The "Can Do" Approach

Over the last few weeks, the Mayfield Junior School campus has found a distinctive rhythm and pace as students in grades K-8 have gradually returned for in-person learning. Despite a setback in early December due to rising COVID numbers and hospitalizations, we moved forward as things improved with a “can do” spirit focusing on our community’s depth and width. Can we bring kids and teachers to campus safely? Can we use the space we have efficiently, creatively, and with purpose? Can we return to in-person learning with the same passionate energy and care that has sustained us through the upheaval of the last year? We could.

Since the 2020-21 school year began, the goal has been returning to campus when safe and prepared to do so. While learning was strong in remote, there is no substitution for in-person interaction and an active classroom's collective energy. Bringing nearly 500 kids to campus safely, however, was no easy task. Our community’s well-established resourcefulness, teamwork, and tenacity went a long way. Following local and state guidelines, systems were put in place, protocols and procedures posted, and campus enhancements such as air purifiers and touchless water faucets purchased, all to keep our community safe. As things progressed, K-2 returned in mid-February, grades 3-4 the second week of March, grades 5-6 the next week, and grades 7-8 beginning an alternating days schedule on March 22.

With all-hands-on-deck, it has been both a heroic and humbling effort. Daily health screenings are required, plus temperature checks on arrival, hula hoop spaces sit securely on the field to mark 6ft distance, and hand sanitizer and hand-washing stations are strategically placed. Indoor spaces were rearranged and adapted, staff and administrators enlisted as faculty partners, and to assist with carpool, extra community support associates were hired, directional paths marked in courtyards and hallways, and segmented outdoor spaces (including the head of school’s backyard) assigned. 

Teaching and learning have their own adjustments/ challenges. Students are grouped in small cohorts and must spend 50% of their time outside. Faculty received high flex teaching training to accommodate those who continued the year in remote while also engaging the students physically in front of them. With “roomies” and “zoomies” together, teachers are juggling direct teaching with Zoom limitations while keeping everyone in the mix. 

For all the pivoting and extra time and care, the teachers know and see the benefit of in-person instruction and time on campus. Most importantly, everyone remains committed to providing all the elements of a Holy Child education. Enrichment classes such as music and art continue with the teachers in remote. Although team sports and group activities are still on hold, PE coaches bring students to the field for conditioning with obstacle courses, jump ropes, and even special “Jedi” training for K-2. The middle school schedule was adjusted early in the year to accommodate the exploration of student interests. “Be Clubs,” which are held every Friday afternoon and meet via Zoom, are a combination of student voice and choice, unstructured play, and affinity. There are over 25 clubs and collectives — including activities like Baking Club, cultural identity and education activism in the BASC Black American Student Collective, and outreach in the Helping Hands club — allowing students to connect across different grade levels based on a certain interest, hobby or connection.  Each club or collective is founded and led by students, with the assistance of a faculty advisor. 
  
All of the above may sound a bit like organized chaos, and it does take a village, yet it also provides a long-needed and hopeful “normalness” on campus. There is the sound of laughter and youthful chatter, the happy waves of hello, exuberant running on the field, full enjoyment of the playground, interaction and spontaneity. The students are the soul of our school, and their presence is both restorative and invigorating. 

We use the word “joyful” a lot around here. It is what we aspire towards in all aspects of learning and being, in growing in faith, in confidence, in skill. The universal nature of joy sustains us. If we can see, feel it, even these days, we’ve done something right. Working towards it, sustaining it, and letting it work its magic is something we most definitely can do.
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Mayfield Junior School

Located in Pasadena, California, Mayfield Junior School of the Holy Child Jesus is a K-8 Catholic coeducational private school. Our kindergarten, elementary school, and middle school experience best prepares students for high school education and beyond.