What a fabulous start to our new year at Berkshire Country Day School! It was wonderful to welcome everyone yesterday, and it was particularly exciting to see how much the children have grown over the summer. The faculty and staff are to thank for making the first two days of this school year so wonderful, purposeful, engaging and fun! It has been truly inspiring to visit classrooms and to witness the amazing effort that goes into starting a year well.
We welcomed all of our new students (in every grade from Preschool through Grade 7) and our new teachers at our opening assembly yesterday. My brief remarks to the community focused on two of BCD’s core values, “Respect” and “Community.”
Respect: We empower acts of inclusion and acceptance with due regard for the feelings, wishes, rights, and traditions of others.
At BCD:
We care about the feelings of others, and we express empathy.
We’re careful to support people when they make mistakes.
We appreciate differences, our diverse community, and the wishes and traditions of others.
We understand everyone’s diverse identities and rights – never using put-down language or using words that are hurtful or derogatory.
We respect ourselves and have a regard for others.
Community: We establish trust, cooperation, and accountability within an atmosphere of belonging where we all invest in the success and well-being of each other.
Of course, this builds on our value of respect. And, invest means we participate, take action, and make sure that success in others is encouraged, supported, and respected. It is important to take risks, make mistakes, and pick each other up. We demonstrate this in our friendships, in the classroom, on the playing fields, on the stage, and on the playground.
We also show respect and build community at BCD by rising to the expectations that we have for one another as students, teachers, athletes, musicians, thespians, community members, friends, and classmates.
To review BCD’s mission and philosophy statements, and to read more about all or our core values as a school, please go to https://berkshirecountryday.org/about-bcd-school/mission-vision-and-values/
Thank you Paul for leading our great school. This two core values you speak of truly enrich all of us, our children and parents alike. Thank you for your courage in a time of rich growth of our community.