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Stunning castle estate including several cottages for sale near Bristol
The complex covers a massive 693 acres
Daniel ChipperfieldContent Editor
As homes go this is probably one of the largest in the country on the market right now.
Covering 693 acres and including five cottages, a fully-equipped farmstead as well as a stable yard, estate office and flat.
Did we also mention the Grade I listed castle?
Beverston Castle in fact which is unfortunately uninhabitable but adjoins a seven bedroom house.
600 new homes to be built by the council as families begin to move in
As mentioned there five more cottages for the family as well as large kitchen garden, extensive lawns and borders.
The estate in Tetbury, Gloucestershire is being sold as a fully-functioning 'equestrian facility' but is likely adaptable to all sorts of uses.
(Image: Savills)
Advertised by estate agent Savills, a spokesman said: "At the heart of the Estate sits an impressive Grade I Listed Castle, which although uninhabitable adjoins a charming seven bedroom house.
"The Estate has a further five estate cottages, an estate office and first floor flat, a stable yard, a delightful walled kitchen garden and extensive lawns and borders.
"The farm yard comprises a mix of traditional Cotswold stone barns and a range of modern farm buildings.
Inside the beautiful castle estate with working stables
"The Estate extends to about 693 acres with 615 acres of productive arable and pasture land and about 61 acres of woodland and offers a wonderful combination of residential, farming and sporting opportunity.
"The Estate is being offered for sale as a whole or in three lots. Additional residential properties in the village of Beverston are available."
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Of course all this does not come cheap, with current offers being accepted of around £10,000,000 for the massive plot of land.
The castle itself is steeped in history, being built in 1225 by Maurice de Gaunt and then remodeled by Lord Berkeley more than 100 years later.
Much of the castle was destroyed during the civil war in the 17th century when roundhead parliamentarians ordered its destruction.
In 1842, the Hicks family sold Beverston Castle to R.S. Holford of Westonbirt. The property was purchased by the Hon Arthur and Mrs Strutt in 1939.
The full advert on Rightmove can be found here
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You are here: Home Schools Rivendell Academy News from the Academy Principal / Head of Schools
News from Keri Gelenian
August 2019 Family Letter
August 3, 2018 Family Letter
Dear Rivendell Academy Families and Staff,
It is important that we take the time for a remembrance of Jack Isenberg, a remembrance not of our sadness, but of Jack's approach to living. Jack was an energetic and creative young person. He always had something to say, and he never failed to say it with gusto. He could be outlandish, thoughtful, and sensitive-all at once. We should all aspire to exhibit Jack's energy and fun-loving attitude toward life. Jack would want us to have fun, engage one another, be kind, and helpful. Let's give ourselves the best that Jack Isenberg gave to all of us.
With the help of Rowland Fellowship funding, the Byrne Foundation and the staff at High Tech High and Critical Explorers, all teachers in RISD have had consistent and high quality professional development opportunities over the last three years. We have invested time and resources in developing forms of instruction that emphasize deep, creative engagement with materials and ideas. Students' ideas now tend to multiply in our classrooms as their observations, questions and ideas build and expand rather than dwindle to a single "answer." Students display more comfort with ambiguity, shown by their perseverance and curiosity with purposefully complex instructional materials and projects. Teachers are more likely to probe students with legitimate questions about their thinking rather than questions that "guide" them to the answer in the teacher's head.
The most compelling development for us involves the relationship between Critical Exploration and project-based learning, specifically, astronaut projects-projects defined by a lofty challenge, high authenticity, student choice, interdisciplinary learning, community connections, and a public presentation.
We strive to develop curriculum and instruction that foster real-world connection beyond the classroom. In this way, the school benefits by being much more than an institution for educating the community's youth; it also becomes a center of learning, wonder, entertainment, and excitement for community members who engage with us. For example, the Quebec bike trip grew out of a Global Studies course. We received over $10,000 in community financing for the trip. The people our students and teachers met along their expedition were amazed that a school would create such a powerful learning experience for students. Both the Journal Opinion and Valley News
(https://www.vnews.com/Rivendell-Academy-bicycle-trip-14878142) wrote stories about the trip. We are proud of the ambitious adventure of our students and teachers.
Students' Work
Assessing the quality of students' work and allowing the public to examine their work are our primary forms of assessing our success. Our students' work has progressively improved in its overall quality, and the quality has become more uniform across all students. When you enter the Academy you see beautifully designed info-maps depicting the impact of bicycles in different countries created by Global Studies students. There are unusual plaster masks organized in genealogy trees looking down at you. Middle School students created these as part of a Genetics unit. The genealogies demonstrate students' understanding of dominant and recessive traits across generations. If you turn down the hall, work by 10th grade Biology students beautifully conveys the impact of genetics and cell division on the structure of protein molecules associated with genetic diseases.
Although the 9th grade monuments are no longer on display, I went to every 9th grader during the exhibition of their monument projects and asked them to explain the thinking behind their monuments. I met with students who looked me in the eye and spoke with confidence and pride about their work. Both 9th grade sections also published a book of personal writing that showed students' creativity and skill as fiction writers and cartoonists, and artists. The food and drinks prepared as part of the 7th and 8th grade Africa exhibition were delicious and their brochures all displayed qualities of well- designed print material. The Summer Academy students recently created a display of art and poetry. The art catches your eye. The poetry makes you think.
We will be holding more frequent exhibitions. We invite everyone to participate in these events and engage with students about their work. The exhibitions are designed not only to show what our students think and do, but they also are designed to make you think and learn.
The last two years in the district have been marked by transitions. Mike Harris' role as our transitional Superintendent ended July 2017 and Elaine Arbour moved into the position with new ideas for structures, policies and procedures. Michael Foxall's tenure as a two-year interim Principal at Samuel Morey ended this July. Julie Donahue has taken over as Elementary Principal with Tammy MacQueen as Assistant Principal. There have been some small shifts in teaching assignments in the Elementary Schools. Relative to the last 3 years, we have an influx of talented, new staff.
At the Academy
We have three new teachers, a new Middle School Counselor and a new Title I Literacy Teacher. Two teaching assignments have also shifted. Eight years ago, Michael Galli left an Elementary Principal position to serve as RA's Dean of Students. Michael has moved back into an Elementary Principal position, taking over as Principal at Warren Town School. At my urging, the staff developed several changes to our schedule that offer some exciting possibilities. Our advisory will also undergo some small changes.
NewStaff
Emily Cousens is taking over as our new Middle School Counselor. Emily recently finished her MA in Counseling after earning her BA in English and Creative Writing from New York University. Emily completed her internships at Kearsarge Elementary, Indian River High School and Mascoma High School. She served at the girls' Track Coach at Sunapee High School and Assistant Coach at Hopkinton High School. With the support of the board, her position is now full-time. Besides working with our 7th and 8th graders, she will spend two half-days with Counselor Ann O'Hearn working with the 5th and 6th graders at Samuel Morey.
Paul Ronci is our new High School English Teacher. Paul has a MA in Education from Plymouth State and a BA in Family Studies from the University of New Hampshire. He first taught High School English and Social Studies in an alternative program at Newfound Memorial High School before moving to the Middle School in 2008. He will be teaming with Kirsten Surprenant in 9th grade Humanities/ English as well as teaching upper-house English electives with a focus on Journalism and Media. Paul is also a musician, playing guitar in a local band.
Allison Lary will be teaming with Jennifer Bottum as our new Humanities/ Social Studies Teacher. Ally has a BA in History from the University of New Hampshire and an MA in Public History from Southern New Hampshire University. Recently she has been working as Special Education Paraprofessional at Indian River Middle School. She has previously taught Middle School History in Tennessee and Florida and coached track. Before teaching she worked as a Museum Educator in Tacoma, WA.
Christian Peterson is a new 7/8 Special Education Teacher. Christian has a BA in Justice Studies from Roger Williams University and MA degree in Human Resource Management from University of Phoenix and an MA in Special Education from Plymouth State. Christian has worked as a Special Education Teacher and Elementary Teacher at Piermont Village School since 2014.
Carolyn ("Carrie") Lang will be the Academy's first full-time Title I literacy Specialist. Carrie has degrees in Communication Sciences and Disorders and Education of the Deaf from the University of New Hampshire and Smith College. She also has a degree in Remedial Reading and Writing from Southern Connecticut University. Carrie has taught teachers at the university level, while also serving as a Teacher of the Deaf in Trumbull, CT and New Haven, CT.
Laszlo Bardos will move from full-time math teacher to become our Digital Culture Leader and Calculus Teacher. With the help of a $10,000 grant from VSAC, Laszlo has created a wonderful maker space in the room at the top of the stairs. Besides a new 3-D printer, the room has workbenches, hand tools, sewing machines, and power tools. Laszlo is currently looking for grant money to buy a laser cutter.
Rachel McConnell will move into full-time Math position after student teaching with Doc Browne three years ago and filling in as a Math and Science Teacher over the last two years. Rachel has taught Chemistry and a variety of Math courses.
As I write this letter, we have not yet filled the Dean of Students position, but plans for interviews are underway. We expect to have someone in place in early August.
Schedule modifications
The staff and I worked very hard to make small changes. We set out to design a schedule that would better support:
Collaboratively designed, rigorous, interdisciplinary projects
Common planning time and an expectation of collaboration
Better utilization of staff expertise to create high quality, rigorous projects that integrate skills and content and well sequenced Critical Exploration materials and practices
Grade level teams that support one another in coaching students on the skills of life and develop the culture of the school
Time to offer flexible support tailored to the changing needs of students
With these goals in mind we came up with a schedule that gave teachers flexibility in teaming in a particular course on a trimester-by-trimester basis. For example Kirsten Surprenant will co-teach with Paul Ronci trimester one. This will allow them to work together to develop an integrated project in 9th grade Humanities as well as provide students with extra support, particularly in writing.
Support blocks
The schedule has two 26-minute blocks of time for teachers to provide more targeted support for students with particular needs. For example, if some non-special education students need targeted support in reading, there will be time in the school day for Carrie Lang to provide the support. Some students might simply need support in organizing and planning and getting a jump-start on homework. For one or two trimesters, juniors or seniors might take a SAT prep course. Students have these support blocks four days a week. All students will be required to focus on academics during this time.
