August 20, 2012
Dear South County High School (SCHS) Students and Families:
Welcome to this new and exciting 2012-13 academic year! We look forward to seeing you back at school and learning more about your summer experiences. There have been many exciting events that have taken place at SCHS over the course of the last two months. The moving activities continue as we work to complete the transition from being a secondary school to becoming a high school. The learning cottages have departed. We have rearranged and transformed offices, classrooms and labs. The custodial staff has done an outstanding job of cleaning the facility, as well as moving and rearranging furniture and equipment. Recently, our staff hosted a very successful middle school summer program for selected students. Faculty mentors have also been meeting with selected high school students and working with them on summer assignments, learning strategies and course expectations and requirements for their upcoming Honors and Advanced Placement classes. Other students participated in summer leadership, athletic and fine and performing arts camp experiences here at SCHS. Earlier this month, we kicked off our Fall Program with more than six hundred students participating in team selection procedures and co-curricular instructional sessions.
Our administrative team and department chairs have been very busy interviewing candidates and have hired some outstanding new faculty members. This group has also been reviewing and analyzing data related to the Standards of Learning Tests and Advanced Placement Exams.You will be hearing more about our strong specific data as we progress through the school year.
The Fairfax County Public Schools’ focused theme for this year, “Learning Together, The Future is NOW”, will allow us to continue concentrating on the specific areas of building professional learning communities, implementing best practices for teaching and learning, and raising the bar and closing the achievement gaps. Our school focus for professional development and training will concentrate on strengthening collaborative teams, establishing and maintaining relationships with students, and utilizing data-driven decision making in providing and evaluating effective programs and services.
The Stallion Stampede will be held on Tuesday, August 28, 2012, from 5:00pm – 7:00pm. Students will be able to pick up their class schedules in the Cafeteria. In an effort to streamline the Back-to-School information, we are posting both required forms and informational documents on the SCHS website. Please follow the links at the bottom of this letter to review this information and sign the required forms for your students. The required forms should be returned to your student’s first period teacher on the first day of school.
Students report to school on Tuesday, September 4. Please note that our school day bell schedule for this year will begin at 7:20am and end at 2:05pm. Bus schedules, when available, will be posted on the SCHS website.
Enjoy the remaining days of summer and we look forward to seeing you at school events soon. Together we will make this coming school year a successful and fulfilling experience for the South County community. GO STALLIONS!!!
Sincerely,
Jane H. Lipp, Ed.D.
Principal
After clicking on the links below, please print out these required forms for signature and have your student return them to his/her 1st period class on Tuesday, September 4th.
The links below are for your information, they are the following:
Interested in joining organizations that support South County High School ? Visit the links below:
Thank you so much for your time and attention to this information.