Head of School's Letter - May 15, 2026 - Wellspring

Dear Families,

On Wednesday morning, a group of first graders arrived at Wellspring House carrying trays of flowers and packets of seeds down familiar paths worn by generations of Brookwood students before them. Nearby, adults who have shepherded this tradition for decades smiled knowingly, watching another class step quietly into something much bigger than a spring planting day.

For more than thirty years, Brookwood children have come to Wellspring House to practice what it means to belong to a community.

At Brookwood, service learning has never been about checking a box or performing generosity for a single afternoon. It is not separate from the curriculum, nor is it an occasional enrichment activity added onto the “real” work of school. It is the work. We believe children learn empathy by encountering real people and real stories. They learn responsibility by being trusted with meaningful contributions. They learn citizenship through repeated opportunities to care for the world immediately around them.

Annually, Brookwood students partner with organizations across the North Shore, including Beverly Bootstraps, Dana-Farber, The Open Door, and Bambino Basket. But our partnership with Wellspring House has become one of the deepest expressions of this philosophy: a relationship sustained across decades through consistency, trust, and genuine human connection.

This week’s visit also included the dedication of a vibrant new bench honoring the thirty-year partnership between Brookwood and Wellspring (and the faculty who have nurtured it). Inspired by student artwork and overlooking the wildflower gardens Brookwood students have helped cultivate year after year, the bench now stands as a physical reminder of something we often talk about at school: small acts, repeated consistently over time, can shape a community in profound ways.

The work behind traditions like this does not happen accidentally. For decades, educators including Sarah Dawe, Jeff Wilfahrt, and Pam Hawes have stewarded this partnership, ensuring that generations of children experience service as a relationship. Their care helped create a program that feels deeply woven into the identity of Brookwood itself. And from what Wellspring shares with us, Brookwood families have indelibly shaped their organization as well.

Perhaps that is what moves me most about this tradition. Somewhere in our community right now is a Brookwood alumna or alumnus in their twenties or thirties who once planted bulbs or delivered Thanksgiving meals at Wellspring as a six-year-old child. They may not remember every detail of those days, but I suspect they remember the feeling: that their actions mattered, that communities depend upon one another, and that even young children are capable of contributing meaningfully to the lives of others.

In schools, we speak often about preparing students for the future. Academic preparation matters deeply, of course. But so too does preparing children to be thoughtful neighbors, engaged citizens, compassionate leaders, and people who instinctively ask not only “What can I achieve?” but also “How can I help?”

That learning begins early. Sometimes with a trowel in the dirt. Sometimes with a Thanksgiving basket. Sometimes with a handwritten note tucked into a holiday stocking.

And year after year, child after child, those moments accumulate into something lasting.

With gratitude,

Jon Bartlett