A Year of Curiosity and Responsibility Begins

Dear Wellington Community,

This morning, 719 students walked through Wellington’s doors, the largest student body in the school’s 42-year history. We welcome 12 new educators and 143 new students, including 96 in early childhood and lower school, 27 in middle school, and 20 in upper school. For those returning, thank you for the warm welcome you have extended to all of us who are new and for the extraordinary support in helping us find our way and our place at Wellington.

I would like to give a particular shout-out to two groups:

• Our 41 seniors, the Class of 2025, and their families: This is a big year with significant decisions ahead, and I look forward to celebrating accomplishments as we relish this time together.

• My 150 colleagues: I am thrilled to have joined a like-minded community of educators who are dedicated to the vital mission of our school. Please join me in thanking them for their efforts in preparing for the school year and for all they do for our students and the school. 

Since my arrival at Wellington six weeks ago, I have heard about the culture Wellington’s entrepreneurial founders imagined — a school with a higher vision for student engagement, challenge, support, and love. A school that fosters an entrepreneurial mindset in our young people and offers them a higher vision of who they can become because of their time here.

I believe deeply in Wellington's mission: We help students find their purpose and realize their potential for tomorrow's world. To achieve this mission, we commit to values of authenticity, curiosity, ambition, empathy, and responsibility. It takes courage for Wellington to declare, “This is who we are, and this is what we stand for.”

This Year’s Themes: Curiosity and Responsibility

Our values are interconnected; each depends on the others, and they come into focus in different ways at different times. At this moment, our leadership team has identified curiosity and responsibility as particularly relevant and meaningful, and we suggest using these as guideposts for our work together this year.

Fostering a culture of curiosity means encouraging students and faculty to ask questions, explore new ideas, and resist settling for the status quo. When we embrace curiosity, learning becomes an active, engaging process. At Wellington, we strive to model and develop a curious mindset, to teach students how to think, not what to think.

Curiosity also demands responsibility. We need to teach and model what it means to be a responsible learner and community member. As educators, we are responsible to Wellington’s mission, and we are responsible for upholding Wellington's higher vision for childhood, ensuring our students grow in an environment that turns down the volume of the very grown-up outside world while still encountering people and experiences that broaden their understanding and perspective and ignite their curiosity. It is our responsibility to expose them to what they need to understand about today’s world while safeguarding their time and attention as we ready them for tomorrow’s world. This requires incredible and deliberate discipline and balance.

On that note, I want to share my belief that while Wellington’s core values naturally position the school as non-neutral on many of the issues of “today’s world,” they do not require us to engage with or comment on current issues and events beyond our campus. Instead, I believe it is our responsibility as stewards of the school's mission to exercise discipline in deciding what dominates our time, attention, and resources to stay focused on the needs of “tomorrow’s world.” I share this proactively so you understand why the school and I will rarely comment formally on issues and events beyond our campus of “today’s world.”

Head of School Goals 2024-25:

As head of school, my responsibility is to shape the discourse within our community, ensuring that our discussions and work align with our values and deeper purpose. I take very seriously my responsibilities in ensuring the safety of our students, supporting our educators, guiding sound business operations, and keeping us focused on our mission and strategic direction.

In partnership with the Board of Trustees, I have set priorities for the year inspired by our focus on both curiosity and responsibility. They are:
 

1. Engage, learn, and build relationships: Engage with and understand Wellington’s history, culture, values, priorities, and its various constituencies.
2. Lead the community in launching an inclusive strategic planning process: In early 2025, after a thorough learning process, I will present initial findings to the Board, colleagues, and the larger community. These findings will highlight themes and questions Wellington could pursue through a collaborative strategic planning process, which will take shape over the remainder of the 2024-25 school year, culminating in a visionary Strategic Plan to be published in fall 2025.
3. Lead initiatives: I am partnering with the leadership team on initiatives to advance academic excellence, student and employee well-being and belonging, upper school programs, athletics, campus master planning, and long-term enrollment planning. You will hear more about these plans in future updates.

I am honored and humbled to serve as your head of school and to lead Wellington into its next chapter. As we start the school year, I hope you can feel the momentum, optimism, and energy. I know we are going to have a great year together.

Thank you for all you do for Wellington, and…Go, Jags!

Eliza McLaren 
Head of School

P.S. If I haven’t met you yet, I hope you’ll join me for “A Conversation with the Head of School” on August 23, 8:15-9 a.m., in the Doerschlag Den. RSVP here.