Once every two weeks students will have a "clubs" block. We have been squeezing club time into lunch and other study blocks for years. A designated time gives all our students access to a variety of clubs at the Academy. Some of current clubs include Leo's Club, Queer Straight Alliance, Robotics, Makers Club, Student Advisory Committee, Chorus/ Theatre, Environmental Club, Outdoor Club, Travel Groups, Fencing, and National Honors Society. Teachers not currently affiliated with a club can co-advise or students can also approach them to start a new club.
These teams will serve as an ongoing educational support team for students at each grade. One priority will be to make sure that students are getting the services they need to be successful in school, in particular that they are moved in or out of the correct support block. If the team sees that a student in a math intervention block has improved his or her math skills, they would move the student to a homework group. If we notice a change in a student's behavior, we can make a call home and notify a counselor to check in with the student. In the past, these types of discussions only happened once a week at the middle and high school level. They will now happen 4-days a week for 26 minutes. Expect more communication from teachers.
Advisors will continue to meet with their advisory group for the first 15 minutes of every day. In order to accommodate clubs and our support blocks, students will meet for a 30 minute advisory block once a week rather than two. Each advisor will be responsible for preparing students to use their digital portfolios to lead three-way conferences twice a year. The conferences are a time for students to present examples of their work, community, service and extracurricular experiences that demonstrate areas of strength and areas for growth. It will be a time where students can review their personal learning plans with their advisors and family members. In addition students and advisors in 8th, 10th and 12th grade will hold a round table each spring. This is a student led presentation by the student on his or her personal development and goals. In 9th grade advisories, students will be expected to at least plan a Choose Your Own Adventure (CYOA) experience with the expectation that they complete a CYOA experience by 10th grade prior to round tables. Of course all students can have completed a CYOA at any time.
We have set a challenging agenda for ourselves-teacher collaboration and integration of content across disciplines, the creation of original and rigorous projects that engage students and community members through student-led exhibitions and provocative displays of students' work in the school and the community, more targeted academic support for students, greater communication with families, expanding the three-way conferences and round tables, engaging all students in clubs, and creating grade level teams that have time to discuss students' needs.
These changes build on what we feel has worked to engage students in meaningful learning and personal growth. More importantly, we have an extremely skilled and committed core of returning teachers, new staff with exceptional recommendations and credentials, and new resources with the Title I Literacy position, a new Middle School Special Education position, and an excellent maker's space to improve the skills and products of our students. This will be an exciting year. We hope you can join us often for exhibitions, sports, theatre, music and more.
Keri Gelenian
Head of Schools / RA Principal
Rivendell Booklet
This latest copy of our RA booklet gives you a taste of learning and life at Rivendell Academy. Please share it with friends and family.
News from Keri Gelenian, Head of Schools/RA Principal
Dear Rivendell Families,
"The Wizard of Oz" will be presented on May 11th, 12th, and 13th in the Rivendell Academy Gym. Times of presentation: Thursday, May 11th—6 PM, Friday and Saturday, May 12th and 13th—7 PM. This year we are offering special seating which includes reserving your seat in the first two rows, receiving a special printed ticket and a café chair. General admission will be paid at the door, with doors opening one half hour before show time.
Join us for this beloved tale, in which a Kansas farm girl travels over the rainbow to discover the magical power of home which has been entertaining audiences for generations. Dorothy Gale (Delaney Vogelien) a young girl living on a Kansas farm with her Aunt Em (Thessalie Butler) and Uncle Henry (Caleb Haehnel), dreams of escaping her mundane life ("Over The Rainbow"). The family's mean neighbor, Miss Gulch (Moria Haehnel), threatens to impound Dorothy's cherished dog, Toto, so Dorothy and Toto run away. They meet up with kindly Professor Marvel (Max Haehnel), who subtly convinces Dorothy to return home. Suddenly a cyclone hits, as Dorothy and Toto, seek shelter in
the house, they are transported to the Land of Oz. Join us as Dorothy travels the land of Oz with the Scarecrow (Teddy Wilkin), the Tinman (Caleb Day), and the Lion (Izzy Formica) to find the Wizard (Max Haehnel) and battle the Wicked Witch of the West (Moria Haehnel). Playing various other roles are Ariana Baumann, Cora Day, Shannon Fleming, Eadie Molesworth, Elizabeth Noyes, Sarah Parenti, Kelsey Peebles, and Adele Tilden. Featuring the Orford Ballet to include 24 munchkins, poppies, and jitterbugs! These are all students in the elementary grades! Directed by Anna Alden & Carol Sobetzer, set design and tech directed by Cami Buster, costume design by Brook Lewis with assistant Julie Ann Otis.
Tickets include special seating, $17.00/adult, $10.00/student, general admission $12.00/adult, $5.00/student.
For special seating please call Brenda Gray at 603-353-4321 ext 1225. For more information call 802-356-0363.
Dear Rivendell Families
This fall our professional focus on critical exploration and project-based learning has started to take hold. Both approaches create greater equity and motivation among our students while also increasing rigor. Students in "right answer" classrooms tend to clam up. In contrast, a question about provocative materials like, "What do you notice?" opens the door to participation, collaboration and creative thinking. Students come to see that the ideas generated build upon one another in a way that deepens everyone's understanding. In a similar way, carefully designed projects engage students with complex problems embedded in real experiences. Both approaches engage students in learning from one another and our larger community in a non-competitive atmosphere.
Project work and community participation this fall—Advisory Open House
We had a great night in October for families to get together for dinner and participate in advisory. We watched the student and staff videos related to our summer reading. It was great to see the students' work. Families didn't get to see the fun (and struggles) that students had in working together to create the videos within a tight time-line.
Our 9th grade humanities students began the year with a new approach to exploring the English colonization of New England. Students spent several days puzzling through detailed readings of primary source documents about the Pilgrims' departure from Plymouth, England and their landing on Cape Cod, as well as descriptions of their settlement in Plymouth, MA. Students then spent a day at Plimouth Plantation and a cold, wet, windy hour on the Mayflower. The students' detailed knowledge, from the vantage point of the documents they explored, created a powerful experience when they arrived at Plimouth. Students constructed boxes, which explored the larger theme of Encounters, a theme also reflected in diverse materials in English class. The boxes were dis-played at an evening exhibition, where students did a great job discussing their work.
The Silk Road
If you were lucky enough to attend the 7/8th grade Silk Road exhibition, you would have met a friendly camel, traded goods at various markets, tasted camel's milk, eaten sweet Indian pudding, and met a variety of challenges that might have cost you gold or valuable water or food. The Silk Road project was cleverly designed as a "choose your own adventure" simulation that fully en-gaged "travelers" in an experience on the Silk Road. Like the 9th grade project, students struggled with complex texts, and maps together. Just as the 9th grad-ers' readings enriched their experience at Plimouth, the 7/ 8th grade projects were influenced by students' critical explorations of challenging materials in class.
In 9th grade physical science the students were involved in a mini-robotics competition. Design teams built and programmed computers to independently maneuver through a covered maze. Students could watch their robots wind though the maze (or crash) from smart phone cameras attached to the front of each robot. The final challenge for the design teams was to create a lesson plan and a programming task for 4th graders from Sammuel Morey and West-shire. The general consensus by the 9th graders was that the 4th grade students were quick learners.
Our direction
Again, we believe that carefully designed projects provide each student with personally relevant entry points to work that requires rigorous thinking. As teachers, the work challenges us to shift how we think about learning and knowledge, structure instruction, and assess students' performance. This is not easy work, but we are not entirely on our own. This year's Rowland Foundation Fellowship supported the development of materials used in the humanities projects. We also have a budding relationship with High Tech High, a group of schools recognized internationally for achieving a high degree of in-novation and equity though projects. This week Kirsten Surprenant, Doc Browne, and Story Graves have completed another Rowland Fellowship appli-cation designed to help us further develop our partnership with High Tech High. http://www.hightechhigh.org
First trimester student performance
Our students' performance this first Trimester showed a drop in the percent-age of total classes failed, from 9.28% to 8.44%. This 8% threshold has been very hard to break. A significant change was the percentage of students failing one or more classes, 19.29%.
For the past five years at least 21% of our students have failed at least one class. This number was as high as 22.86% in the first trimester of 2012.
Tri1 Percentages:
The democratic process of school governance
As principal of Rivendell Academy and Head of Schools, school board meetings are an important venue for me to hear from community members.
Our school board meetings take place on the first Tuesday of the month at 6:30 PM. The meetings rotate between the district office conference room in the West Wing (lower building) and Westshire Elementary School. December and January include special budget meetings in preparation of the Annual Re-port and presentation of the budget at the town meeting.
The development of our schools requires increased community participation. These meetings provide community members an opportunity to address con-cerns to the board, hear reports from each principal, and the superintendent. There are usually one or more special presentations to the board by students or community members.
Board meeting 1/3 Westshire
Budget meetings 1/10 Academy, 1/17 Westshire
We have had a fantastic start of the year. Students seem happy, focused and engaged. After four years we now have all high school students on personal laptops and our technology has been working beautifully. Our new staff, Mr. Pilcher in 7/8 social studies, Ms. McConnell in math and Ms. Radney in Spanish are settled in and doing a great job. Our strong start is testimony to the professionalism and excellence of our teachers and staff.
Upcoming Events, which we would appreciate your input, please place on your calendar:
Rivendell Academy Advisory Open House
~Bringing Us Together in Meaningful Conversation~
Meet your student's advisor
Overview of first month of school and future events
View student and teacher video projects
Meet other parents and staff
Sign-up for 3-way conferences
* Please note that 3-way conferences are November 4, 2016 not October 7, 2016
We are encouraging 100% participation at all grade levels. This is a time to come together as a school community. Each advisory is providing a baked good and coffee/tea will be available. Dinner will be provided for all soccer players.
We need Assistance in Creating an Afterschool Arts Program:
We held our first meeting with two parents, and we held an initial brainstorm meeting with parents and students on September 15th. Our second planning meeting is on September 28th from 6 - 7 PM at the academy. Our first initial project is organizing a fundraiser in December. We need your help, if interested please attend this meeting or call Brenda Gray at 353-4321 x1225.
3-Way Conference Change
We are moving the academy 3-way conference to November 4th from 11AM-6PM, families will schedule times at the Advisory Open House. October 7th is a scheduled day off for students.
Honor Roll Reception
We will not have an honor roll recognition night at the end of the First trimester. We will however hold one recognition night at the end of Tri II recognizing high school students who made honors Tri 1 and Tri 2.
Summer 2016 Principal's Letter
Dear Rivendell Families and Staff,
We are embarking on an exciting year. Our seniors are a small but powerful group, and we look forward to working with them this year.
