Students and their families are welcome to strategize with teachers on appropriate ways to share their family’s traditions and celebrations with the classroom group.
Religious and cultural observances, and personal celebrations like student birthdays, are integrated into the school day in ways that each classroom teacher deems appropriate. Their choices reflect Gordon’s goal of presenting the religious and cultural differences and similarities that exist both at school and in the world beyond Gordon, while maintaining an atmosphere of mutual respect and inclusivity.
Gordon actively offers parents support in their efforts to sustain a healthy home life for students, offering resources that reach beyond the boundaries of the campus. The Ages and Stages program brings parents from each grade level together with Division Directors and the School Psychologist to discuss their children in the context of their developmental stages. These discussions are deliberately not centered on the curriculum, and are intended to encourage open, friendly and constructive dialogue among parents.
Other parenting resources provided by the
school include a parent section in the library and GCA sponsored speakers who address topics of concern such as talking to your child about technology and the internet or human sexuality.
The school also supports activities that bring subgroups of the parent body together to discuss issues related to education and childrearing in an informal setting, like a quarterly book discussion group and a monthly meeting of parents of students of color.
Gordon faculty and administrators are available to students’ families outside of the regular schedule of conferences and reports. In addition, daily arrival and dismissal times are structured in Early Childhood and Lower School so that parents can check in with their child’s classroom teachers informally every day. Parents often come to value these brief exchanges with teachers as a crucial element of a strong dialogue with the school.
In Middle School, where there are fewer opportunities for parent-teacher contact during the daily routine, advisors take the initiative to start the dialogue by calling each of their advisee’s parents early in the fall. Advisors typically stay in contact with parents via email and the phone as needed.