Leadership Team Summer Retreat

Our annual Leadership Team Summer Retreat is vital to our team’s ability to lead in a meaningful, heartfelt, and capable way that is centered on our students.

“When the world around us is so utterly destructive and without meaning, these schools, these centres, must become places of light and wisdom. It is the responsibility of those who are in charge of these places to bring this about.”
– J. Krishnamurti, The Whole Movement of Life is Learning

What comes to mind when you think of the word “retreat”? Is it a silent hall of focused meditators, a circle of yoga practitioners in a tropical paradise, or perhaps a relaxed face – eyes closed behind cucumber slices?

While these images of a “retreat” do not quite match the reality of the annual Leadership Team Summer Retreat, they are not too far afield in their intention: to reset, reflect, reinspire, and further deepen the bonds of our group.

The Oak Grove School Leadership Team consists of the Head of School, three Program Directors, the Dean of Studies, Director of Operations, Director of Advancement, and Business Manager – a group that directly supervises every other member of the school’s faculty and staff. While some of the topics up for discussion were tactical in nature – like how to better onboard new staff members or more successfully reunite families with their students’ lost items – there was ample time dedicated to the deeper human concerns of being responsible for the care and stewardship of our diverse learning community.

Answers to questions like “What are the shared values we embrace on our team?” garnered the responses “honesty, compassion, empathy, modeling, and clarity.” We discussed cultural norms of attentiveness, curiosity, inclusivity, and respect in our team and in those that we supervise, and committed to celebrate the joy that is so naturally modeled by our students each day.

Answers to questions like “What are the shared values we embrace on our team?” garnered the responses “honesty, compassion, empathy, modeling, and clarity.”

This intentional time taken to broaden our perspective, take a collective deep breath, and deepen connections, is vital to our team’s ability to lead in a meaningful, heartfelt, and capable way that is centered on our students. There’s no way of knowing what opportunities and challenges will emerge in the year ahead, but by reaffirming our commitment to the mission of Oak Grove School, the trust we have in each other, and our partnership with the teams that we supervise, we can enter the year prepared to respond to what lies ahead aligned in our shared passion and purpose.