Lower School New Parent Glossary & A-Z Reference Guide
Welcome to Head-Royce! We are so pleased to have you as a member of our community. As a new family, we want to familiarize you with all of the activities that take place through the year in Lower School (LS) and some of the things you may hear about. This glossary is intended to provide you with a brief explanation of these activities or point you in the right direction to get more information. We hope you find it useful!
The Basics
Review the Head-Royce Handbook, which can be found online here. It contains most of the school policy information that you will need to know about regarding attendance, behavioral expectations, grading standards, safety and other important issues. Please review these school policies in the handbook — it is your best resource!
Meet your room parents and your LS liaisons. These are fellow parent volunteers who will work with your child’s teachers and the administration to help plan events, communicate class or division-specific news and information, solicit volunteers for activities and more. They are a great source of information about school events and news. Each LS class usually has two room parents who share duties. The LS liaisons are members of the Parents’ Association Executive Board and work directly with the administration and the room parents.
Be an active member of your community! Your participation is needed to make our community strong and diverse. The Parents’ Association section of the website contains a list of the PA committees and their various committees. The committees work to make HR an exciting, effective and thriving school. Volunteer to help in the areas of your choice — make a difference and get involved! Remember, this is the best way to meet all the members of the community including other parents, your child’s classmates, teachers and administrative members!
The As to Zs
*Please note that activities which offer parent volunteer opportunities are marked with a ‘V’
Affinity Groups – As part of the Parents’ Association (PA), parents and faculty have organized affinity groups based on multi-cultural and educational themes. These groups include: African American Family Network, Asian Parents Network, Latino Family Network, Gender and Sexuality Diversity Network and Learning Differences Network. For group contacts, go here.
After-School Program (ASP) – A before- and after-school care program for lower school kids. Kindercare (no classes, just supervision) is free from 2-3:20 p.m. ASP is fee-based and billed on an hourly, day or annual rate. Various enrichment and music classes are offered. The ASP program runs on a trimester system during the school year. ASP also offers complimentary care for all students before school, starting at 7:30 a.m. (a great way to drop your child off early and avoid the carpool rush).
All-School Fair – An all-school on-campus evening event, which typically occurs the Friday before Halloween. The fair is run by Upper School students under the supervision of admin/faculty with each LS grade responsible for operating a game booth. Food is usually offered for sale as a fundraiser by the athletics department and US groups. Costumes and all-family attendance is encouraged. V
All-School Picnic/Heads Up Walkathon – An all-school daytime family event that raises funds for the Heads UP program and occurs on a weekend day in early fall on the main athletics field. Food is provided for students who walk. This is a great event to socialize with fellow parents and children at the start of the school year. Pledges are made based upon the number of laps walked on the course. V
Annual Fund – The Head-Royce Annual Fund helps close the gap between tuition revenue and the operating costs of the school. The school aims for 100% parent, faculty and staff participation. V
Appreciation Board – A whiteboard located in both LS buildings where faculty/staff and students can recognize others who they appreciate for lending a helping hand or doing kind act. The students/faculty listed on the board are recognized at each Friday assembly.
Auction – The Parents’ Association main annual fundraiser organized and run by a committee of parent volunteers. The auction typically happens in the spring and, in the past, has taken various formats, including an online auction followed and an evening gala event with live and silent auctions. V
Back-to-School Coffee – A coffee social hosted by the Parents’ Association for parents the morning of the all-school first day of school, immediately following drop-off. A great time to meet fellow parents.
Back-to-School Night – One week in September, on different nights, each division hosts their own Back-to-School Night (BTSN). The evening starts out with food and socializing followed by remarks from the Head of School, Division Head and PA President. Parents then proceed to their child’s classroom(s) for presentations by the teachers. This is a parent-only event.
Big Ten Driving Rules – The top driving rules to ensure the HRS community is a good neighbor in our residential area. A part of the larger Transportation Policy Guide.
Big Toy – The large play structure located on the LS playground outside of ASP.
Birthday Book Program – Around the time of your child’s birthday, the LS Library Birthday Book Program coordinator will contact you with the opportunity to buy a book for the HRS LS Library in honor of your child’s birthday. You have the option of choosing the price range and the librarian will let your child choose the book. The book is then stamped with your child’s name and remains part of the library’s inventory. V
Birthday Celebrations – In LS, the birthday celebrations are held by grade. The celebrations are group celebrations and not individual birthday celebrations. An accurate list of dates will be distributed at BTSN by the homeroom teacher. Parents will be asked to bring snacks for the celebration. V
Blue Court – The fenced-in basketball court adjacent to the Big Toy.
Buddies – Each kindergartener is paired with a 4th grader who they work with on select projects/activities throughout the year. This is a great way for kindergarteners to interact with some of the older Lower School kids. Buddy pairings also occur between 1st and 5th graders.
Bus Service – Head-Royce subsidizes five Michael’s Transportation bus routes (cost with the subsidy is $500 per family for the school year). Three AC Transit bus routes also serve the campus. Go here to see the options.
Butterfly Garden – The kindergarten-only play area behind the Rotunda building.
Carpool – The school keeps a Google map of families that carpool for easy reference. Go here for the link to the map (you will need to log into the portal to view it).
Counselor – The LS has a part-time counselor on staff, Rosemary Durousseau, who is a resource for and assists kids with emotional and social development.