Welcome Warren, Piermont, and Waits River families-- five Warren students and five Piermont students and one Waits River student will join our 9th grade class. Also, we are excited to meet our new 7th grade students and families! In total, we have twenty-two new students who have joined us.
I hope you read the entire letter, but feel free to read only what interests you. Section 1 introduces new staff. Section 2 describes the four educational initiatives that will continue to drive our work in the district. Section 3 presents small structural changes for the school year at the Academy.
Section 1: New Staff
Paige Radney is taking over for Mary Rizos in Spanish. Paige recently graduated with an MA degree from the University of Vermont. She has a BA in Spanish with a minor in international development, also from UVM. Paige completed her student teaching at Mt. Abraham Union High School. She comes highly recommended from her mentor teacher and university professors.
Doug Pilcher is rejoining us this year. He will be working with our middle school team teaching 7/8 social studies. In 2014-15, Doug served as a student teacher under the mentorship of Ms. Surprenant. Last year Doug taught 7th and 8th grade social studies at Warren. Since 2003, he worked as a program director for the Aloha Foundation. We are thrilled that Doug has returned to RA.
This summer Kate Paxton from the Upper Valley Educators Institute started working at the Academy as a principal intern. She has a doctorate from the Arizona State University in the areas of qualitative research and philosophy. She has been a teacher and worked in a variety of other administrative positions. Kate will be with us for the year on a part-time basis.
Rachel McConnell will be teaching several math courses as a replacement for Mr. Bardos who will spend a portion of his time next year doing work related to his Rowland Fellowship. She will also be teaching some 7th and 8th grade Title I support math classes. Rachel is another returning teacher. Last fall she worked as Doc Brown's student teacher. Rachel has her BA in physics from Dartmouth and a teaching credential through UVEI. At last year's robotics competition she demanded that she teach at the Academy. We are very pleased that we could make that happen!
We are currently interviewing for a new 7/8 counselor to replace Ms. McLaren who left this summer to take a position much closer to home.
Dr. Sarah D. Stearns will be working in the district as a school psychologist. She earned her doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences and completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship at Kosair Children's Hospital/Bingham Child Guidance Center in Louisville, KY. Dr. Stearns has been in practice since 2000, first at La Rabida Children's Hospital in Chicago, and then at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Psychiatric Associates in Lebanon, NH. Dr. Stearns is skilled at treating disruptive behavior disorders such as ADHD and ODD, and can provide parent behavior management and anger management training in individual, dyadic, or group formats.
Ms. Rizos, although not teaching Spanish, will be working with the district part-time to develop grants and promote the district. She will also be working with the Vermont Folk-Life Council, which could provide us with some great ideas and resources. These connections are important. http://www.vermontfolklifecenter.org
Section 2: Our Work to Support Deep Learning
In last year's spring newsletter I outlined four areas that will focus our professional work. We are committed to the development of deep, courageous thinkers who have confidence in themselves and know how to operate successfully in our complex world. These four areas work toward those ends.
Under each area I have bulleted information related to our planning in each area.
1) Build on and improve our advisory program including morning meeting
The central purpose of Advisory at RA is to support students in exploring their personal goals and direction in school and in life. It's a place to build interpersonal and intrapersonal skills. It's about Rivendell's three big goals: Character, Community, and Scholarship (See attached advisory mission statement).
I sent a letter in July in response to student petitioners who were concerned about the changes of some advisors.
We will be working on making small improvements to our advisory curriculum.
We are exploring partners and grant funding to provide more support for deepening our advisory work.
We re-established our Student Advisory Council.
The summer reading work is largely organized through advisories.
Jen Ellis will have time in her day to lead advisory improvements and work with the Student Advisory Council.
2) Deepen our expertise using Critical Exploration as an approach to learning www.criticalexplorers.org
Critical Exploration is an approach to learning that supports students in developing deep insights into their own thinking about concepts and ideas that are central to the subjects we teach. The process of Critical Exploration is inclusive to all learners—all ideas count. Judgments good or bad are left out of the conversation. We expect that ideas will change and develop, as some ideas become fodder for new ideas. The materials are rich, provocative, and complex. Teachers focus on understanding students' ideas and push for the development of those ideas in unorthodox ways: not evaluating the ideas or leading students to an idea the teacher has in mind, giving students time to wrestle with their confusion instead of giving them the answer, and most importantly, devising on the spot questions that allow the student to think deeper by probing their thinking. This simultaneously gives the teacher more insight into the student's thinking. Critical Exploration is based on the truth that teaching toward one set of pre-proscribed set of ideas severely limits the contribution of ideas and thoughts of students in a classroom, especially those ideas that go well beyond the "right answer given by fast thinking students."
This year Rivendell principals and ten district teachers will attend three days of work with the Critical Explorers staff at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Rachel Sanders and Laszlo Bardos will begin working with teachers at Watertown, MA Middle School and the Critical Explorers staff. We hope other teachers can go to Watertown to work with their staff. Rachel and Laszlo will also begin working with teachers to develop high quality materials for Rivendell classrooms. The Rowland Foundation is supporting this work.
The District's Committee on Learning will continue to support district professional development focused on Critical Exploration.
I am in the process of writing a chapter in a book on Critical Exploration. The chapter presents some new insights into the work.
We need to decide when and how to be more explicit with students about Critical Exploration, so they develop a deeper awareness of their own learning process.
We hope to have the Critical Explorers staff come to Rivendell to help support professional development.
3) Develop projects leading to public exhibitions
http://www.hightechhigh.org
Project-based learning was a founding principal of our district. All classes at the Academy utilize project work as part of the curriculum. The scope of projects varies. When Eric Reichert teaches Writer's Café, the project culminates in a book of meticulously revised student writing. Students this summer produced five videos of interviews with people with visible and invisible differences. Doc Brown's flashlight project has been a staple of a unit in 9th grade physical science.
There are many important purposes for project work:
Projects ask students to put knowledge and skills to work in complex ways.
Most people remember and value school activates that required them to make something, perform, or be active in the community.
People learn from working together and learning to work productively with others is a valuable skill.
Projects offer people opportunities to assume different roles.
Audience is important. The reaction of an audience, good or bad, has more meaning than a grade.
Projects ask teachers to assume different roles and relationships with students—one more like mentors and coaches.
Last spring Kirsten Surprenant and Story Graves spent two days in San Diego at High Tech High.
My friend, Rob Riroden, is the co-founder of the school. He will be coming to Rivendell on September 2nd to work with all district staff. We will watch and discuss an award-winning documentary about High Tech High, Most Likely to Achieve.
http://www.mltsfilm.org
September 2nd is a day off for students, but we want to include students. I will be asking different teachers to provide extra-credit incentives or community service hours for students who attend and participate in the day's work.
We will be looking for funding to further our relationship with High Tech High.
Summer Academy students completed five video interview projects. These will be used as part of our summer reading curriculum in the fall for a real audience.
Kirsten Surprenant and Story Graves are designing a project for advisories to complete this fall. The projects will culminate in an evening Video Café at the Academy on October 6th from 6:00-7:30 PM. We expect parents and community members to attend this event (All staff are also completing the same project.)
9th grade humanities students will work on a project leading to an exhibition first Trimester. The 7th and 8th graders will also work on project leading to an exhibition the first trimester. Project work will rotate to other teacher partners 2nd and 3rd trimester.
4) Develop our curriculum documents
For over a year the Academy staff has worked to develop a unique curriculum framework. The purpose of the framework is to give all teachers a common structure in which to create public documents that outline every Academy course.
We have worked on this slowly and the process has been difficult. We want our written curriculum to truly reflect our philosophy and educational values. The complexity of our work is testimony to the quality and dedication of our teachers.
We believe that Rachel Sanders has solved a nagging problem related to accreditation requirements that demand that we have rubrics to evaluate our "learning expectations." Our curriculum committee will finalize these changes.
We will devote professional development time to writing our curriculum documents.
Gordon Christi-Maples has articulated the Academy curriculum work to the elementary teachers. We will add another 5/6th grade teacher to our committee to build continuity between 5th/ 6th and the middle school.
The Rationale for this work
These four professional areas put student learning in the center of what we do. Advisory is an about personal relationships, with specific purposes in mind-- becoming reflective learners able to develop a strong community and individual character. Critical Exploration puts students' ideas at the center of the learning process. Projects and public exhibitions unify understanding and action with the purpose of having an impact in the world. Curriculum that rests on a framework of truth, choice, systems and change supports complex thinking, relevance, and impact. No amount of testing, standards, textbooks, or lectures compare to the virtues these ideas and practices can bring forth in our students.
How are Advisory, Critical Exploration and Projects and Exhibitions Connected?
There are several ways to answer this question. One way is to identify common educational values common to each area. Each of these areas of our learning culture places a high value on:
- Rich and engaging materials
- Complexity
- Personal effort based on skills that go far beyond traditional "academic" skills
- Academic skills learned in more authentic and personal ways
- Teachers as highly skilled mentors and coaches rather than "authorities" dispensing knowledge
- The multiplicity of good ideas rather than "one" right answer
- Collaboration and learning from peers and adults in the community
- Performances that reflect "real life" skills
- Autonomy and choice
- Respect for others' skills and ideas
- Different roles and individual skills and abilities
- Revision and practice
- Low-pressure learning situations
- Creativity and imagination
- Fun
- Truth, choice, systems and change as an organizing principle for learning in all areas
We believe these common values can build an even more powerful and inclusive learning environment at Rivendell Academy and in the district.
Do these initiatives work in the larger educational environment that still focuses on test scores and right answers? Our SBAC and science NECAP test scores have ranked us as one of the top Vermont schools for the past 3-years. We do well despite the fact that we do not pander to the standards or the tests.
On August 24th I received our ACT scores. Last year, Academy students beat state averages in every area- college English comp (100%/86%), college algebra (100%/70), college social studies (100%/ 69%), and college bio. (80%/49%). The combined score ranking proficiency in all areas placed us at 80% compared to the state average of 49%. Unlike the SAT, the ACT tends to be taken by only the most serious students. Thus, these scores indicate that Rivendell's best do better than the best in the rest of the state.
