PEMBROKE HIGH SCHOOL
WEEKLY UPDATE
June 14, 2024
Dear PHS Students and Families,
A FINAL CONGRATULATORY NOTE TO THE CLASS OF 2024
- Congratulations to the 173 graduating seniors in the Class of 2024, 89% of whom will be continuing their education in a 2- or 4-year college or university or through a trade, technical, or post-secondary preparatory school
- Another 8% will be reporting directly to the workforce.
- The remaining 3% will be taking a gap year before moving on to higher education.
- You can see the full list of colleges that our students will be attending by clicking here.
- Over $200,000 in local scholarships and other awards were issued to dozens of members of the Class of 2024 thanks to their hard work and our very generous donors.
- The Valedictorian for the Class of 2024 is Matthew Willshire and the Salutatorian is Joseph A. D'Angelo. Congratulations to both of these outstanding young men.
GRADUATION PHOTOS:
Our school photography company, Legacy Studios, has posted to our school's photo-journalism event site. In fact, our event site has photos from school events throughout the year, so I encourage families to visit the site to see if there are any other candids of your child that you'd like to purchase. When visiting this site, you will be prompted to enter an access code, which for Pembroke High School is 3543E24. From there, you will see a list of all of the events (throughout the year) that you can browse, including Graduation Candids and Graduation Diplomas. Feel free to browse and purchase!
TERM 4 REPORT CARDS - REPORTING PROGRESS on ATTAINING OUR VISION OF A GRADUATE:
Report cards for Term 4 will be published and emailed to parents on Tuesday, June 18. In addition to the traditional term and midyear grades, this year's final report card will also update students and families on our students' progress toward attaining our Vision of a Graduate (VOG), which we have named the Portrait of a Pembroke Titan.
By creating this vision, our school is better aligned with the Standards for Accreditation established by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC). As I have noted in previous email blasts throughout the past two years, Pembroke High School will be seeking its Decennial Accreditation from NEASC when a visiting team comes to our school in November of 2024. Among other things, these standards expect schools to "develop a vision of the graduate that includes the attainment of transferable skills, knowledge,
understandings, and dispositions necessary for future success" and report student progress towards attainment. To that end, our staff spent professional development time this year reviewing existing curriculum documents and identifying assignments and assessments that require students to use the transferable skills, knowledge, and understandings that are identified within the four pillars of our Vision of the Graduate in order to demonstrate mastery. Thus, in addition to aligning to our state curriculum frameworks, all of our curricular materials are also now aligned to our Portrait of a Pembroke Titan.Using the comment field on the report card, our teachers will make a note of how well your child is progressing toward meeting the four pillars found within our Portrait. To report this information to you more efficiently, each of our academic departments have been assigned the responsibility of measuring student progress toward attaining one of those four pillars, and because we have more than four departments, you will receive at least two comments for each of the four pillars.
- VOG #1 - Empowered Learners - Math and English
- VOG #2 - Effective Communicators - World Language and Visual Arts
- VOG #3 - Engaged Citizens - Special Education and Social Studies
- VOG #4 - Meaningful Collaborators - Physical Education , Science, and Performing Arts.
SUMMER SCHOOL:
Once grades close on Monday, our Guidance Department will be sharing information regarding summer school for those that did not successfully earn credit for a graduation requirement this year. Pembroke High School does not offer an in-person summer school option, but several surrounding communities do. Pembroke does offer a virtual option for certain summer school courses. Regardless of what option you choose, PHS offers all 9th and 10th graders a free summer school opportunity for English and Math only. If your child attends summer school in one of those neighboring communities, PHS will reimburse your tuition once the student submits proof that the course was successfully completed. For those that enroll in an online course offered here at PHS, students will be enrolled without cost and will only be charged if the student fails to successfully complete the course. Again, this tuition free offer is for 9th and 10th graders in English and Math. Any student in any grade that is taking a course to recover credit this summer must please ensure that the course has been approved by PHS. Again, much more information about all of our summer school options will be forthcoming next week once we have all final grades. Please contact your child's guidance counselor if you have any questions.
CLASS LISTS FOR 2024-25:
Today, all students in grades 8-11 will receive their Class Lists for the 2024-25 school year. The list indicates the names of the courses your child is scheduled to take next year. It does not include the teachers' names or period numbers. Students and families are strongly encouraged to review this list for accuracy and contact their guidance counselor if there are any issues. Our counselors work five days after the end of the school year and will have open office hours from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. from Tuesday, June 18 until Tuesday, June 25. They also return five days before the start of the school year and will hold the same hours from Monday, August 19 to Friday, August 23. Students and parents are also encouraged to view the handbook to fully understand the challenges of changing classes in the fall and the process used to do so. That is why it is so important to meet in the spring and/or in late August before school starts.
IMPORTANT DATES OF NOTE:
- June 18 - T4 Report Cards issued
- June 18 through June 25 - Guidance Counselors' Office Hours
- August 5-9 - Marching Band Camp
- August 13 - Fall Sports Night (6 p.m. Randall Auditorium)
- August 16 - First Day football tryouts
- August 19 - First Day for all other fall sports
- August 19-23 - Guidance Counselors' Office Hours
- August 21 - Freshman Orientation (8-11 a.m.)
- August 26, 27 - Staff Convocation and Professional Development
- August 28, 29 - First Days of School for Students
- August 30 - No School
- September 2 - No School - Labor Day
Thanks, again, for your support of our school throughout the year, and I wish all of our families an enjoyable, healthy summer. We look forward to welcoming everyone back on August 28. Please do not hesitate to contact me if I can answer any questions that you may have.
Regards,
Marc