The Bryn Mawr School Baltimore, Maryland Lower School Director July 2017 brynmawrschool.org The Position Located in Baltimore, Maryland, The Bryn Mawr School is a private all-girls K-12 day school with a coed preschool for ages 2 months through 5 years. Bryn Mawr provides students with exceptional educational opportunities on a beautiful 30-acre campus within the city limits. Inquisitive girls, excellent teaching, strong student-teacher relationships, and a clear mission sustain this vibrant school community where girls always come first. Steeped in a tradition of excellence in academic preparation, the arts, physical development, strong values and a powerful sense of community, the Lower School is a joyous setting for K-5 girls and teachers. Focusing on how girls learn and thrive in a contemporary setting, the Lower School provides an exceedingly strong foundation for Bryn Mawr girls. Students are bright, curious, bold and creative. Bryn Mawr is currently seeking an outstanding educator to lead this distinctive division of a wider, historically important girls’ school. The Lower School Director is responsible for leading not only the day-to-day operations of this 200+ student division, but also for spearheading the division’s implementation of Bryn Mawr’s new strategic plan and for developing the future vision for the division. The Lower School Director reports to the Head of School and the Dean of Faculty. He/ she is a member of the Administrative Group, the Division Directors, and the Program Group as well as any additional assignments from the Headmistress or the Dean of Faculty. This is a twelve-month administrative appointment and begins on or about July 1, 2017. FAST FACTS » Total students: 689 » Value of Endowment: $30,000,000 » Faculty members: 137 » Annual operating budget: $20,200,000 » Student/teacher ratio: 7:1 » Financial aid awarded: $4,100,000 » Students of color: 39% » Students receiving financial aid: 32% The Search Group | CS&A 1 www.carneysandoe.com School History In 1885, five young women dissatisfied with their own educational opportunities vowed to work together to create better schools and a more serious educational path for girls—one equal to or greater than that which boys received at the time. The women founded the first school in Baltimore with a college preparatory program for girls. They set high standards from the outset, insisting upon a well-educated, predominantly female faculty and a curriculum that required Latin and French, German and Greek, laboratory sciences, history, literature, advanced mathematics, elocution, and art. Students underwent examinations by professors from leading universities, including Johns Hopkins and Cornell, and were required to pass the exceedingly difficult entrance exam for the Bryn Mawr College in order to graduate. The school building featured an indoor swimming pool, a gymnasium with the most modern equipment, as well as a full-time physician to oversee the athletic and posture programs. Up the many flights of stairs were complete scientific laboratories, an art room flooded with natural light, and a library stocked with classics and modern literature as well as scientific and mathematical volumes. The large study hall bore a complete copy of the Parthenon Frieze and there were copies of European and American statuary and artwork throughout the building for the girls to study and draw. Women who had reached the highest levels of academic achievement wrote to the founders offering their support and enthusiasm, as well as recommendations for faculty from among their own students. After a series of secretaries who managed the school’s daily operations, the Board of Managers brought Edith Hamilton from her doctoral studies in Europe to serve as the First Headmistress. A gifted graduate of Bryn Mawr College, Hamilton guided the school for 26 years, from 1896– 1922. Her love of learning was infectious and the girls worked hard to earn her praise. The school still bears the stamp of humanism and intellectual curiosity that she instilled. As the city of Baltimore became more congested and families moved out to the country, there was an urgent need to move the school as well. The 26-acre property known as The Orchards was purchased in 1928, and the school spent several years acquiring the funds to gradually move out of its home downtown and into renovated and new buildings in the country. Over the years, buildings have been added as needed and many have been recognized for excellence in design. The Search Group | CS&A 2 www.carneysandoe.com MISSION STATEMENT The Bryn Mawr School is an independent, nonsectarian, college-preparatory school for girls from preschool through grade twelve. Within a nurturing environment, Bryn Mawr’s rigorous academic curriculum inspires a passion for intellectual curiosity and emphasizes the delights and demands of learning. In the classical humanistic tradition, Bryn Mawr promotes the full development of mind, body, and spirit. The school cultivates respect for diversity and engenders habits of moral and ethical leadership