Overall, 83% of our students last year passed all their classes.
Section 3: Small Structural Improvements at the Academy
Study time
We responded to students' suggestion to provide one longer block of study time, two days a week. Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays remain the same as last year. The column on the right in the chart below shows the new schedule for Wednesdays and Fridays.
Monday and Tuesday (no change)
11:29-11:59 Advisory
12:20-12:42 Study (with advisor)
Wednesday and Friday
11:50-12:42 Flex (students must first check in with advisor for attendance before leaving)
We have decided to implement mandatory academic support based on high school students' Tri 3 grades last year. Responding to another student suggestion, we have created "offices" for these students, complete with their own desks and cubicles. Mr. Galli and Ms. Hall are creating the offices in the room at the top of the stairs in the East Wing and the Workshop room in the West Wing. Students will be required to be in the offices during Study and Flex times. They cannot leave. We will have
teachers in these rooms to assist students. When students are above a 69% in all their classes they can challenge out of mandatory academic support.
Ms. Hall and Mr. Galli will be meeting with every mandatory academic support student each week to check up on their progress and develop strategies for success. Additionally, Ms. Hall is investigating a computer-based program that will help keep students organized.
Better Data and Analysis
Mr. Galli, Ms. Oakes, and Mr. Ackerman are creating a data base for us to track the factors associated with students who fail classes at Rivendell. In the past we identified 3 factors: 1) missing assignments, 2) not taking advantage of opportunities for extra credit or test retakes, and 3) refusing help when it was available and offered. We firmly believe that the reasons for failure often are not related to students' abilities, but a sense of futility that their effort will make a difference. Our goal is to try to address the sense of futility with more consisted support, strategies, and clearer structure.
New Handbook
Mr. Galli has rewritten the student handbook and Ms. Gray has reformatted the document. We will eventually combine our handbook with our program of studies in e-book format. We will also print a small number of hard copies to help support recruitment efforts.
Ms. Gray is heading up the yearbook, and we are using a new format that will give us greater flexibility in our layout and allow greater flexibility in ordering. The company that we are using is Picaboo in Hanover. Our yearbook chief last year, Megan Landgraf, worked at Picaboo and they might be willing to hire someone from Rivendell again this year. We need 2-5 dedicated students to begin work immediately. This could be a great Upper house project.
http://yearbooks.picaboo.com
Back to School BBQ
We have not set a date for a back to school BBQ. We will make this decision as a staff when everyone returns.
Bus to Hartford Tech
We have made arrangements with Hartford and Thetford to run a bus to Hartford Tech. in the afternoon program. In the past students had to provide their own transportation.
Title I Support in 7/8 Math
Rachel McConnell will provide Title I support to students in math in 7th and 8th grade. The first trimester the support will be in the classroom and during flex time on Wednesday and Friday. Second trimester will schedule students in an extra support class. Every day.
After School Programing
We no longer have an after school Visions program. Students interested in afterschool opportunities should consider sports (including the fencing club) and robotics.
We will be asking for parent support to create an after school art program (Rivendell Arts Alive) and to organize a winter fundraiser to support the program. We have an initial $5,000 donation to begin the work. Our limited resources and faculty will require family leadership for this project. It has enormous potential for our students and school/ community partnerships.
Events in May move us in many directions. We say goodbye to our seniors and introduce ourselves to our new seventh graders.
It is a time for reflection on the past year as we also begin planning for future. Here are some highlights.
Trillium Cserr, a graduating junior, has been awarded a National Merit Scholarship Nomination as a result of receiving a qualifying score on her PSAT examination. Her score has placed her somewhere in the top 3% of PSAT scores nationwide. Trillium has also been awarded a writing award from the National Council of Teachers of English, thanks to a submission of her work by Eric Reichert.
Good luck to our seniors! They have made their plans for next year—work, military, and college. We have 26 seniors moving on to college.
Thank you Megan Langraff for taking on the yearbook as your senior project. We look forward to it. Hopefully someone or some people can fill your shoes next year!
Ms. Robison's Women's Literature class is creating a syllabus for restructuring the health curriculum to include such issues such as reproductive rights; consent; physical, sexual and emotional partner violence; and gender expectations and gender roles. Women's Lit is also hosting a night of spoken work on May 26th from 6:30-7:30 in the multi.
On May 11th we received a phone call from a woman praising Will Ussler, Max Haehnel, and Isaac Martel. The caller and her husband were heading to Thetford Academy for an event featuring one of their grandkids, when they got a flat tire in front of Rivendell. The three boys rushed out of class and changed the tire. They also refused payment for work. The woman said she and her husband would have never made it to Thetford in time if it weren't for the quick
help from our students.
The front page of the Valley News http://www.vnews.com/A-Tree-Grows-in-Fairlee-Along-with-Student-Knowledge-1880893 showed Rivendell taking advantage of the unique opportunity to plant, nurture and record the growth of chestnut trees developed
over decades of work by the American Chestnut Foundation http://www.acf.org/index.php. Doc Browne seized this opportunity when Rivendell parent Marcus Bradley secured saplings from the foundation.
As a result of years of work by Michael Galli, Nancy Hall and Cindy McLaren, we will have approximately ten tuition students joining our 9th grade class next year. These students will come from Warren, Piermont, and Waits River.
Brenda Gray has done the impossible! She secured a driver's education teacher for a summer New Hampshire class. Rod Hull will be returning to teach the class. It is nearly impossible to find a certified NH drivers education teacher. We would love to have a local person get certified to teach the course! Anyone interested?
Nancy Hall and the Leo's club combined forces with their sponsoring Lion's Club Chapter to give eye tests to Rivendell stu-dents using a hand-held digital scanning devise.
Jack Winxxx practicing as xxx Gray looks on.
Nancy Hall organized a comprehensive, experienced-based approach to introducing our students to Dual Enrollment and Early College opportunities. At the Norwich campus, CCV faculty gave our 9th and 10th students an overview of their classes. An excellent panel of CCV students, including our own Erin Lapine, gave a great overview of the rewards and challenges of community college.
The Past is Prologue
Mary Rizos and Jenny Ellis picked up the work started by former English teacher, Silas St. James in refocusing our advisory program. Mary and Jenny also broke the ice with the Rowland Foundation by submitting a very competitive application last year.
Following Jen and Mary's example, Lazlo Bardos and Rachel Sanders submitted a Rowland Fellow application and received $100,000 to continue our work with Critical Exploration. Critical Exploration is an approach to fostering deep learning by engaging learners with materials that allow learners to naturally develop and further their own ideas. http://www.criticalexplorers.org/about/origins-inspiration/.
In two weeks Kirsten Surprenant, Jen Bottom and Story Graves will travel to San Diego to visit a very innovative set of pub lic charter schools known as High Tech High http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/on_innovation/2015/03/ most_likely_to_succeed_a_film_about_what_school_could_be.html.
These schools are unique in their singular focus on projects. As in Critical Exploration, the projects give students owner-ship over their learning. With scaffolding from the teacher, these unique projects develop creativity, a capacity to work in teams, problem solving and confidence. A real problem or question drives the best projects.
Where are we headed?
Build on and improve our advisory program including morning meeting.
We need to continuously improve our advisory curriculum. To do so we have rearranged some grade level advisors who will stay with their advisory group for two years. This gives advisors an opportunity to focus on two years of curriculum rather than four. The downside is that advisors need to get to know another set of 10-12 students every two years. We have reestablished our student advisory council and given them specific leadership responsibilities.
Deepen our expertise using Critical Exploration as an approach to learning. This work will continue to be supported by the district's Committee on Learning through professional development activities and the work of Lazlo Bardos and Rachel Sanders with the support of their Rowland Foundation funding. We hope to create a deeper relationship with the staff of Critical Explor-ers, a group based in Cambridge, MA.
Develop projects leading to public exhibitions.
Next fall, at the end of the first trimester, the 7/8 students and the 9th grade humanities students will present a public exhibi-tion. Developing the projects and exhibitions will begin with a problem or question. We will judge our success by the impact that these projects have on the audience when students present their final work.
Continue to develop our curriculum documents.
RA's thematic framework for curriculum (Truth, Choice, Systems and Change) and our learning expectations will continue to drive course development at RA. Our goal is to develop critical, pragmatic thinkers. We want Rivendell students to be well versed in considering these questions: What "truths" need to be brought to bear in understanding a significant problem or question? How are choices impacted by those truths? What systems are created or maintained by those choices? What choices impact those systems?
These goals put student learning in the center of what we do. Advisory is an about personal relationships, with specific purposes in mind-- becoming reflective learners able to develop a strong community and individual character. Critical Exploration puts students' ideas at the center of the learning process. Projects and public exhibitions unify understanding and action with the purpose of having an impact in the world. Curriculum that rests on a framework of truth, choice, systems and change supports complex thinking, relevance, and impact. No amount of testing, standards, textbooks, or lectures compare to the virtues these ideas and practices can bring forth in our students.
These ideas and practices require patience and practice. We have produced examples of these ideas. We have experimented and reflected on those experiments. We are slowly gaining control based on what we have learned. We are novices. Yet, I am confident that with continued freedom to experiment, we will have a lot more to say and show for our efforts at this time next year.
I wish everyone a safe and happy summer.
Keri Geleian
Happy New Year! We have much to be thankful for at the start of 2016:
I would like to welcome our new interim superintendent, Mike Harris, to Rivendell.
Our modern language students had 5 placements at the annual Hanover poetry recital competition.
The Rivendell Academy Players did a fantastic job performing, And Then There Were None. The show raised $2,500.Waits River students spent a half-day visiting Academy classes. We hope to grow our Waits River enrollment at RA.
Our afterschool academic skills program started in October. We have seen mostly 7th and 8th graders for literacy and math support.
Laszlo Bardos and Rachel Sanders have applied for a $100,000 Rowland Fellowship. We wish them luck. The grant will help support professional development in the district.
The Academy would like to thank everyone who played a role in the memorial for our beloved Gerry Suich. The memorial was a reflection of Gerry's influence on the lives of RA students.
Thank you to all students for your positive response to our initial problems with the After School app. RA has played a big role in highlighting the harmful effects of anonymous social media applications. Thanks to Cindy McLaren and Michael Galli for all their work bringing Emma Bogardus to RA and for extensive media coverage. Emma was an inspiration.
A big thanks to James Graham for supporting morning weight training.
