Supermoon Means Open Season for Admissions

Supermoon rising over UC Berkeley Sather Tower and International House, May 5. Photo: Ira Serkes

With the recent showing of the orange, supermoon, fall has truly arrived. Students everywhere should now be settled into their school routine. Most family travel is on hold until the holiday season arrives. Soccer, violin lessons, and other after school endeavors keep students otherwise engaged. Parenting adults can now take a deep breath and settle into their own routine too, right?

Well, if your child is just months from becoming preschool aged, stepping up to kindergarten next year, on the brink of becoming a middle school student, or about to dive into the big pond known as highschool, this is likely not the case for you; especially if you are considering independent schools. The truth of the matter is that it’s time to start touring for the next level!

October begins open season for the 2016-17 admissions cycle. Whether you have already decided on the schools to which you plan to apply or if you are just getting started, the journey ahead will likely prove to be an arduous one. So where should you start? The answer is different for each family. Tours, open houses, information sessions, campus visits, neighborhood coffees–what’s in a name? Each should have it’s own unique showcase of a particular flavor of a school, whether that focus be on the the program, the pedagogy, the classroom, or various aspects of the campus community. Of course some information will be redundant, but the more you get to know about a school community, the easier it is to determine if it is one that is worthy of your shortlist.

At The Berkeley School, we encourage you to participate in as many events as possible. Admissions events provide an opportunity for you to meet our school leadership, engage with the TBS community, observe our students and faculty in action, and to get a feel for the physical spaces that make TBS a unique, urban learning environment.

Tours allow you to observe students in the classrooms–learning made visible.

Information Sessions provide you with a deeper understanding of our curriculum and pedagogy from the teachers perspective through interactive mini-lessons that demonstrate the linear continuity of our program.

Preschool Open House is a fun way for parenting adults and their children to engage with our faculty as they engage in interactive activities on our beautiful outdoors space.

Parent Education events are usually listed on the public calendar when they are available to the community at large. Traditionally, they include a speaker series that supports specific strategic planning or programmatic outcomes that strengthen the home/school connection.

Alumni Night Panel Discussion is an opportunity to engage with our alumni who have gone on to both public and private high schools throughout the Bay Area. Here they discuss what their experience attending TBS as well as the triumphs and pitfalls of their transition to high school and college.

It is our hope that with each visit, you will learn something new and different about how we innovate in teaching and learning. All events are available for registration on our website. I look forward to meeting you and getting to know your family.