Reviewing, Rewriting, and Revitalizing Our Mission Statement

2/2/2023

Fayerweather Street School is proud to present our newly revitalized Mission Statement to the greater school community. A school’s Mission Statement serves as its fundamental guiding light, offering its Board, its leadership team, and indeed, every community member a vehicle to clarify priorities and evaluate and steer decisions. It boldly states to the public and to prospective families the school’s reason to exist, and it reflects and creates a shared identity within and about the school. Reviewing and revitalizing a school's mission statement is an important and necessary process that independent schools follow regularly.

The Fayerweather Board of Directors formed a Mission Committee in 2019, tasked with guiding the process and writing the new statement. The committee comprised representatives that included staff, board members, and current parents. The process envisioned required careful planning, robust research, and extensive input from important community members, including current and former families, alums, alum parents, students, teachers, and administrators.

Immediately getting to work, the Mission Committee conducted a comprehensive research and analysis of the school's Mission, Vision, and Values Statements by looking at over 70 North American progressive schools, including 30 within a 30-mile radius of Fayerweather. They reviewed FSS’s mission statement as well as the school's strategic plan, vision statement, and core values to ensure that the new mission statement would align with these documents. Approved by the full Board, the Mission Committee evolved into a Mission Working Group that developed a multi-step process that articulated the whys, whos, and hows of the work to be done. The process would be to define terms, develop criteria for what should be included in a new statement, and gather extensive feedback from various FSS stakeholders to ensure that everyone was given a voice during the process. The goal was to produce a new mission statement that would reflect the values and goals of the entire school community. Input included feedback from the recent AISNE accreditation, stories gathered from historical FSS documents, focused work with the entire Board of Directors, and surveys and focus groups with key FSS constituent groups - · parents and caregivers, community members, alums and alum parents, students, teachers, staff, administrators, the Advancement team, and the Marketing Committee.

Finally, putting pen to paper, the Mission Working Group used all of this information to draft a new mission statement, which was then road-tested with various members of the community, revised, and presented to the Board for approval. Fayerweather has a long history of being engaged and aware of what is happening in the greater world outside of its walls. This new statement aimed to be just as self-aware as it is future-oriented by reflecting the school's aspirations for the future.

The journey of rewriting and revitalizing Fayerweather’s mission statement was a collaborative, data-driven process made possible by the passionate Fayerweather community. And on Wednesday, February 15, 2023, the Fayerweather Board of Directors unanimously voted to approve the new Mission Statement.

Fayerweather Street School, the Board of Directors, Faculty and Staff, and the Missions Committee are proud to present the revitalized Mission Statement:

Summary Statement

Fayerweather’s mission is to cultivate a joyful and collaborative learning community that honors every student’s unique story, promoting growth through intellectual exploration, creative thinking, and meaningful engagement with our world and each other.

We believe that:

Fully knowing each child is the heart of a great education
There is potential for joy in all learning
Learning in community is complex and powerful
Education must address the themes and issues of our time

Full Statement

Mission

Our Philosophy

The Fayerweather experience is guided by four core values – the pillars of our educational approach.

Fully knowing each child is the heart of a great education

Educators at Fayerweather are committed to forging connections with students and are empowered to respond to students’ passions and curiosity in the classroom.

Our educators create spaces in which students can be their whole selves, with many opportunities for students to explore and understand their strengths and challenges as learners and their impact as members of a larger community.

In a community built on trust and mutual respect, students develop authentic voices and the capacity to self-advocate.

There is potential for joy in all learning

We believe that honoring the pace of childhood and nurturing joy is key to a fulfilling educational experience. In the classroom and in our community, we seek and welcome opportunities for vibrant and purposeful play, which deepens students’ learning and their connections to one another.

Learning in community is complex and powerful

Students and educators at Fayerweather collaborate to build their classroom communities by finding commonalities and valuing differences.

The practice of building community extended beyond the classroom. Fayerweather welcomes active involvement and dialogue from parents and caregivers.

We recognize that complexity may create disagreement and sometimes discomfort, and value it as fertile ground for learning and growth.

Education must address the themes and issues of our time

A cornerstone of a Fayerweather education is the imperative to respond to the world around us.

Learning is more than preparation for a future version of life. Students at Fayerweather are living in moments of societal change within their classrooms, our school community, and the broader world.

Being part of the Fayerweather community means thinking critically about questions of power and privilege, race and history, and the impact of our actions on the world around us.

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Reviewing, Rewriting, and Revitalizing Our Mission Statement

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