Ms. Rizos, Ms. Brynne and the Guatemala travelers have been recycling, stacking wood, raking and doing other dirty jobs to raise money for the Guatemala trip. Rivendell has a recycling container at the Fairlee dump. Please contribute.
Thanks to Ms. Hall and teachers for all their efforts with college applications. Soon the nervousness of completing all the paperwork will be replaced by waiting for the results! Good luck seniors.
Our soccer teams were once again recognized in Vermont and nationally for outstanding sportsmanship and academics.
A big thanks goes out to Nora Clark (Class of 2006) for creating a series of videos on the lives and accomplishments of Rivendell graduates.
Based on last year's standardized test scores, RA is ranked 5th in the state of Vermont. RA's rank defies the economic disparity that exists in our district compared to 8 other top schools. Our average score of 91.11 was only 6 points below the top school, yet our free or reduced lunch percentage was 39% compared to 12%. Similarly, Westshire Elementary is ranked 10th in Vermont, only 10 points below the top elementary, but with a free or reduced lunch percentage of 42% compared to 7% in the top performing school. Recent comparisons of State by Education Week places Vermont schools3rd in the nation. http://www.edweek.org/ew/qc/2016/2016-state-report-cards-map.html?cmp=eml-sb-sr-qc16-20160107n
This news has caused quite a stir on local Facebook posts! Keep up the conversations and bring them to the board meetings.
Here is how we look compared to the rest of the state on 8th and 11th grade testing. Note: The scaling on the graphs gives the illusion that we are almost twice as successful as other schools. This is the result of not starting the x-axis scale at 0. (A 9th grade student pointed this out.)
Our performance continues to be high in all subject areas. Our scores are high despite the fact that we do not overtly track students or focus instruction on standardized tests or any single set of standards. We hold high expectations in individual classes and our graduation requirements are rigorous. We focus on students who struggle and do all we can to provide them with individual support and attention. Our teachers care about the quality of students' ideas and thinking. We teach big ideas. We trust our students.
We are seldom satisfied. There are still too many very capable students receiving one or more failing grades. We have many students who could be making the honor roll. At the end of the first trimester I met with a dozen 10th grade students who fell in these two categories.
First Trimester Grade Results:
The following graphs give a picture of students' performance during the first trimester. Given the strong correlation between test scores and GPA's last year, we have a bit of evidence that GAP and test scores are related.
The numbers seem to tell the following story about students' performance:
There is a movement of kids up (100-90) and down (69-55) in GPA, with the middle (84-70) getting smaller. We need a stronger showing in the middle range. Ideally, we need to move the bottom up to the middle. From 2011-13 the % of GPAs in the failing range was approximately 6%-7%.
Grades 7, 8 and 10 seem to be accounting for the overall drop in GAP. There were 4 7th graders who failed 3 classes, 4th graders who failed 3 or 4 classes and 4 1th graders who failed 3 or 4 classes.
Act 46 and Rivendell
There are a number of things to consider when looking at Act 46 in relation to Rivendell. First, as a result of being an interstate district, Act 46 does not compel Rivendell to consolidate. Recently, we also found out that the tax penalties also do not apply. Second, Rivendell has consistently met the equity concerns of Vermont lawmakers and the DOE as evidenced by our broad academic programs and our consistently high test scores that defy our high free or reduced lunch numbers. Also, our spending increases have been minimal over the last 6 years, given increases that are not under our control—fuel, bussing, health insurance, maintenance, etc. Third, our board has been discussing merger possibilities with neighboring districts; Thetford Elementary in particular (200, K-6 students). Including a district like Thetford Elementary makes sense because it increases the overall tax base of the district.
I looked up the origin of the word spontaneous. It comes from the Latin spont, which means willing. Not what I expected, but a perfectly appropriate connection to my thought that RA's distinctiveness stems from valuing spontaneity. We are willing:
A group of seniors led by Jennifer DeBois were willing to draft a letter to change the rules regarding senior privilege during study time.
Eric Reichert was willing to take over as the cross-country coach, a new experience for him.
Caleb Parker and Emma Hayes were willing to take me up on my offer to come in on a day off from school to work on a math activity with a stranger in front of some 35 Rivendell teachers. I thought it would take me hours to cajole two students to come in. It took minutes.
Rachel Sanders was willing to experiment with her biology curriculum by adding an aquaculture project in the greenhouse based on a spontaneous field trip to the Dartmouth organic farm last year.
Nurse Creigh Moffatt would be willing to do just about anything to improve our health and wellness.
Laszlo Bardos was willing to teach three different courses in the same room at the same time to accommodate the needs and interests of different students. He was also willing to start an electronics club after school.
Students in journalism were willing to include advertisements in the school newspaper to help pay for a trip to DC.
Gail Keefer was willing to teach French to 5th and 6th graders from Samuel Morey and teach a new course on Africa to expand our global studies offerings.
Everyone was concerned about taking a dog named Digger on a field trip to the Orford cemetery, but Jamie Nunn was willing to make sure that Digger didn't disturb any bones.
Michael Galli, Cindy McLaren and Nancy Hall were willing to plan a complicated assembly, change the schedule and hold the assembly less than 16 hours later. The entire process was triggered by a short conversation earlier that day. It would be safe to say that it was an amazing assembly.
I could go on and on with examples of people being willing to help make RA a better place for everyone. People at RA don't pontificate they spontificate.
After School Help (Soon to be renamed by students)
Our after school program is finally up and running. The program is designed to support students in math and literacy based on test scores and grades or teacher recommendations. We have sent letters home inviting students into the program based on our selection criteria.
The program runs Monday through Wednesday from 3:00 pm to 5:30 pm. Students are organized into literacy and math groups depending on their needs. Students have an additional block of time to complete homework. On some days we will have a math and reading specialist working with teachers.
We will have a snack and a fun activity to end the day. Students exit the program when their level of performance improves.
Special education teacher, Brynne MacMurtry, is running the program. If you have questions or would like to havemmore information, please contact Brynne at .
Smarter Balance [SBAC] Scores
Recall that newspapers used to print NECAP results and school rankings. The Vermont DOE has also downplayed SBAC results -- surprising, given all the media attention, time and money that went into the launching of the Com-mon Core Standards and associated SBAC testing.
We received a memo from the Secretary of Education that reported that SBAC scores across the state were lower than NECAP scores. She attributed the drop to the nature of the Smarter Balance questions. This was expected based on the results of the pilot testing that occurred two years ago in Vermont and across the country. In the same memo, the secretary went on to write:
"So how do we use these tests? Remember first of all that this is the first year of these tests. We really have no idea what level of performance on the Smarter Balanced assessment predicts a stu-dent will be well prepared for college and careers. We need to look at this data over time before we can come to any defensible conclusions about school quality based on these tests."
I believe that there probably is a strong relationship between students' scores on the SBAC and their ability to do college level work. But I also believe there are other important factors besides standardized test scores that influ-ence a student's ability to complete an undergraduate degree, technical degree, job training program or simply meet the expectations of an employer. These might include financial support, ability to deal with stress, confidence, the ability to find adequate support, or uncertainty about what they want to do in life.
The issue of school quality mentioned in the memo rests primarily on educator's ability to improve students' intel-lectual skills to the greatest degree possible. At RA the Smarter Balance test results provide very little information that we don't already know about students' academic performance. The DOE should investigate whether or not this is true in the majority of schools in the state.
SBAC Results Compared to GPA
"Was there a relationship to 11th grade students' GPAs at the end of last year and their SBAC scores?" We asked this question to test if Smarter Balance assessment actually did give us information about students that we didn't already know.
By dividing students into four equal groups based on GPA (four quartiles) and comparing GPA quartiles to SBAC scores, we found that there was a strong correlation between test scores and GPAs. For example, of our students who scored a 4 on SBAC language, 9 were in the top GPA quartile, 4 were in the third highest GPA quartile, 1 was in the third highest quartile, and 1 in the lowest quartile. We then looked close-ly at the surprising individuals. For example, why did someone in the lowest GPA quartile score a 4 in the lan-guage test? When we identified that student, there was a readily apparent reason. When we looked at three stu-dents with a high GPA but low test scores, we also found sensible reasons; we had recorded that these three students spent very little time on the test.
In her memo, the Secretary of Education went on to say that we need to give these tests, "Because they DO give us useful information that we can use to evaluate the size and direction of our achievement gaps, as well as the mas-tery of individual students on specific content." Our RA analysis leads us to conclude that we already have this information.
What We Could Do
Given our stance and our experience, I believe the state and federal governments need to back away from failed policies of accountability/punishment and constant meddling with standards. There are many common sense ways to better spend taxpayer's money. Here are a few examples:
Create greater incentives for qualified people to become math, science or reading teachers.
Increase the training and placement of clinical counselors to work in elementary schools.
Assure that schools have strong music, art, and drama programs.
Increase support of post-secondary programs like Upward Bound.
On Tuesday some students began using an app called After School. The app allows a student to send an anonymous message to other Rivendell students who have also downloaded the app.
A small number of students have used the site for bullying and sexual harassment of other students. Because the posts are anonymous we are currently unable to identify who has sent a message. I am concerned about the emotional impact these hurtful messages have had on targeted students. We will be checking in with targeted students as we move ahead in dealing with this issue.
Since Wednesday morning I have discussed this issue with all high school students. All high school students have agreed to remove the app from their personal device. I realize that some students will not remove the app, but I am hopeful that most will do so. I am meeting with the 7th and 8th grade on Friday.
In addition we will be having follow-up discussions with all students in advisory and in an assembly. We are also investigating ways to gain access to the identities of students who have sent inappropriate messages. Bullying and sexual harassment are against the law. Those students who might be identified will be dealt with accordingly.
I encourage you to have a discussion with your Rivendell student about the legal and personal issues related to using technology to harm others. Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, and other online tools can be fun and helpful or hurtful and harmful. The choices people make define how others see them now and in the future.
It is important to remember that nearly all our students used this app appropriately. The majority of students in the school did not even know that it existed. As is usually the case, we are all paying the price for a few but significant instances of negative behavior. We are using this incident to once again have open and honest conversations with students about how to treat one another and use technology appropriately.
Principal, Rivendell Academy
Click here to download this letter

