Schedule Adjustment for Upper School
Starting next Tuesday, October 20, the Upper School will use a new daily schedule. While the overall contours of the day remain much the same, we have implemented some changes within the school day, starting with a slightly earlier opening time of 9:20 instead of 9:30. The adjusted schedule has been sent to students and parents in a separate push page.
When we designed the Upper School daily schedule over the summer, we could not foresee all of the ways the five-day CA Flex model would function in practice. Now, eight weeks into the school year, we have heard from both teachers and students that they would benefit from a schedule that provides more consistency.
When we designed the Upper School daily schedule over the summer, we could not foresee all of the ways the five-day CA Flex model would function in practice. Now, eight weeks into the school year, we have heard from both teachers and students that they would benefit from a schedule that provides more consistency.
A team of Upper School teachers, in consultation with 20 student leaders and school administrators, met several times over the past three weeks. A few priorities emerged, including:
- Consistency: equal in-person time for Rockies and Mustangs in each class.
- Predictability: a schedule that does not change when we miss calendar days for holidays or professional development.
- Hybrid/Remote Adaptability: a schedule that does not change if we shift to full remote learning.
- Longer Lunch: students at school see this as their primary social time and students at home need more time to prepare a meal and eat it.
- Mental Health: a schedule that better balances contact time in classes with Zoom fatigue and homework overload.
Meeting these goals while working within the constraints posed by the realities of a Pre-K through 12 school, the scheduling committee developed a new rotating schedule.
What has changed:
- All class periods meet on consecutive days, so that Rockies and Mustangs can take part in the same in-class activities on back-to-back days. This especially serves science classes conducting labs, and all other classes with hands-on activities.
- Upper School will no longer need special schedules on shortened weeks.
- If the Upper School shifts to full remote learning, classes will meet on the same days they would have originally met. We will follow the same schedule whether remote or in CA Flex.
- The lunch period will be 10 minutes longer.
- Greater predictability will serve the mental well-being of both students and teachers.
What has not changed:
- Students will still come to campus on their established Rockies/Mustangs days.
- Later start time to accommodate bus routes for US students.
- Built-in time for advisory, clubs, Town Hall, class meetings, and academic help.
We can’t thank families enough for the patience and understanding as we work to create a schedule that is best for our students and faculty. Dr. Davis stated at the end of the summer that we all would need to be flexible this year, making changes as needed. Every schedule has unforeseen benefits and drawbacks that do not become clear until after several weeks of implementation, so we are planning to run this schedule through Thanksgiving break, at which point we will re-evaluate again and decide what makes the most sense going forward.
© 2023 Colorado Academy
