“The Ashbrook culture is one of connection, and begins with our size and structure.”
At Ashbrook, when we talk about the school “community,” it’s not just a nice saying, it’s a daily lived experience. We are a tight-knit group, which is not to say exclusive, where students, families, and staff form meaningful relationships that enrich every aspect of school life. People who visit us, whether prospective families, those seeking employment, or vendors, often mention how impressed they are with the warm and inviting welcome they receive when arriving on campus, and the authentic sense of belonging they experience after only a short time spent with us.
The Ashbrook culture is one of connection, and begins with our size and structure. As I have mentioned in this space before, we are an intentionally smaller school, so at drop off and pick up, you see people you know and have probably served on one or another school committee with. Others you may see are familiar to you because your children have had playdates or you have seen them at a playground gathering after school. Or maybe you have seen them around town and stopped to talk in a supermarket aisle or parking lot, or share a pediatrician. The point is, our families know each other, and isn’t that a nice feeling? Also as a benefit of our smaller size, our teachers, administrators, and operational staff know every child (and the members of their families) by name. From morning greetings and throughout the day, our school day is full of opportunities to know and be known that foster trust, respect, and belonging: the core of what it means to be a community.
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While this community building effort serves the needs of our families who appreciate knowing others and being known, Ashbrook could not function without the involvement of our parents, who put in an amazing number of hours on campus supporting our mission. Beyond merely welcoming our parents, we need them, so we find ways to weave them into the life of the school. As classroom volunteers in myriad ways too numerous to count; to PTO membership; to participating in events like the Master Planning Town Hall, car washes, and family dances; to Gala helpers; to sitting on the Heads Advisory Council; or to taking a seat at the Board table or on Board Committees, our parents are an invaluable source of energy, sweat equity, and ideas that make this place work.
And the Ashbrook community does not evaporate when our students and their families graduate. Through the work of our Development Office, led by the amazing Emily Bennett, our alumni and their families know they are a part of an extended Ashbrook community, from the moment our graduates walk across that stage and grab that diploma. Ashbrook works hard to keep these departing students in the fold, by making sure we have their contact information in our alumni database, to making sure they receive our mailings (including the Alumni Quarterly Newsletter and our Strategic Plan), and by inviting them to a variety of school events throughout the year. While we are aware that many graduates are not local enough to make it to these events, or are still in high school, we want them to know that they will always be Explorers and to know that they belong, no matter if they graduated last year or a decade ago.
Ashbrook’s small community also means big opportunity to know others, be known, and pitch in. Students are encouraged to be involved, take initiative, and shine in ways that larger schools can’t always accommodate. Everyone belongs, everyone contributes, and everyone matters. This tight-knit environment creates something powerful: a sense of home, a feeling of family, and a foundation of mutual care that students carry with them even once they graduate and become part of the community of over 1,000 students who have walked our halls!