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


The Group is looking for a dynamic events and lettings manager to drive the already established events and lettings income. The Group has a successful history of working with summer schools, international films, TV, fashion shows and much more.
The role will be based out of our award-winning Paddington Green campus but the successful candidate will be expected to work across all of our sites in Westminster and Brent.
The successful candidate will be expected to promote our venue, organise lettings around the college's curriculum calendar, facilitate events and negotiate in the Group's interest. This role is best suited to a very organised and personable person who can work independently with a flexible target driven approach.


When seeking out a new job, potential employees want to understand what will be expected of them and how they will be evaluated if brought onboard; on the other hand, employers want to be sure they are interviewing the right candidates for the right job, and not wasting valuable time interviewing under- or over-qualified individuals. One way to ensure each party gets what they want is to craft a well-thought-out and detailed job description.
The employee performance review. It's an opportunity to congratulate workers on a job well done and celebrate their wins. It's also a chance to provide constructive criticism and discuss ways to improve performance. But what makes for an effective employee performance review?


text:
WE'RE STRONGER WHEN WE RISE UP TOGETHER
byRiseUpTogether
Rise Up stands in solidarity with leaders and communities in the US and around the world who are fighting for justice and equity. We reflect on a blog post from November, 2016 below – we are still stronger when we Rise Up together.
Rise Up's work did not begin with this presidential campaign, and it does not end with this election. And as our fight for girls, youth, and women everywhere becomes more difficult, we strengthen our resolve to speak out for the voiceless, to champion human rights, and to continue to rise up together.
For just as Rise Up's leaders do not give up in the battle against misogyny, racism, and oppression, we will not give up. Now more than ever, we rise up with girls, youth, and women around the world who are working to end injustice.
We rise up with girls in Louisiana who are mobilizing their communities. Rise Up leader Nakita Shavers enables marginalized girls of color to raise their voices to fight racism and violence.
We rise up with young people in Mississippi who are fighting for their right to reproductive health care. Rise Up leader Monica Atkins is advocating with Jackson school districts to ensure that young people have access to comprehensive sexuality education and services.
We rise up with women who are combating gender-based violence. Rise Up leader Danessa Luna provides critical support to Guatemalan survivors of sexual violence, and Rise Up leader Aisha Cooper Bruce fights to ensure that Liberian girls are safe from child marriage.
Since 2009, Rise Up has enabled girls, youth, and women to transform their families, communities, countries, and the world. Rise Up's global network has advocated for over 100 laws and policies impacting 115 million people.
And in the weeks and years ahead, Rise Up's support for girls, youth, and women leaders in the US and around the world will be more important than ever before.
We need your help. Please join this movement of girls, youth, and women who rise up together to fight injustice.
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Posted on: Rise Up's Blog
amarjyo
Cheers ..
Tuna and Modern Slavery
Lego Is Giving Sesame Workshop $100 Million to Help Educate Refugee Children
New Zealand's PM Called for a Global Fight Against Racism.
Want to help newly arrived refugees? Here's how you can easily make a difference!
The Teens Going Door to Door to Stop Child Marriages
Coldplay Supporting MOAS- Migrant Offshore Aid Station
This gripping app lets you 'walk a mile' in a 16-year-old refugee girl's shoes
jeanp
The Saudi Dress Code Debacle
Editorbrigitte-perreault


This Special Design was a commissioned collaboration with my friend Julia.
All of the colors require anl extra process, and the tyeing is slow and tricky as well!
Custom dyed per order~ a true labor of love!
Flattering curved hemline, scoop neckline, 3/4 sleeves,with a swing cut body that looks great on most body types.
Sewn in the USA of light (but not sheer) 5 oz. 100% combed cotton Jersey (really soft).