Dismissal – For the safety of the children and the faculty/staff, HRS remains a closed campus. At the end of the school day, LS children are dismissed according to the following:
● Kindergarten – For those children who go home at 2 p.m., their teachers will walk them up to the gatehouse and wait with them until picked up by a parent/guardian. The remaining kindergarteners will go to Kindercare (kindergarten ASP).
● ASP – Children who attend ASP or ASP enrichment classes are signed out by an ASP counselor located at the main gate who will radio down to the ASP class to send up the child when his/her parent/caregiver arrives.
● Going Home by Bus – At 3:20 p.m. students walk up to the gatehouse steps and those who are to depart by bus (either Michael’s Transportation or AC Transit) are escorted to the bus by a teacher.
● Walk-up Pick-up – Parents enter through the main gate and sign their child out on the roster. Parents are also welcome to sign in at the gatehouse, get a badge and walk down into campus to pick-up their child.
● Carpool Pick-up – Parents queue up along the uphill side of Lincoln Avenue. A faculty member will radio down to the gatehouse steps and the child will be sent up the hill to their vehicle. Please note that the queue CANNOT go past the HRS parking lot entrance and the overflow lot is located further up the hill by the Joaquin Miller exit from Hwy 13.
eLines – The weekly all-school electronic newsletter sent out every Wednesday afternoon and also available here.
Epicurean/Jayhawk Café – Epicurean is the vendor that HRS has contracted with to manage and operate the on-campus Jayhawk Café, which provides the daily hot-lunch program for Lower School. For more information on how to sign-up for the hot lunch service, please go here.
Fall Social – A grade-specific, off-campus social event for parents or families coordinated by the room parents in the fall. Usually held at a home with potluck-style fare.
Families (K-5) – Each Lower School child is part of a “Lower School Family” which includes children from each grade and LS faculty members. Children stay in the same “Family” throughout their years in Lower School, which provides children the opportunity to get to know students in other grades and helps foster division-wide community. Several times throughout the year, Families will get together to participate in a school project or event.
Fifth Grade Promotion – On the last day of school, current 5th graders are promoted to 6th grade. All 1-4th graders attend the ceremony as audience members (appropriate dress is recommended for attendees). The last day of school for kindergarteners is the day before. V
Food Drive – In support of the Alameda County Community Food Bank, the LS sponsors a food drive in the fall to collect non-perishable food items. The timing coincides with the All-School Fair during which one canned good per person is required for admission to the fair.
Friday Assembly – An all-Lower School assembly held each Friday morning in the Community Room. This is a time when the entire LS comes together to enjoy music, presentations, performances and more.
Garden – A fully operational garden located behind the Big Toy. All LS classes visit the garden for classroom instruction throughout the school year. The garden is also the focal point for the annual LS Harvest Festival and Earth Day. V
Grandparents & Special Friends Day – A day when Grandparents and Special Friends are invited to visit HRS and their student’s classroom. This event occurs every other year (and will next be held in 2016).
Halloween Parade – A favorite Lower School tradition which takes place every Halloween. The children wear their costumes and parade around the inside of the Gym/Chapman Pavilion by grade. Run by Upper School students, awards are given out to classes in various costume categories. Parents are encouraged to attend.
Harvest Festival – A day in the fall when all the LS classes visit the garden in shifts for instruction about plants as food sources. In the past, kids have ground up corn and made handmade tortillas, churned butter and made salsa from freshly picked vegetables. V
Heads Up – Founded in 1987 as a partnership between the Oakland Unified School District and HRS, the program has provided educational enrichment and mentoring for more than 1,000 low-income public school youth. Every year, HRS holds a Walkathon fundraiser to raise money for Heads Up. V
Holiday Program – An All-School holiday choral and instrumental performance attended by the majority of LS parents, which occurs on the last day before winter break. Refreshments are served and all divisions (as well as some faculty and administrative members) perform. Students are released for winter break immediately following the program. V
Homework – In LS, official homework is not given until the 2nd grade. The general rule of thumb is 10 minutes of homework per “grade” (i.e., 20 minutes for 2nd grade, 30 minutes for 3rd, etc.) Several times a year there may be a division-wide homework assignment that addresses topics that the entire division has been studying (e.g., “What is a welcoming school?”, anti-bullying, etc.)
K-4 End-of-Year Picnic – An on-campus event for K-4th graders on the second-to-last day of school for 1-4 and last day of school for kindergarteners. Lunch is provided for the kids along with craft tables and bounce houses supervised by parent volunteers. V
Library – The LS maintains its own library with a staff librarian. The children visit the library once a week for story time and to check out books. The library has a LS Birthday Book Program where you can donate funds to purchase a book – selected by your child – for the library in your child’s honor for their birthday. V
Lice checks – A check of all LS students for head lice. HRS contracts with Nit Pixies to conduct the checks, which happen in the morning by class, generally after a break or long weekend. Parents are encouraged to send kids to school on these days without complicated hair arrangements. Parents will be contacted immediately if their child is found to have lice. V
Liaisons – Two LS parent volunteers who help coordinate the LS room parents, help facilitate LS communications and organize LS community and parent events. The liaisons (along with liaisons from the Middle and Upper Schools) are members of the PA Executive Committee. V
Lost and Found – The LS maintains a lost and found area in the rotunda (K/1) building and by the ASP room in the 2-5 building. Please label your children’s clothing! Once or twice a year all unclaimed/ unmarked items are donated to charity.