Academics
SEED, Service & Support
SEED
Social, Emotional, and Ethical Development
Shipley is committed to ensuring that all students develop the skills and ability to make good decisions at every point in their career at Shipley. We offer an integrated and thorough “core values” curriculum devoted to Social, Emotional, and Ethical Development (SEED). The SEED curriculum is under the direction of the office of Student Support, which provides assistance that is individual and developmental in nature and designed to connect health (physical, social, and emotional) with academic skill development. At Shipley we know that it is the combination of rigor and support that leads to deeply rooted learning and success. Our SEED curriculum is a critical component of Shipley’s unique approach to education.
As with other parts of the Shipley curriculum, the SEED curriculum is:
As with other parts of the Shipley curriculum, the SEED curriculum is:
- Integrated PreK through Grade 12 and addresses a wide variety of topics (see below)
- Integrated with other curricular elements (e.g., science, character education, physical education, emotional literacy, service learning, advisory program)
- Supported by parent programming (details below)
- Age and developmentally appropriate in instruction/experiences
- Built to spiral and scaffold through the years, repeating and reinforcing key concepts over time
- Clear about the content, skills, and assessment of each curricular piece
- Designed to equip students at every age to acquire the knowledge and develop the skills to make good decisions.
Positive Education
Trough a partnership with Penn Center for Positive Psychology and IPEN, Shipley is poised to become the first full-immersed Positive Education school in the US.
In order to integrate evidence-based practices from Positive Education, Academic and Social Emotional Learning, Emotional Intelligence and other programs, Shipley has chosen to use an overarching framework to inform its SEED program. The framework was developed through a “metasynthesis of over 18,400 peer-reviewed publications from fields such as psychology, education, public health, neuroscience and social science across an eighteen-year time frame” (Waters, et al, 2016). The acronym SEARCH identifies six domains that contribute to a student’s psychosocial functioning and wellbeing. The framework identifies the aspects of psychological and social functioning that lead a person to “feel good, function well and do good” (Waters, et al, 2016). (Read the original research as well as the work of Lea Waters, PhD.
Waters, L., Sun, J., Rusk, R., Aarch, A., & Cotton, A. (2016). Positive Education: Visible wellbeing and the five domains of positive functioning. In M Slade., L Oades., & A Jarden (Eds). Wellbeing, recovery and mental health. (Chapter 13; pp 235-260). Cambridge University Press
List of 6 items.
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Strengths of Character:
Strengths of Character: Thoughts and actions that are guided by moral and ethical principles. -
Emotions:
Emotions: Present-moment experiences of emotion, identification of emotions, understanding emotional associations with stimuli and memories, cultivating positive emotions, reducing negative emotions. -
Attention and Awareness:
Attention and Awareness: The consciously controlled or automatic regulation of attention toward particular aspects of sensory or cognitive information, including novel aspects. -
Relationships:
Relationships: Enduring social relationships and momentary social interactions, including family, friend, romantic, school, societal and spiritual levels. -
Comprehending and Coping:
Comprehending and coping: Comprehend one’s situation by using consciously controlled or automatic processes involved with identifying stimuli, determining processes and causal relations within past and present stimuli, and anticipating or predicting future possibilities. This domain includes the application of these comprehension processes to cope effectively with adversity. -
Habits and Goals:
Habits and Goals: Enduring conscious or unconscious values, rules, principles and goals involved in guiding the selection of behavior and the habits and skills involved in the execution of those behaviors.
