Head of School's Newsletter - 70th Anniversary Year

Seventy years ago, Brookwood began in a horse stable.

I have always loved that detail of our history. It not only makes for a good origin story, it also tells us about the people who started this school. They did not wait for the perfect building, the perfect moment, or some assurance that what they imagined would work. A handful of families believed children deserved an education that could be more thoughtful, more joyful, more responsive to who they were and to the world they would inherit. And so, in 1956, they began.

We tend to think of a founding as something that happens once. A date is recorded, a cornerstone laid, and history moves forward from there. That said, I’m not sure a school like Brookwood is ever finished being founded. Every generation inherits something extraordinary from the one before it, and then has to decide what to do with it.

For seventy years, Brookwood families and educators have kept making that choice. They have held fast to certain convictions: that children should be deeply known; that intellect and empathy belong together; that curiosity matters; that character matters; that childhood itself is worthy of protecting. And, at the same time, they have continually asked what those convictions require of us now. That is how a school endures without standing still.

This year, as we celebrate Brookwood’s 70th anniversary, we will have the privilege of returning to the stories that have shaped this school: honoring the people who built it, the traditions that have endured, and the generations of students and teachers who have made Brookwood what it is today. That history is what grounds the work ahead of us. 

The children arriving on our campus this fall will come of age in a world our founders could never have imagined. Our responsibility is to both preserve what they created, and to carry forward that spirit with imagination, conviction, and confidence. We also must ask, with equal seriousness, what children need from us today.

That work is already underway. Across campus this summer, teachers and staff have been preparing classrooms, strengthening programs, welcoming new colleagues, and thinking deeply about the year ahead. In that sense, this 70th year is a celebration and another beginning.

As we prepare for the first day of school, I encourage you to take a few minutes to review our Start of School Newsletter, which we’ve posted online for easy access. It contains the practical details you’ll need for a smooth return to campus.

And then, I hope you put the checklists aside for a little while longer. There are still a few precious days of summer left, another swim to take, another evening outside, another chapter to finish before bedtime.

Soon enough, we will open the doors and begin again.

I cannot wait.