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Home » News & Guides » HBOS chief under attack over leaving package
HBOS chief under attack over leaving package
Peter Cummings, formerly of HBOS, is this evening under attack for his £660,000 "parachute" and a £5.9 million pension pot. In what many see as the next stage of a government campaign to blacken the name of many former stars of the UK banking sector, the former head of corporate lending at HBOS could well see part of his remuneration package reclaimed by the authorities. However, is this the real point of the UK banking rescue?
As banks continue to hold back on increasing UK lending, savings rates continue to plummet and the UK taxpayer continues to fund many of the best-known UK banks the government is more interested in blacken the name of those it courted in the past. The vast majority of former chairman and former chief executives of the fallen UK banks have at some point been part of the government's "circle" of financial advisers. They have assisted with a vast array of funding arrangements for UK government investment plans and now they are being hung out to dry.
While there is no doubt that mistakes have been made it is worth remembering that each and every bank in the UK, and each and every company, has a board of directors for a particular reason, to ensure the smooth running of the operation and that the correct decisions are made. While the chief executive and chairman hold the highest rank in any organisation, they are not the be all and end all of all decisions.
Why won't the UK government protect ALL of your savings?
As news that Gordon Brown has increased protection for savers to £50,000 per institution is released it seems as though calls for 100% protection of savings have been ignored. This has prompted many to ask why the authorities are not able to guarantee all savings and what they may fear?
While on the surface it may look as if Gordon Brown is not prepared to help, in reality it woul... Read More
FSA to stamp down upon mis-selling scandals
The FSA (Financial Services Authority) has today confirmed that new financial products entering the UK market in the future will be susceptible to more scrutiny than ever before. In a move which is aimed at reducing the number of mis-selling scandals further down the line, the FSA will become more proactive in vetting and scrutinising new products and new services before they are offered to the ge... Read More
World Economic Forum hits back at overregulation
The World Economic Forum has this week seen chief executive after chief executive step forward to condemn the ongoing increase in regulations in the worldwide financial sector. This is the first time we have seen banks publicly fight back together in what is becoming something of a witch hunt around the world. Only recently Pres Obama introduced a very heavy tax levy on the US banking system an... Read More
UK banks under pressure to confirm number of high earners
Lord Myners, the City minister, will today put forward proposals which will go further than many had expected on the subject of remuneration and salaries in the financial sector. It is believed that he will put forward plans to reveal how many members of staff earn £500,000 or more in each financial institution in the UK. While no individual names will be released to the public it is hoped that t... Read More
Children now funding their parent's lifestyle
In a bizarre turnaround a report by Scottish Widows today has highlighted the fact that many parents are now struggling to survive financially and depending more and more upon their children. The report shows that in 2008 adult children gave around £6500 back to their parents who were struggling to make ends meet. However, the figure increased to £8250 in 2009 with 8% of adult children now helpi... Read More
Inflation Help with pensions Debt Interest Mortgages Financial advice Credit card Pension Income Investment Overdraft University Pensions Help Interest rates Investment news Saving for retirement Overdraft limit Income protection Bank accounts Debt help Bank Jisa Investments Calculator SIPP Divorce Offshore Offshore banking Financial


In a snow-changed city in the middle of an ice age on an alien world, one young man prepares for the biggest mission of his life.
A brand new drama adaptation of Le Guin's first three Earthsea novels.
The American science-fiction author chats to Jenni Murray in 1990.
Where do sci-fi writers get inspiration for the fantastical worlds they create?
A summary of the programmes celebrating the author's life and work.


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Camelback East
AMC Esplanade 14
2515 East Camelback Road,
14 screens
Operated by: AMC Theatres
Phone Numbers: Box Office: 602.814.2215
Manager: 602.667.0330
Cine Capri Theatre
AMC Town & Country
Sombrero Playhouse
Cinema Park Drive-In
Harkins Arcadia 8
This AMC theater opened December 19, 1997 to replace Town & County 6 that was aged in a outdated shopping center 1 mile east of the new theater location. AMC was going to close this theater in 2010 because of low movie viewers and hard access for parking, not to mention it was built on top of a parking structure. As plans to close it was up for it's final deadline a idea come to AMC to build it into a Movie Wine & Dine joint with private box office suites. I would love to see this work and keep this theater open because it was my first job and after 5 years working there and becoming a manger in the early-2000's it is a part of me. Let's see what happens.
Contributed by Matthew Nystrom
greenth1ng on July 29, 2015 at 9:32 pm
Seating capacities at this theater following the "Fork & Screen" renovation (via Fandango's reserved seating service):
Theater 1 – 50 seats
Theaters 5 & 11 – 72 seats
Theaters 6 & 9 – 121 seats
Theaters 7 & 8 – 44 seats
Theater 10 – 116 seats
Theater 12 – 68 seats
Theaters 1 through 5 are AMC's "Cinema Suites" theaters for patrons 21 and over, while 6 through 14 are the Fork & Screen theaters.
rivest266 on November 18, 2015 at 3:21 pm
December 19th, 1997 grand opening ad in photo section.


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January 20th, 2020 by APKpride
The debut of the new Power series from UMiDIGI took place, and by its name one can understand that smartphones with a powerful battery will be included in it. After successfully launching the latest models with 48-megapixel cameras, such as the UMiDIGI S3 Pro and F1 Play, the Chinese manufacturer is taking a step towards another success in the market, and the company hopes that the creation of Power is a step in the right direction. The first device of the Power family has just been officially introduced.
But before announcing its specifications and telling about the functionality, we inform you that even before the release of the model, which is to be held on the world market on April 22, you can get a smartphone with a large battery for free.
At the moment, UMiDIGI on its official website is conducting a global set of users of UMiDIGI Power, so that they play the role of testers. Winners of the selection – 10 lucky ones – will receive a novelty for free. The company believes that they will help test UMiDIGI Power at the first stage to improve the user experience. You can find out all the details of the promotion and join the free distribution of UMiDIGI Power on the official website here.
According to UMIDIGI, the company tried to create a phone with a large battery, but with a thin body, designed for a regular pocket. And the attempt was successful: the thickness of the novelty is only 8.8 mm.
UMiDIGI Power will be equipped with a 6.3-inch LTPS display with a drop-shaped notch, FHD + resolution, 2.5D curved glass and a solid ratio of screen area to front panel 92.7%. A significant advantage will be the battery itself capacity of 5150 mAh with support for fast charging 18 watts.
Under the hood of the smartphone, a new processor Helio P35 (8 cores Cortex-A53) is installed, working with a clock frequency of up to 2.3 GHz. The device received 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of internal memory, a dual main camera with a 6-element lens (16 megapixel + 5 megapixel with f / 1.8 aperture) on the back, a 16 megapixel selfie shooter and a pre-installed Android OS 9.0 Pie.
Both slots for SIM-cards are compatible with 4G, support 4G VoLTE simultaneously. UMiDIGI Power is equipped with a fingerprint scanner and an NFC module. There are Bluetooth 4.2, GPS, as well as USB Type-C connectors and a 3.5mm audio jack. The novelty will be offered to customers in black and gold colors.
Top 20 Best Android Apps
March 26th, 2019 by APKpride
In Google Play about 2 million supplements what will be enough to all who will acquire Android smartphone in search of qualitative third-party decisions are published. Read more of this article »
Huawei P30 Pro Review
When Huawei introduced the flagship P20 Pro, it made a big impression. Then the presence of a triple rear camera and 3x optical zoom were considered something innovative and out of the ordinary. But over the past year we have seen quite a few multi-chamber devices and three modules on the rear panel are about to become the standard. Is there anything that can surprise us in 2019 in the Huawei P30 Pro?
One rule is true: no matter what praises the manufacturer sang at the presentation, only by picking up a real product can one draw any conclusions and understand whether the company has a good product or not. We were lucky to be among the first to get hold of the Huawei P30 Pro, and we are ready to share our impressions of it.
What is the flagship Huawei P30 Pro? The first thing that comes to mind is a smartphone about cameras and advanced photo capabilities. The best camera has become even better and this is another successful attempt to clearly demonstrate that the amount of happiness. Where it has already become a tradition to surprise, the manufacturer is there and tries to do it. They installed Leica high-quality optics, you can play with the depth of field and "blur" the background, but the main thing is that by changing the focal length you can bring the subject closer. Optical zoom is familiar to us on other devices, but here it has reached the parameter of 5-fold, 10-fold digital and 50-fold hybrid. The camera here is promising and interesting. We tried how to remove the Huawei P30 Pro and it does it perfectly. Tried to put photos, showing the potential of the camera. And from our review you will learn more about the design, operation of the display fingerprint scanner, performance and autonomy of the flagship, which was introduced just a few minutes ago.


