A Note from our Principal…  

     Welcome back, Hornets! I have been anxiously awaiting the start of the school year.  As a first year principal, I am both excited and nervous. I, along with our entire Henley Community, want you to have your best learning year yet!

     Because I, too, was a “newbie” here at Henley, I found reading the Student Handbook to be helpful in learning more about the procedures, policies, activities, and day-to-day life here at Henley. I encourage you to take a few moments and read through the contents of this handbook as you start the school year. It contains a wealth of information that can answer many of the questions that you have about the upcoming school year. Every student at Henley deserves a safe and effective learning environment; understanding the expectations for students is an important step in building our community.

     At the start of the school year, the staff and I defined our values for Henley and intend to use them as a guide for our work with you. We highlighted the key values of Respect, Responsibility, Community, and Creativity. We believe these fit with our our learning goals of helping you grow in your ability to think critically, create, collaborate, and communicate.

     Middle School is an exciting time! I hope you will find time to develop and then explore your passions. I encourage you to connect with our phenomenal teachers, club sponsors, and coaches  to connect with school outside of the normal 9:00-4:00. We have lots of options for the artist, musician, engineer, entrepreneur, and athlete.  

      Lastly, but perhaps most importantly, I want you to know that I am honored to be your principal and I value your feedback. We all have to work together to keep Henley exceptional.  Please feel free to share your thoughts and give us your feedback.

      Welcome back, students!   I look forward to learning alongside you this year!

Sincerely,

Beth Costa, Ph. D.

Principal

Well, last night was the night. I woke up from a sound sleep and my mind immediately raced through the dozens of “to do” items that I want to accomplish before teachers and students arrive. We only get to start the school year once and I want everything to go perfectly.

Tomorrow we will go, as a school community, to Poplar Ridge on the grounds of UVA to build our team.  The feedback from teachers has been exceptionally positive; in fact, in general all of my interactions with the staff have been positive and energizing.  I really look forward to our collaboration.

On Thursday we will debrief our experiential learning at Poplar Ridge and take our first stab at defining a vision for our 2015-16 school year.  We invited students to participate in a panel discussion about their hopes and dreams for the coming year.  While this will take a good chunk of our day, it is very important work.

I will take a few minutes to post again after we have had some of these experiences together.