change what we have in our data base (contact Patty Donohue, pdonohue@cambridgeschool.org). Also, we welcome any feedback on ways in which we can improve our communication.