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About The Tour
The Skaters
Current Skaters
All-Time Skaters
STARS ON ICE EXPLORES TOURING OPTIONS FOR 2021
(Toronto, ON) – The optimism that is being felt for 2021 is at the core of planning for the return of the Stars on Ice tour to its loyal fans across North America. While the originally planned spring timeline for the 2021 Stars on Ice tour is unlikely, alternatives, including a fall run, are currently being considered.
The launch of the NHL 2021 season will see the puck drop without fans in the stands. Stars on Ice will continue to monitor other live sports and entertainment offerings to ensure the optimal time for the tour to return to cities throughout North America. Stars on Ice will announce 2021 plans when conditions allow for fans to enjoy the award-winning show in a safe and secure environment. Please visit www.starsonice.ca for news and updates on the upcoming 2021 tour, including cast announcements, dates, and performance times.
Stars on Ice continues to be a pioneer in figure skating by offering North American fans the rare opportunity to witness some of the world's most accomplished and artistically gifted champions performing together in both individual and ensemble routines. For the first time since the tour debuted, Stars on Ice was prevented from presenting the world's premier figure skating show during the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2021 Stars on Ice tour promises to once again provide the same level of excitement and athletic triumph that fans have come to expect and enjoy, all delivered by an incomparable world-class cast.
About Stars on Ice
Founded in 1986 by skating icon and Olympic Gold Medalist Scott Hamilton, the Stars on Ice tour originated in the United States. In 1991, Stars on Ice began to tour Canada and has now played more than 300 shows in the past 30 years. Past tours have featured more than 40 Olympic medalists and World Champions, including Jamie Salé & David Pelletier, Kristi Yamaguchi, Brian Orser and Katarina Witt. Stars on Ice is produced by IMG, a global leader in sports, events, media, and fashion. For more information about the tour, visit www.starsonice.ca. Keep in touch with Stars on Ice on Facebook: www.facebook.com/starsonice, Instagram: www.instagram.com/starsonice and on Twitter: @starsonice, www.twitter.com/starsonice.
Share On Facebook Share On Twitter Share On Pinterest Email
Media Site
Get the latest updates on the Stars on Ice tour, skaters & more!
Stars On Ice and logo are trademarks of International Merchandising Company, LLC. © All Rights Reserved.


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«Как сумасшедший» () — американский мелодраматический фильм 2011 года режиссёра Дрейка Доремуса. Снят на цифровой фотоаппарат Canon EOS 7D.

Сюжет
Джейкоб и Анна вместе учатся в колледже в Лос-Анджелесе. Анна, студентка по обмену из Англии, влюбляется в Джейкоба, изучающего дизайн, и проводит с ним лето, нарушая условия своей студенческой визы, срок которой истек к завершению учёбы в колледже. Она возвращается в Лондон по семейным обстоятельствам, а когда возвращается в Лос-Анджелес в качестве туристки, попадает под контроль иммиграционных служб, которые останавливают её, запрещают въезд и возвращают в Англию, тем самым погружая пару в тяжелое испытание — отношения на расстоянии.

Анне запрещен въезд в Соединенные Штаты в связи с её нарушением условий студенческой визы. На расстоянии отношения молодой пары становятся напряженными, они могут видеться только когда Джейкоб может позволить себе отлучиться от успешного дизайнерского бизнеса в Лос-Анджелесе и прилететь к Анне в Англию. Семья Анны нанимает адвоката по иммиграционным делам с целью снять запрет Анны на въезд в США. Отец Анны говорит, что молодым людям следует пожениться для упрощения процедуры снятия запрета. Через некоторое время после возвращения в США Джейкоб начинает встречаться с однокурсницей Самантой. Анна продолжает переживать об отношениях с Джейкобом, и однажды звонит ему, чтобы предложить заключить брак для упрощения получения визы. Анна говорит, что ни с одним мужчиной она не испытывала таких чувств, как с Джейкобом.

Джейкоб возвращается в Англию, где они с Анной заключают брак на маленькой свадебной церемонии с родителями Анны в качестве свидетелей. Им остается подождать 6 месяцев, прежде чем подать очередное заявление на визу для Анны. Джейкоб приезжает в Англию через шесть месяцев, они подают документы, однако снова получают отказ. Отношения Анны и Джейкоба под угрозой. Они снова начинают встречаться с другими людьми, но все ещё чувствуют глубокую связь друг с другом. Анна получает долгожданное повышение на работе. Её молодой человек, Саймон, делает ей предложение.

Вскоре Анна узнает от адвоката, что запрет на въезд наконец был снят. Она бросает работу, квартиру и своего молодого человека, и возвращается в Лос-Анджелес к Джейкобу. Джейкоб встречает Анну в аэропорту с букетом цветов, и наступает то самое примирение, которого у пары не было с тех пор, как Анне впервые отказали во въезде в США. Хотя складывается впечатление, что той страсти, которая была в начале их отношений, уже нет.

Воссоединенные, без каких-либо юридических препятствий быть вместе, Анна и Джейкоб начинают совместную жизнь. В конце фильма нам показывают, как пара принимает душ вместе, вспоминая свои первые ухаживания. Они оба немного напряжены, ведь их отношения пережили множество взлетов и падений. Будущее Анны и Джейкоба остается неясным.

В ролях

Награды
 «Империя» (2012): в номинации «Лучший женский дебют» — Фелисити Джонс
 Golden Trailer Awards: в номинации «Лучшая мелодрама» («Best Romance»)
 Кинофестиваль «Сандэнс»:
 в номинации «Гран при жюри» — Антон Ельчин
 в номинации «Специальный приз жюри» — Фелисити Джонс

Примечания

Ссылки

Фильмы на английском языке
Фильмы-драмы США
Фильмы-мелодрамы США
Фильмы о Лос-Анджелесе
Фильмы, снятые на цифровой фотоаппарат
Фильмы про свадьбу
Независимые фильмы США
Фильмы Paramount Vantage
Фильмы — лауреаты кинофестиваля «Сандэнс»

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text:
Q: Adding a new targetConfigs property to an LWC in a managed package raises an error when upgrading I am updating an LWC in my dev org and adding a new property to be configured in the app builder however when I install the new version of the managed package which has more properties than the first version it raises an error.

BearBonesTest: Invalid property [text2] in component [lwcManaged:bearBones]

This error only happens when the component is a part of the lightning page, If the component is not part of any lighting page then adding properties does not raise any error.
Is this the expected behavior and is there a way to resolve this?
v1 code for the lwc
html:
<template>
<lightning-card>
    {text1}
</lightning-card>
</template>

javasript:
import { LightningElement, api } from 'lwc';

export default class BearBones extends LightningElement {
    @api text1;
}

xml:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<LightningComponentBundle xmlns="http://soap.sforce.com/2006/04/metadata">
    <apiVersion>55.0</apiVersion>
    <isExposed>true</isExposed>
    <targets>
        <target>lightning__AppPage</target>
    </targets>
    <targetConfigs>
        <targetConfig targets="lightning__AppPage">
            <property name="text1" type="String" />
        </targetConfig>
    </targetConfigs>
</LightningComponentBundle>

v2 code for the lwc
html:
<template>
<lightning-card>
    {text1}
    {text2}
</lightning-card>
</template>

javasript:
import { LightningElement, api } from 'lwc';

export default class BearBones extends LightningElement {
    @api text1;
    @api text2;
}

xml:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<LightningComponentBundle xmlns="http://soap.sforce.com/2006/04/metadata">
    <apiVersion>55.0</apiVersion>
    <isExposed>true</isExposed>
    <targets>
        <target>lightning__AppPage</target>
    </targets>
    <targetConfigs>
        <targetConfig targets="lightning__AppPage">
            <property name="text1" type="String" />
            <property name="text2" type="String" />
        </targetConfig>
    </targetConfigs>
</LightningComponentBundle>

A: The other option which might be available to you depending if you have data is to uninstall the package from production and redeploy. Alternatively rename the component.

A: We have also suffered issues in making changes like this; in our case we simply wanted to split out the flow screen target from the others ready to have a different set of properties for the latter compared with other targets (mainly because flow screens support array-based properties and others do not).
Even without making any changes to the actual list of properties, this caused the same type of problem you are having - any use of the component in the org prevents upgrade.
We ended up having to duplicate the LWC to a new name and make the changes to the duplicate. This means we now have cruft in our package and we will eventually delete the original LWC.
This is a systemic limitation on packaged LWCs that Salesforce really needs to sort out.

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