Communications

“A student’s ability to communicate should extend beyond the content of what he is learning to include what he is experiencing as he learns.”

–Matthew Campbell Woodhall, Head of School

The Communications Program unites and sustains all aspects of the school community. Throughout their time at Woodhall, students develop skills of self-reflection, self-expression, and accountability.

All students and teachers participate in the Communications Program, which includes twice weekly Communication Groups, a weekly School Forum, and the Committee for Accountability.

Communications Groups meet twice weekly, under the guidance of a faculty group facilitator. Students and teachers work together to learn to become self-reflective and to learn how to share personal responses to life’s situations. Trust and confidentiality are essential. Group compositions change each term.

student speaking at a school forum

In School Forum, a weekly gathering of students and faculty, anyone may share a concern as long as it is done so with compassion, integrity, and respect. Occasionally, the meeting is dedicated to class or club presentations. School Forum provides an opportunity to be present to one another and engage in mindful listening and productive communication.

The weekly Committee for Accountability provides a forum where students and teachers help individual community members make positive changes in their lives at school and beyond.

The Head of School or designee chairs the Committee, which is composed of five members, including two students and two faculty members.

Anyone in the community who has felt offended and then not heard when he or she confronted another and asked for accountability can ask for help from the Committee. People are given the opportunity to express what was happening with them at the time of the initial confrontation, or why they are having difficulty following the school guidelines or stopping a behavior.

students and teachers in a morning meeting

This challenging and intimate meeting reveals the process of accountability in resolving differences in a safe and caring community of peers and adults, and serves as a vehicle for holding the members of the community accountable.

The Committee members then conference with one another and determine an appropriate consequence that may range from an apology to a required behavior change or to a loss of privilege. All present must treat respectfully and fairly what transpires in the confrontation.