Upper School Division News: Dec. 4, 2024

December 5th 2024

By Mr. Chris Ames, Upper School Division Head

Dear Winston Family,

The Holiday season is in full swing! This time of year brings choir concerts, drama performances, holiday movie nights…and Exams. When you have a moment, take a look at the US Exam Schedule linked here. We have created a button on the parent portal that links to the Exam Week test schedule and shows when each course meets and the class times for individual blocks. Next week, our classes will begin to wrap up the semester’s material and review exam study guides. When you can, remind your students to take advantage of these study tools as they prepare for assessments - a true college prep experience!

For freshmen, this is the first time they will have “reportable” transcript grades. While we don’t like to increase anyone’s test anxiety, we do attempt to highlight the importance of a college prep system in which students strive to do their best and present the most positive picture of themselves to future college prospects, employers, and financial aid programs.

Following exams and the holiday break, we will be looking ahead to the second semester and a few new additions to our standard programming:

Community Outreach: We recently partnered with the “Keep Dallas Beautiful” program and have adopted a local venue - which happens to be the public library across the street from our school! Our US students will be working with the city to keep up the library grounds, beautify the location, and clean up the surrounding areas, including Netherland Park.
Academy Tours: Freshmen will begin a rotation of our Academy program starting in January. Each group of students will sample the Solar, Fine Arts, World Cultures, and Leadership Academies. This experience will help inform the student’s choice of Academy for their sophomore year.
College Counseling: In addition to piloting the YouScience program, our College Counselor, Mr. Jennings, will begin scheduling parent and student meetings to look at course offerings and elective options for next year. This includes current 8th-grade families as well.

There is plenty of activity ahead, including the start of spring sports, SAT and ACT registrations, musicals, and much more. We look forward to working with you in the coming months and as always, encourage your feedback and questions. Have a wonderful holiday season and look for Boston pictures in the next edition!

From the Upstairs,

Chris Ames