In educating the "whole student," Rebecca Smith, director of counseling, coordinates what Hill calls the Personal Development Seminar." This once-a-week term course (generally 12 meetings) is required for every third form (ninth grade) student and all new, incoming fourth form (10th grade) students. These classes are taught during the academic day as a formal component of the residential curriculum and are intended to educate students on adolescent development issues.
Topics addressed include:
- Adjusting to school life away from home
- Awareness of diversity, stereotyping, and prejudice
- Consciousness of shared and divergent values
- Sexual harassment
- Time management
- Preventing substance abuse
- Dealing with stress through healthy means
Our primary mission is to create a nurturing campus atmosphere that can contribute not only to the high standards of academic achievement at The Hill School, but also to the spiritual, moral, and social development of our students. PDS promotes the development of responsible, ethical individuals who are able to understand themselves while engaging in healthy relationships with others.
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