Student Experience
Advisory
Building Community at School
Advisory groups are small communities which seek to provide a space for safe, close, mutually respectful relationships between a student, an adult, and her peers. Without the pressure of an academic class with its expectations and grades, advisory is a time to think and be together.
While scheduled activities provide valuable direction and structure at times, advisory is a relatively unstructured environment where teachers and students can speak and listen to each other as people—apart from the hierarchical relationships of teacher/student or upper/underclassman.
While scheduled activities provide valuable direction and structure at times, advisory is a relatively unstructured environment where teachers and students can speak and listen to each other as people—apart from the hierarchical relationships of teacher/student or upper/underclassman.
Purpose of Advisory
While advisory has a set curriculum each quarter, the overarching purpose of advisory falls within the realm of helping our girls in these ways:
- Understand the school environment
- Understand herself and others
- Understand attitudes and behaviors
- Make decisions and solve problems
- Develop interpersonal and communication skills
- Develop school success skills
- Refine her career awareness and subsequent educational planning processes
- Foster community pride and involvement
“I truly enjoy helping girls, their teachers, and advisors come together for a successful GPS Middle School experience. Each year, I learn the names of all of the incoming girls, so they can instantly feel welcome. Throughout the year, our teachers hold advisory groups to help support Middle Schoolers in self-identified areas of interest, as well as to help them meet girls across sixth, seventh, and eighth grades.” —Debbie Glasscock, Middle School Dean of Students
