PHA Family Newsletter

Happy last day of school and first day of summer!

Today marks the end of our culminations and celebrations of a challenging yet still rewarding 2022-2023 school year. Across campuses, we’ve celebrated our students and their lived experiences and cultures. More significantly, we’ve celebrated their successes - their growth and development! This newsletter provides a snapshot of all the learning and joy that we’ve had at PHA this spring! Now that summer has arrived, we encourage our families to continue to engage in learning to avoid learning loss also known as the summer slide.

Our educators at PHA suggest the following to retain and continue learning during the summer:

1. Limit screen time.

2. SET a daily summer schedule. It is important to know that kids still need structured learning time in the summer.

3. PRACTICE grade level mathematics facts.

4. Renew and/or use your library card weekly.

5. PLAY educational games. Here’s one resource to try: Common Sense Media

6. READ, read, read and read some more - at least one hour/day!

7. WRITE every day!! Write stories about family history! Write a book summary! Write in a journal. Write letters to relatives, friends or a teacher! Write learning goals for next school year.

8. Be creative! Make something and use your imagination! Cook something!

9. Practice learning to compromise and negotiate!

10. Listen and discuss podcasts and audiobooks.

To learn more: Turning Summer Learning Loss into Learning Gains

Here’s to a summer of rest, relaxation, and restoration, and yes of course continued learning and growth. We can’t wait to see you in September and share all the new things that we’re working on this summer to take PHA to the next level -- we will be BETTER -- that’s a promise!

Sincerely,

Angela

Angela F. Allen, Ph.D.

Head of School

• 7/22/23: Playdate for PreK-12 families (17 Franklin St, 1-4PM)
  
• 8/12/23: Playdate for PreK-12 families (15 Webster Ave, 1-4PM)
• 8/15/23: Orientation for 7th - 9th grade families (50-54 Essex St)
• 8/19/23: Ready for School for PreK-12 families (Essex, 12-3PM)
  
• 8/28/23: Orientation for PreK - 3 families (Webster)
• Week of 8/28/23: Schedules & Slices for Grade 4-6 families (Franklin)
  
• 8/29/23: MS Orientation for 7th grade families (50 Essex)
• 9/5/2023: Grades 1-12 First Day of School for the 2023-2024 School Year
• 9/5 & 9/6/2023: PreK & K Family Interviews/Screenings (Webster)
• 9/7 & 9/8/2023: Half Days for PreK & K: release at noon
• 9/8/23: EC Back to School for PreK-3 families (Webster)
  

On Sunday, June 11th, PHA celebrated the Class of 2023 on a lovely evening at MIT Kresge Auditorium. Congratulations to all of the graduates; we are so proud of all you have accomplished and cannot wait to see what the future holds for you! Check out additional photos in the 2023 graduation album linked here.

May 1st marked National College Decision Day, the deadline for high school seniors to pick the college they plan to attend in the fall. PHA's Class of 2023 will be attending a range of local and regional schools, including Brandeis, Bucknell, Columbia, Johns Hopkins, and Suffolk, among many others.

The Collegiate Institute celebrated college decision season with weekly pinning ceremonies for the Class of 2023. The pinning ceremonies were an opportunity for our seniors to highlight where they chose to attend college on the College Counseling "Where I'll Be" map and provide space for their teachers and fellow students to celebrate them as a community. View the full senior college decision list here.

PHA International Night was held on May 13th. We had a memorable evening celebrating our global and multicultural PHAmily. Huge thanks to our amazing volunteers and performers for making the event a success, and thank you to Cambridge Trust Charitable Foundation for generously sponsoring the event. Check out more photos and videos here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/Y285JP5t3eBCzWBa6

PHA is thrilled to be one of only two schools in Massachusetts and 160 nationally to receive the inaugural CS100 "All In" Award for Computer Science in grades K-5 from CS is Elementary & CS for All!

Schools receiving the award have committed to teaching 100% of their students at least 10 hours of computer science in accordance with computer science standards throughout the 2023-2024 school year. Read more about the award here.

Our school's program summary video was one of five videos featured at the CSK5 Summit award ceremony earlier this month. Check it out below!

Early Childhood Campus

Science Fair

The EC Campus held their Science Fair on June 1st. Our PreK through 3rd grade students, teachers, and families all came together to learn and engage in fun STEM activities and admire the exemplary science projects displayed around the cafegymatorium.

Our Early Childhood community posed with pride at the campus' "Proud to be ME!" Fashion Show on June 14th!

Upper Elementary Campus

Exhibition Day

The UE Campus held our first-ever Exhibition Day for grades 4-6 on June 8th. Families enjoyed learning from their children and celebrating their progress this school year.

Rainforest Mural

We are excited to share our beautiful new rainforest mural at the Upper Elementary Campus, made possible thanks to a generous STARS Residency grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council. The ceramic mural was created by PHA 10th grade art students with the support of art teacher Doug Anderson and ceramic artist (and alumni parent) Julie Peck.