and a sense of responsibility to the broader community. A Bryn Mawr education is grounded in the expectation that young women will be resilient in the face of complexity, ambiguity, and change; will become responsible and confident participants in the world; and, will lead considered and consequential lives. The Lower School Young girls come to Bryn Mawr full of wide-eyed wonder about the world around them. They have natural and abundant curiosity and many questions for which they want answers. The Lower School curriculum is designed to capture that enthusiasm and excitement. In a caring and supportive environment, teachers encourage independence and risk taking, and, with age-appropriate pedagogy, provide opportunities for girls to develop a foundation of strong academic skills and discover answers to their questions. Whether they are on the playground or in the classroom, the Lower School girls are happy and engaged in their school day. The Lower School’s cross-disciplinary program emphasizes the importance of both creative and critical thinking. Teachers use a combination of project-, experience- and team-based learning to provide a stimulating environment that meets the individual needs of each girl. Girls become confident readers and writers; they learn to use words as a powerful form of communication as well as a creative outlet. In science, girls analyze data, formulate questions, and devise experiments about the topics they study. Hands-on activities in both math and science are intended to help students move from concrete to abstract thinking. The Lower School also enjoys a one-to-one iPad program in kindergarten through grade four. Students in grade five enjoy a unique transition as they prepare for Middle School with a one-to-one MacBook program. The core curriculum of the Lower School is enhanced with the teaching of foreign language, visual art, choral and instrumental music, dance, physical education, and technology. These valuable courses help girls discover and develop their own special abilities, talents, and interests. A vital component of the Lower School is the Character Education Program, which teaches students to treat one another with respect and compassion. Each girl is encouraged to stand up for herself, as well as to recognize her responsibilities in the larger group. Lower School students also learn about leadership by gaining knowledge and practice as responsible members of their school community and the broader community. Beginning in Lower School, there is strong emphasis placed upon respectful and caring interactions with classmates and The Search Group | CS&A 3 www.carneysandoe.com teachers. Through the Lower School values program and service projects, students are taught to interact with their peers and adults with kindness and compassion. Bryn Mawr at Large Academics at The Bryn Mawr School take many different forms. From the joyful, play-based curriculum used in the Little School to the challenging college preparatory studies in the Upper School, Bryn Mawr students experience the many delights and demands of education. The overarching goal across all divisions is to help every Bryn Mawr girl to develop and cultivate a lifelong love of learning. Faculty strive to make learning both fun and challenging, and focus on developing the whole child—physically, socially and emotionally. Importantly, the school believes that each girl is unique, and that she deserves to be known and loved, to have her individual talents appreciated and developed. The Little School (3 mos.-5 yrs.) The Bryn Mawr Little School offers a co-ed early childhood education designed to provide ample opportunities for children to socialize, play, learn, and express their individuality in a nurturing and accepting environment. Children spend their time painting, building with blocks, sharing stories, playing dress-up, dancing and singing, riding trikes, making their own books, and taking the time for rest and naps. The program strives to balance daily schedules so children can grow and learn in healthy, unhurried, and age-appropriate ways. Notably, many faculty and staff are able to send their own children to the Little School—an important benefit to faculty families at Bryn Mawr. The Search Group | CS&A 4 www.carneysandoe.com The Middle School (Gr. 6-8) The Bryn Mawr Middle School program offers girls a wonderful opportunity to learn and grow in a challenging and supportive environment, celebrating the fact that each girl will change and develop significantly over the course of three years. Bryn Mawr’s middle school classrooms are safe spaces for students to take academic risks and think critically about the world. Teachers emphasize student skills—showing girls not only how to learn, but also how to be their own best advocates. The school’s intellectual traditions honor the importance of the arts, languages, and physical education as part of the core curriculum. Students also have plenty of opportunity to create, build, and communicate their ideas in project-based science classrooms and innovation space.