Dear Norfolk Collegiate School parents,

Welcome to the 2010-2011 school year at Norfolk Collegiate. What an exciting time to be part of our community! As you read in our spring magazine, the school has refocused our organizational resources in support of our mission. We strive everyday to educate a diverse body of students to thrive in a college setting and beyond via innovative teaching within a warm and caring community.

Norfolk School focuses on three programmatic pillars of excellence for student development: academic, character and physical wellness. We continue to evaluate opportunities for further success and improvements in these areas, starting with updating our strategic plan to reflect the changing landscape of independent school education in the 21st century. The board of trustees and school leaders continued progress over the summer with the themes of technology, academics and athletics prevailing within the plan. We’ve made recent investments in resources and people to be at the forefront of independent school education.

In the following pages we proudly introduce our new faculty members and key administrators. We conducted expansive, nation-wide searches to bring the best to Norfolk Collegiate School. The new members of our administrative team have school expertise strengthened by strong management backgrounds. This combination will make us an even stronger institution – one dedicated to continuous improvement focused on excellence.

• Nelda Nutter, director of admissions, will use her experience as a former head of school to refine our admission and enrollment management programs at NCS. Our ability to attract someone of her caliber and depth of experience speaks highly of our school and community.
• Mike Kaplan’s experience as an associate dean of admissions at The College of William & Mary brings an entirely new perspective to the NCS’s director of college counseling position. He has been holding round table discussions for seniors and parents throughout the summer to help familiarize himself with the needs of individual families. He will continue to work with upper school families to prepare them for the college planning process.
• Our new director of athletics, Bob Czekaj, is a seasoned athletic administrator and veteran coach of 25 years. In addition to his coaching success, he has a strong background in business which enhances the value he brings to our student athletes and the entire athletic program.
• Katie Gardner, director of marketing & communications, joins us with significant strategic marketing and business development experience. With a master’s degree in business administration and expertise in services marketing, we have someone who will use our past and future successes to build efficient communication systems.

I would like you to meet the new school administrators personally to experience their excitement and dedication to NCS’ mission first hand. We have scheduled a series of parent coffees during the first few weeks of school. I know they look forward to meeting more of our parents at these events and throughout the year.

In the spring, we announced internal staffing changes to focus on important areas of our program. They have enjoyed transitioning into their new roles:

• Jason Mundy, formerly head of upper and middle schools, has assumed the position of head of the upper school and associate headmaster. He is a student centered leader committed to continuous improvement. Jason has taken responsibility for K-12 curriculum development while remaining committed to upper school excellence.
• Roz Klein takes on the responsibility of head of middle school. This separate position allows full focus on academic, character, emotional and physical development of our middle school students as they prepare for the next phase of their journey at Norfolk Collegiate School.
• Charlene Loope, now the director of communication arts & library services, is leading technology integration in classrooms across all divisions.

In this booklet you will find a more detailed introduction to our new administrators and faculty and important information such as a back to school parent checklist, a parent resource guide and a compilation of highlighted events. Please refer to the enclosed academic calendar for a full list of events and check the website for new dates that may arise throughout the year. You may return forms at the end of this book using the enclosed envelope.

We eagerly await the start of school and welcome you to another inspiring year at Norfolk Collegiate School. I hope to see you at the parent coffee meetings scheduled this fall and am excited to share our progress in NCS strategic priorities.

Sincerely,

Scott G. Kennedy
Headmaster