Help make our new high school amazing! Ideas?

amother

Firebrick

Tue, Jun 19 2018, 4:31 pm

Hi! Our small oot community is finally opening our very own high school! We have a fantastic pioneer class of amazing kids b''h. Can you share ideas for programs, activities and specialty classes to help us give our kids an amazing, well-rounded experience? Thank You!

amother

Cerise

Tue, Jun 19 2018, 6:23 pm

If you are including secular, make sure it's high quality. Many high schools advertise secular, but it is often very low quality. Include classes that ready students for college and seasoned instructors. If possible, offer AP and SAT courses. College is expensive and scholarships come in handy.

Petra

Tue, Jun 19 2018, 6:32 pm

Just curious OP:

How small is your OOT community? How many kids are you going to start with? Just 9th grade?

Can you be more specific about what your school already plans to offer?

I'm assuming you have basic curriculum but you are looking for ideas for clubs, electives, etc?

bestme

Tue, Jun 19 2018, 7:30 pm

Good luck. I wish my daughter's high school had some elective acedemic classes such as extra math or extra writing and some elective specialty classes such as music or art. You should have a lot of hatzlacha in your new school.

animeme

Tue, Jun 19 2018, 7:45 pm

A weekly activity period can be used for special programming and also for bringing in speakers. This is a good way to expose the kids to professionals and educators you don't/can't have on staff (including those who may not be from your community), and also get them interested in your students and your school.

These connections can be very useful if one of the kids wants to find an internship, do research, or connect to a different rav or mentor, even if the resource doesn't exist within the school.

amother

Firebrick

Tue, Jun 19 2018, 8:25 pm

Thank you all! We have 15 girls in the class. This is the original class that launched the elementary school and this is now the next big step. We have a solid academic program, but we don't have the financial wherewithal to hire enrichment and extracurricular coordinators for just the one class. Some of the parents formed a volunteer committee to explore the options and set up the fun and "extra" aspect of high school. This includes both programming and academic enrichment. Keep the ideas coming!

lattemom

Tue, Jun 19 2018, 8:42 pm

Maybe an annual production with peer led groups (dance, music, art, script, etc.)

Work study program in the community

Weekly STEM elective programming with existing staff

Mock trial, chidon competitions, etc.

Monthly themed middot initiatives with prizes and incentives

Small group chats with faculty

Q and A sessions with community leaders, volunteers, elected officials

amother

Chocolate

Tue, Jun 19 2018, 9:17 pm

Pet peeve of mine: avoid, at all costs, what most high schools seem to do, having many many teachers who teach one or two periods a week, thereby rarely getting to know the girls (though not as much of a concern in your small school) and piling on the homework.

Why does a school need Neviim Rishonim, Nevvim Acharonim, Nos'im b'Navi, Parshat haShavua, Inyanim b'Chumash, Bekiyus etc etc.? There should be one chumash teacher, one teacher for navi and historia, perhaps. One for math and science. One for history and English. (not - language arts AND literature AND maybe writing, all separate teachers with separate homework... you're getting my drift, no doubt.)

You are probably too small to offers a lot of electives or extracurricular electives. But I often think that what most of our local schools do, forcing every girl to participate in production (therefore it's three hours long so every girl can be on stage in a song-dance...) does not compare to my high school, where you had your choice of joining drama, math club, chess club, photography etc etc. You did what interested you, not being part of a huge cholent. Again, you're starting small, it would be different. But if you can have parents volunteer to teach a subject or lead a club in their field of employment or hobby, it would really expand everyone's horizons.

Hatzlacha rabba!

amother

Navy

Tue, Jun 19 2018, 10:29 pm

I went to Bruriah in Elizabeth, NJ and I think it's a great model school in many ways.
If they are willing to share programming ideas, you should take them.

Please excuse me if you've seen me post on this forum before about this topic but it's worth repeating: One major topic that wasn't addressed in high school was how to recognize mental illness. I found my self mired in two friendships after my high school years - one friend had depression and one had borderline personality disorder. My life would have been very different if I would have recognized the disorders for what they were.

LovesHashem

Wed, Jun 20 2018, 1:24 am

amother wrote:

We don't have the financial wherewithal to hire enrichment and extracurricular coordinators for just the one class.

My sister was in a new school this past year, first class. Again, lack of funds, but I highly suggest that you get the girls themselves involved in the school. Ask them what interests them, what they can do to get it. Put them in positions to organize their own fun, going to a local park for a picnic, holding a bake sale, going ice skating, small simpler things, but have them be involved.

I love writing, I would of loved if my high school had given opportunities for girls to use their talents, rather than hiring someone to write a play, have the girls help out, let us write a newspaper, let us have contests and express ourselves creatively.

Things don't have to cost money.
Just focus on giving each girl a chance to shine with her abilities, find creative ways for them to use it to help out the school.

Photography, Writing, Organizing parties or bake sales, organizing spiritual learning programs, so so many things there are to do and you can have the girls involved and feel important, and feel like they have a say in their high school expirience.

amother

Lavender

Wed, Jun 20 2018, 5:29 am

I went to a high school that was on the highest level of education (where they prepare students for university) and even though it was really high accademicly we had a bunch of fun lessons too. We had gym and swimming lessons. We had art and music lessons in the younger grades. Then we had professional sewing lessons. And the older grades had cooking lessons. I must say it was all really amazing. We learned so much life skills. Apart from this we also made every year a big show and we all looked forward to act, dance, sing decorate and teach.
And finally the most amazing of all was that our school was part of a worldwide program and we worked on our middos and got prices every month for working on ourselves in a fun way (I'm not sure how the program is called)