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Q&A with Sharron Russell, Director of Positive Education and Student Support
In 1995, Dr. Sharron Russell was hired to write and teach Shipley’s social-emotional curriculum. Dr. Russell, who holds a certificate and doctoral degree in school psychology from Immaculata University and Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, respectively, has been directing student support since 2011 and positive education at Shipley since 2016. She is largely responsible for helping to make Shipley the first-ever positive education school in the country.Read More -
Q&A with Upper School Counselor Kira White
Get to know Shipley's new Upper School counselor, Kira White. A graduate of Swarthmore College and the University of Pennsylvania, Kira says they chose to pursue a career in counseling because, "I wanted to help students figure out some of the other [non-academic] parts of growing up. I think the presence of a supportive school counselor is something that adults either remember from their time in school or wish they had had at that time in life." They appreciate Shipley's focus on the development of students as whole people including emotional well-being and awareness, "skills fundamental to navigating the world." Learn more about Kira in our New Colleague Q&A.Read More -
Q&A with Nick Holton, Associate Director of Positive Education
Get to know Shipley's new Associate Director of Positive Education, Dr. Nick Holton, who says, "I firmly believe that human potential is the world's greatest resource and that systems of education can amplify that potential or squander it. I believe Positive Education does the former." Learn more about Nick and why he's dedicated his life to Positive Education.Read More -
Shipley Community Shows Compassion in Action
Compassionate participation in the world is a pillar of Shipley's mission and something Shipley strives to instill in every member of the community. Read more about how Shipley's students, families, colleagues, and alumni are living the mission and displaying compassion in action, especially during the global pandemic.Read More -
Junior Josh Harycki Founds Social Distancing Pledge
When Shipley junior Josh Harycki noticed a lack of awareness around the COVID-19 precautions in his peers, he and a few friends created the Social Distancing Pledge to educate and encourage others to practice responsible social distancing amid the COVID-19 pandemic.Read More -
Gyasi Miller ’24: A Perfect Blend of Love and Basketball
Two years ago, when Gyasi Miller ’24 was in fifth grade, it was no surprise his love of basketball inspired his Think, Care, Act project to clean up a park near his home. He presented a proposal to a local councilman, secured funding, and recently cut the ribbon to officially open the renovated park in October.Read More -
Psychologist Lea Waters, Ph.D. Visits Shipley to Speak About Strength-Based Parenting
World-renowned psychologist Lea Waters, Ph.D. visited Shipley on Thursday, September 6 to speak to colleagues and families about strength-based parenting.Read More -
Meeting of the Minds: Positive Education
Shipley is the first school in the country to adopt a school-wide approach to Positive Education, which aims to strengthen academic and personal achievement through wellbeing using evidence-based techniques. What is wellbeing? Can you teach it? How do you incorporate a successful Positive Education practice in schools? Should you? Our panel explores these questions and more.Read More -
Meeting of the Minds: Gender & Sexuality Diversity
It’s an important topic that’s sparked legal battles, political debates, and philosophical divides in communities across the country. Our roundtable explores the role of schools in navigating this complex subject. How are Shipley and other schools responding to the issues surrounding gender identity and sexuality diversity? Shipley’s Head of School and a national expert weigh in.Read More -
From The Blog: Why Practice Mindfulness? A Student’s Perspective
Read MoreWhile mindfulness is something I’ve been interested in for a while, I only began seriously looking into it about a year ago. I started making regular practice a part of my life in the beginning of March, and already I can see a difference. -
Meeting of the Minds: Educating for an Unknown Future
In our rapidly-changing world, there is a lot of uncertainty about the future. What skills, knowledge, and experiences will our students need in order to thrive professionally and personally? How can Shipley and other schools ensure that students are future ready? Shipley administrators and alumni weigh in on the topic.Read More -
Dr. Ken Ginsburg Speaks to Eleventh Graders and Families
As part of their Social, Emotional, and Ethical Development (SEED) curriculum, eleventh graders and their families hear from Dr. Ken Ginsburg, author of Raising Kids to Thrive: Balancing Love with Expectations and Protection with Trust.Read More -
Age of Opportunity, Lessons from the new science of Adolescence
Dr. Laurence Steinberg, an expert on the science behind adolescent brain development presented a program for 9th and 10th grade students and parents. Dr. Steinberg’s research has focused on a range of topics in the study of contemporary adolescence, including adolescent brain development, risk-taking and decision-making, parent-adolescent relationships, adolescent employment, high school reform, and juvenile justice.Read More
Follow Sharron Russell on Twitter
Follow Sharron Russell on Twitter
Tweets by @SharronJRussellRecent Research
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The Missing Piece
A National Teacher Survey on How Social and Emotional Learning Can Empower Children and Transform Schools
The Shipley School is a private, coeducational day school for pre-kindergarten through 12th grade students, located in Bryn Mawr, PA. Through our commitment to educational excellence, we develop within each student a love of learning and a desire for compassionate participation in the world.
