An Important Update from the Office
Lawrence School Family Handbook
Dear Lawrence 5th Grade Families,
We hope this message finds you well.
As we continue to plan for the upcoming school year, we would like to inform you about a change to academic cohorts for our 6-8th grade students. For the 2026-2027 school year, students will no longer be assigned to academic “cohorts,” that travel together to four primary academic blocks each day. Instead, students will be mixed among the academic blocks, across the different subjects. This change is designed to provide a fresh opportunity for students to interact with a wider variety of their peers, fostering new social connections and encouraging a greater diversity of perspectives and learning pairings within their classes. Students will continue to also mix for Conservatory, World Language, art and wellness (PE at 6th, PE and health for 7/8). All students will still be assigned to a homeroom section with one team member as their dedicated “homeroom teacher,” who will also be their Advisory teacher for two periods per week.
Following a successful trial with this year's 8th-grade class, we are moving forward with this model. This decision comes after years of deliberation by our middle school team and extensive conversations with peer schools already using this approach. It also is in response to the important feedback from the middle school review and our middle school students/families. It provides an opportunity to match our middle school more closely to the developmental needs of our 6th-8th grade students and especially as we begin to transition them towards a high school setting.
Please know that the balance of these various sections: for academic, behavioral, social-emotional and service delivery needs, will still be carefully and thoughtfully analyzed by all the educators who know these students best: as learners and community members. Academic teachers, specialists, clinicians and administrators will continue to collaborate to ensure this balance.
Please trust that we have the knowledge to create next year’s classes, and will do so with the utmost care. Because of this, we are requesting that any input from families regarding placement be limited to extraordinary circumstances that require our special attention. As you may know, we are not able to honor requests for specific teachers, nor are we able to honor requests for specific friend pairings to be placed together. Input of this nature will not be addressed. In addition, placement input from prior years are not saved for the purpose of use in a following year’s placement, so if an issue/concern remains, a new communication must be submitted.
While it is not necessary, nor is it expected, if there are essential concerns that you believe are paramount for our consideration, please submit this information via hard copy letter or email, addressed to Vanessa Bilello, Lawrence Principal, by Monday, May 18th. For example, recent updates to medical history, information on historical relationships between children, or placement of twins or triplets might be new information that the school would need.
Based on experiences for those of us who have seen this approach in practice, as well as discussions with other educators in Brookline where this is established practice, we believe that this approach will enrich students’ academic experience. We also feel strongly that it will help students develop stronger communication and collaboration skills, as they work alongside different classmates. Your child’s teacher will be sharing more about this model with students during the Advisory blocks/class meetings. Our goal is to support the growth of both their academic and social development as they prepare for high school and beyond. The various grade level teams, especially through their Homeroom Advisories and WIN blocks, will be working next fall to support our students through this transition, as it will require greater levels of individual executive functioning to learn their individual schedules/routines. Our entire team is looking forward to supporting this greater level of independence for the students and know that they are ready for this next step!
As always, we are committed to providing a nurturing and engaging learning environment, and we look forward to another wonderful year with your children. We appreciate your support and partnership in making this a positive experience for all students.
-The Lawrence 5th Grade and Middle School Team