Dec. 21-Jan. 1: No School (Winter Break)

When we started the school year online in September, Assistant Head of School Meg Goldner Rabinowitz wrote, "We have designed our schedule to be adaptable, to be accommodating, and to provide spaces for routine, reflection, and individual attention." As remote learning continues, we are making adjustments to our schedule to adhere to these principles.

When we return to school after break in January, there will be a change to the order and timing of classes and gatherings on Wednesdays. Classes will continue to be 30 minutes long but will be concentrated in the afternoon. The shift allows for a dedicated two-hour block of time in the morning to allow to students to engage in academic work or connect socially, while teachers meet together to plan lessons and participate in essential professional development. Office Hours and Interest Group times will swap on Thursday and Friday afternoons.

Click here to view the schedule that we will be following beginning Jan. 4, 2021.

Northwest is a diverse community and we want to share all the different ways that we celebrate the end of the year. We have students and faculty that come from the USA, Canada, China, Ethiopia, India, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Turkey, Vietnam, Cuba, Costa Rica, Mexico, France, Colombia, Russia, Belorussia, Denmark, Thailand, Chile, Benin, Nigeria, Togo, Senegal, Kenya, South Africa, Germany, Trinidad, Jamaica, Haiti, Brazil, Spain, Puerto Rico, and many more who are tied to indigenous origins (not countries) or states.

How do you celebrate the end of the year? What holidays do you celebrate and how? Share what you want, a picture, text, a video, an audio file on this Padlet. Feel free to share multiple celebrations. Don't just limit yourself to a country of origin: if you're up for sharing your family traditions or other stories, please do!

With the transition of Senior Systems (our student information system) to a hosted service model, our provider will now perform all system maintenance and updates monthly. During these planned outages, My BackPack and the mobile app will be unavailable.

The next scheduled maintenance window will begin Friday, Dec. 18, at 8:00 pm PT, and last until Saturday, Dec. 19, at 5:00 am PT.

If your family has a student in the current 8th grade and you receive financial aid (FA), or if you have a student in any grade and your family does not receive aid but you would like to request it for next year, the due date for submitting your application is Jan. 8th, 2021. If your family is not currently receiving FA and you wish to apply, please also contact Director of Financial Aid Jonathan Hochberg ASAP and notify him of your intent to apply.

The Jan. 8 date is four weeks prior to the general FA application deadline of Feb. 4, 2021, which is for families who already receive Financial Aid and have students in grades 6, 7, 9, 10, and 11. We understand that you will need to do some estimating in order to meet this deadline, and also that your taxes for 2020 will not be completed yet. This is normal. For questions, please contact Jonathan.

Due to the high volume of additional FA provided by the school in response to the impact of COVID-19 on family finances in our community, it is imperative that all requests for FA be received on time. Late requests may not be able to be considered.

Each week we will be providing a COVID-19 update to keep you informed about our decision-making processes and safety protocols. For any questions, please contact our Health Coordinator Sierra Maxwell.

Our Planning and Operations Continuity Committee meets on a weekly basis to review all of the data and guidance and apply them in real time. Here is a complete rundown of the sources informing our decisions:

We access and interpret metrics and recommendations provided by epidemiologists and public health officials to develop an internal plan for responding to that data. We reference guidance provided at the county, state, and federal levels. We are in alignment with the K-12 Schools Fall Guidance, provided by the Washington State Department of Health. This guidance can be referenced regardless of which county or phase we are in of Governor Jay Inslee's Safe Start Plan. The K-12 Fall Guidance informs us how to return to in-person learning. In addition to this, we reference the K-12 Decision Tree for making decisions about if/when to resume school in person. This tool provides us with clear metrics to guide our decisions based on the COVID-19 activity in King County. To monitor these levels of disease activity in King County, we use this dashboard provided by Public Health - Seattle King County.

At the federal level, we can reference guidance provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, such as the Indicators for Dynamic School Decision-Making; Operating schools during COVID-19: CDC's Considerations; and Considerations for K-12 Schools: Readiness & Planning Tool.

There will be no House Specialty meals for the next three weeks.

• December 21-25: CLOSED
• December 28-January 1: CLOSED
• January 4-8: CLOSED
• January 11-15: OPEN

We look forward to seeing you for the House Specialty pick-up starting the week of January 11. From our kitchen to yours—Happy Holidays!

We’re getting closer! With your help we’ve raised nearly $300,000.Thanks so much to every one of you who has contributed to Uniquely Northwest.

We are excited to share Math Teacher and Volleyball Coach Richard Ha’s video this week. Take a look to learn what he values at NWS and why he supports the annual fund. Every single gift is critical. Click here to give now. Questions? Contact Julie Lombardo.

This week, our Upper School invited teaching and support faculty to help host an hour of fun for Upper School students as a way to socially connect and give brains a breather. Students gathered virtually to read children's stories, take a virtual museum walk, engage in yoga, play Among Us, make frittatas, and just dance it out! We look forward to creating more social-connection opportunities for our students.

We want to thank all student, parent, and guardian volunteers for your help and support during this unusual admission season. We simply cannot do this work without all of you. We value you all so much. Please continue to take good care of yourselves and we look forward to seeing you all again very soon.

We invite all families of 11th grade students to join us for 11th Grade College Night on Jan. 12, at 7:00 pm. A panel of university admissions professionals will offer advice for the college search and application process, and the college counselors will lay out the plan for individualized support in the months to come. We encourage all 11th grade students and at least one parent/guardian per family to attend.

• Zoom link
• Meeting ID: 937 3188 1750
• Passcode: 211262
• International numbers also available

Click here to join in live workouts every weeknight, at 5:00 pm PT.

Recordings of past workouts can be found here.

Please click here to find other college counseling announcements.

About E-News: The weekly E-News covers a two-week period of upcoming events, parent reminders, and campus news.