By John Trout
Lakehill Preparatory School, Head of Lower School
For eleven years now, Lakehill students have accepted the challenge of illustrating Lakehill’s three rules of behavior for our Annual Triangle Rules Poster Contest.
You read that right. We have just three rules in Lakehill’s Lower School: the Safety Rule, the Respect Rule, and the Welcome Rule. Everything a student can be expected to do or to avoid doing in our hallways, on the playground, and in class boils down to those three basic ideas.
These rules are simple, and therein lies their genius. They require students to think before they act, to imagine the natural consequences of their choices, and to craft a school environment that is warm and friendly. The Safety Rule reminds students to be aware of their surroundings and their bodies. When students push the boundaries, we, as teachers, ask them to tell us what could go wrong, and to decide how to correct the situation. The Respect Rule encourages empathy. Students are asked to imagine how a situation might look from another point of view, and to imagine how they would feel if roles were reversed. The Welcome Rule promotes togetherness. It reminds students to reach out to others to ensure that their peers feel wanted and have a place in the group.
Dozens of Lower School students have submitted posters that creatively remind their classmates of our Triangle Rules, and I expect dozens more will flood my office on the deadline date Tuesday morning when school resumes after our four-day weekend. The winners and runners up will be celebrated at our Triangle Rules Assembly on Wednesday, October 18. The winning poster will be reproduced for display in every Lower School classroom and along the hallways, so that students can be reminded all year long of who Lakehill students are meant to be.