Middle School

The middle school has been busy working on culminating projects to finish this year strong while also engaging in a community-wide redesign process for 2023-24. Over the past several weeks, we have invited students, families, and educators to share their hopes and dreams for themselves and their students. These opportunities have helped us build community, start to develop new relationships, and deepen our common understanding and vision for our school. They also led to the development of our community-created portrait of a middle schooler for 2023-24: A PHA middle schooler is a compassionate and accepting community member, responsible and thoughtful individual, and a curious and engaged scholar. To see and read more about our middle school redesign process this spring, please check out our redesign website!

In addition to developing the portrait of a middle schooler, the middle school team has been working hard to refine our vision and systems for curriculum, instruction, and school culture, as well as create a new, vibrant, inspiring space in our building at 50 Essex. More exciting updates to come! Meanwhile, we look forward to celebrating our 8th graders in their Moving Up Ceremony on June 21st as they begin the transition to high school and continuing to engage our 7th graders in rigorous and relevant projects. Here are some recent highlights!

7th grade Science students pitch their research and models to their peers, teachers, and families in the Alternative Energy Science Fair:

7th grade Social Studies students explore Central Square looking for markers of our civilization in order to compare and contrast our society with the ancient civilizations they studied this year:

High School/Collegiate Institute

Junior Journey

From June 12th - June 16th, our 11th graders embarked on the Junior Journey - a week-long service learning experience for all PHA juniors. The four journeys included New Orleans, Puerto Rico, Arizona, and Western MA, and immersed students into the relevant and impactful topics of immigration and social justice, climate change and sustainability, history, and politics. See some photos of their service learning below:

The 9th grade Choir had their year-end performance on June 15th in the Learning Commons. Bravo to all the performers!

7-12 Athletics

As we near the end of the 2022-23 school year, and I finish my second year as the Director of the Meals Program, I want to take a moment to reflect on our program, let families know where I hope the program will grow, and reiterate our commitment to our students.

About PHA's Meals Program:

PHA participates in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), the School Breakfast Program (SBP), and the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program (FFVP). All of these programs are regulated at the highest level by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Massachusetts Office for Food and Nutrition Programs (FNP).

Meals under all of these programs have to meet strict standards which include portion size, calories, sodium, whole grains, trans-fats and nutrients.

4 Offered Items at Breakfast (students must choose 3 items, one of which is a fruit or juice)

• Whole Grain item (cereal, muffin, bagel, etc.) or protein (yogurt)

• Fresh or dried fruit

• 4 ounce juice box

• 8 ounce Fat-free Chocolate or 1% Plain Milk

Our pre-k students do not receive Chocolate Milk nor Juice

5 Offered Items at Lunch (students must choose 3 items, one of which is a fruit or vegetable)

• Lean protein (chicken, turkey, lower-fat beef, cheese, soy-based meats)

• Whole Grain item (pasta, bread, rice, etc.)

• Vegetable (dark green, red/orange, starchy, and legume required every week)

• Fresh fruit (juice available for Essex students only)

• Fat-free Chocolate or 1% Plain Milk

This year, breakfast and lunch continued to be provided by our vendor, Essence of Thyme and Cravings (ETC) out of Hyde Park. Together, we served over 43,000 breakfasts and 74,000 lunches across our campuses!

Growing the Meals Program

PHA is not currently able to move entirely away from vended meals because of current facility limitations. This process will take time, however–we are moving in the direction of food prepared onsite, fresh for our students!

At the Early Childhood and Upper Elementary campuses this year, we launched the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable program. This program had our team washing, chopping, and serving over 12,000 pounds of fresh produce to our students! Some favorites included mango, avocado, and melon. They even tried some unique locally grown items like rhubarb, husk cherries, and daikon radishes!

Over the summer, we will have $38,000 worth of new equipment (funded through a Department of Education grant) arriving at our Early Childhood and Upper Elementary campuses. This equipment will help us increase choice, presentation, and quality of our meals.

In an effort to move towards meals produced onsite, for the 2023-2024 school year our kitchens will craft delicious cold lunch options onsite for our students. These options will be available at all 3 campuses. Cold lunches available every day will include a rotating “salad of the week” (Caesar, Chef, Mediterranean, etc.), sunbutter & jelly sandwich, and a yogurt and fruit parfait.

Our Commitment to Our Students:

• Complete meals (when students choose all required components) will continue to be free for all students.

• We are working to expand choice into our menu, and include student feedback.

• We hope to offer limited “a la carte” options (“Smart Snack” approved through USDA) that students at the Essex campus can purchase during meal times.

We have big things planned for the year ahead, and are excited to continue serving free breakfast and lunch to our students!

At PHA, our goal is to ensure that all our students graduate high school with an actionable college and/or career plan. Being a relatively small high school allows us to know our students and their needs really well, however, economies of scale prevent us from dramatically expanding our course offerings to meet the needs of all students. For this reason, we will be offering Dual Enrollment classes at Bunker Hill Community College and Franklin Cummings Technical Institute starting this fall.

Students will be able to register for select courses at these colleges and, upon successful completion of the course, receive high school and college credit at the same time. All courses have to be approved by the principal and all costs are covered by PHA and the partner college. If your child is a rising junior or senior and is interested in pursuing college courses during high school, please contact Principal Chris Douglas.