A Message From Our New Head of School: Gretchen Forsyth

‘Ms. Forsyth’s Flowers’ Halloween Parade 2018

It is with a full heart and a head full of visions for a great future that I accept the appointment as Glen Urquhart School's next head of school. It is the greatest honor of my life and a sincere thrill. I look forward to working with our tremendous faculty to continue to grow and evolve this school we all know and value in innovative and inspiring ways. I love this school, these people, and this work. Together, with the faculty and staff, with the students and alumni, with all GUS families past and present, we will accomplish great things. Most importantly, we will work to ensure the magic that is a GUS education endures long into the future. 

I came to GUS ten years ago as an educator looking for a school that shared my values, and what has developed since then has been more than I could have hoped for. I believe I have been changed by my time at GUS, changed into a better thinker, listener, and colleague than I was before. Just like our students, I have learned to be brave, to put myself out there, and to think big. I believe my time at GUS has molded me into the leader the school needs today.

Morning Drop-Off 2018

I believe deeply in the GUS way. Our thematic, experiential, inquiry-based teaching methods tap into a child’s natural sense of curiosity, and paired with our strong social-emotional curriculum, this makes learning meaningful, and therefore more successful. I am dedicated to preserving and growing this progressive model, on which GUS was founded, so that families will continue to have the opportunity to choose something deliberately different for their child, to choose GUS. I know it has been the most important choice I have ever made, for myself and for my family.

I would like to offer my sincere thanks to Dave Patch and the entire search committee for a strong process. Their work was thorough and exhaustive, and for me, the process reaffirmed what I have always known to be true: this is where I am meant to be and this is what I am meant to be doing. I am so grateful for the opportunity to reflect on my educational philosophy, and to share my passion for the work and to present my vision for GUS' future to the community. To be heard and to feel valued was so rewarding, and to have been chosen is truly a great honor.

As we prepare to celebrate the winter solstice, I am reminded of how Susan Cooper’s Shortest Day poem, a Mr. Nance Winter Solstice tradition, ends. Here at GUS, “as promise awakens” may we too rejoice and give thanks. This is a new day for our small school and oh how bright our school’s light shines! I am so thankful for all the wonderful people of Glen Urquhart and look forward to working with an amazing team of administrators, a talented group of educators, and a dedicated school community to realize our school’s full promise in all ways.  

Trust and Go Forward,
Gretchen Forsyth
Head of School