Learning Support
Brooklyn Friends School’s learning support systems focus on honoring a diversity of learning styles, and recognize the varied strengths and challenges of each student. Diversity, equity and belonging practices are at the center of our approach. Learning support is provided by teachers and learning specialists in collaboration with divisional leadership and the Counseling team. We use a tiered system of support: Supports that are embedded and integrated into everyday learning and lessons are provided for all students, and additional, feasible, interventions are implemented if we determine they are needed. Learning support is aimed at improving access to our existing curricula, and does not alter the skills or content students are expected to learn. Our goal is that students receive the support they need while building on strengths and fostering independence, so that students can successfully generalize and apply learning strategies beyond our walls.
The role of Learning Specialist has three main functions. Learning specialists support teachers in instituting best practices for the range of learners in their classes. We also may work directly with students whom we have determined to need additional interventions, to provide guidance in using existing strategies, to teach specialized strategies, or to offer feedback targeting specific needs. Finally, we partner closely with families to coordinate and align support both in and out of school.
Counseling
At Brooklyn Friends School, our counselors work from a perspective that is holistic, integrated, affirming of identity, and strength based. Our work is student centered and shifts as our students get older to meet their developmental needs. We ground our work in best practices and on the understanding that all aspects of a student’s identity are important to consider when addressing mental health and wellbeing. Across all of our learning communities, our counselors collaborate closely with teachers, families, Leadership, our learning and student support teams, Office of Diversity Equity and Belonging, Athletics, and outside providers to meet our community’s health and wellbeing needs. Our counselors also partner with our health teachers in the delivery of health and wellness programming across all of our learning communities.
Like our learning support team, we utilize a tiered approach to meeting the well-being needs of our students. All students (Tier 1) have experience with social emotional learning (SEL) in their classrooms, health and wellness programming, middle and upper school advisory programming, health classes, and other aspects of our curriculum. All students and families have access to their learning community counselor as needed and appropriate. We seek to partner with all of the adults in our student’s lives to identify and respond to needs before they reach crisis levels. When a crisis does arise, our counselors provide both immediate care and connect with outside providers in support of our students receiving the care they need. Overall, our programming is consistently evolving to reflect current research and best practices, and to respond to the needs that emerge from our students and community.