Our New Daily Schedule

Dear Members of the Kent Denver Community,

Photo of Mr. Braemer in the Duncan Center library

At Kent Denver School, one of the most valuable resources we manage is time. The cadence and flow of our school day—which is determined by our daily schedule—is critical to shaping the extraordinary educational experiences we offer to students.

Kent Denver periodically revisits how we allocate time to best serve our programmatic aspirations. Over the past year, our administrative team—in partnership with department chairs, deans and faculty—has undertaken a thoughtful and collaborative process to evaluate and redesign our daily schedule for the 2024-25 school year.

The new schedule that you will read about below was informed by our Strategic Vision, and the results reflect Kent Denver’s commitment to continually improving how we serve our students and community.

I look forward to working with our educators, students and families to implement this new schedule next year.

Sincerely,

David J. Braemer
Head of School

New Schedule Overview

Key Changes & Benefits

Seven Rotating Class Periods (Currently Six)

Provides more frequent class meetings while maintaining the same amount of instructional time offered currently.
Reduces scheduling conflicts and provides a higher likelihood of getting first-choice classes
Creates individualized free periods in the Upper School and more frequent community time in the Middle School
Enables more access to support from teachers, learning specialists and wellness team
Provides consistent meeting times for advisory, clubs and other learning activities, including the new Kent Denver Seminar (see details below)

Later Morning Start Time

8:30 a.m. start (9 a.m. on Weds.) provides flexibility and better meets adolescent sleep needs
School buildings open at 7:30 a.m. for early drop-offs and morning faculty office hours

Middle/Upper School Differentiation

More variation between Middle and Upper School daily schedules to meet learning needs of students in each division
Morning class rotation alignment to allow for more effective cross-divisional teaching and learning

How It Works: Rotations, Seminars & More
Our 12-Month Schedule Design Process

How It Works: Rotations, Seminars & More

Following are some important details about the daily schedule, class rotations and the new Kent Denver Seminar, along with answers to a few other questions you might have!

How will classes rotate?

Classes will be on a seven-day rotation (Days A-G), with each period meeting five times in every seven day cycle.

Periods 1, 2, & 3 meet during the first half of the day
Periods 4, 5, & 6 meet during the second half of the day
Period 0 rotates throughout the day

In the Middle School, students will take six classes and Period 6 will be used for community time, recess, advisory, electives and/or the Kent Denver Seminar.

In the Upper School, students will take six classes and will have an individual free period. Once out of each rotation, that free period will be designated for the Kent Denver Seminar.

In both divisions, classes will meet more frequently while maintaining the same number of instructional minutes provided by our current schedule.

Table showing seven day rotation in days A-G

What is the Kent Denver Seminar?

The Kent Denver Seminar provides dedicated time for students to explore a wide array of topics with guidance from experts in our Wellness, Information & Innovation and Equity & Community Engagement teams. Seminar topics are unique to each grade level and meet the evolving needs of students as they move through Kent Denver's 6-12 program.

In the Middle School, seminars are 45 minutes long and meet twice during each 7-day rotation. In the Upper School, seminars are 60 minutes long and meet once during each rotation during a student's individual free period.

Seminar Topics

Kent Denver's seminars will launch in the fall of 2024 and are still in the active design phase. Here are a few of the topics that have been proposed by our team—stay tuned for more updates as the new school year approaches!

Middle School

7th Grade
digital thriving | study skills/health | service learning | wellness | sustainability

8th Grade
leadership | health/study skills | digital thriving | cultural competency | design & entrepreneurship

Upper School

12th Grade
college counseling | college transition | CIE prep | Head of School exit interview

When can students get extra help from teachers and other adults? What about recess?

In the Upper School, the schedule provides designated times to seek support from teachers during office hours before school, at lunch and in the afternoon. Upper School students may also use their individual free periods to seek support from teachers, deans, advisors, school counselors and other staff members or to drop by the Math Lab, Science Lab and the Writing Center, which will be staffed frequently throughout the day.

In the Middle School, the schedule allows for more frequent meetings with advisors as well as designated study halls and academic support times. Faculty will also be available to provide extra help during office hours before school. Predictable, daily recess breaks are an additional feature of the new schedule—unstructured time to "play" during the school day is a significant benefit to our youngest students!

Is the school day longer in the new schedule?

The new schedule represents a re-allocation of time during the school day and does not materially change the number of hours students are expected to be on campus.

Classes begin at 8:30 a.m., and campus will still open at 7:30 a.m. for students who wish to arrive early
The school day will end at 4:05 p.m. for middle schoolers following sports activities. Upper school sports practices will end at 6 p.m.
Afternoon buses will depart at 4:15 p.m. (regular bus) and 6:05 p.m. (sports bus)

Can a student add a seventh class?

Following our current practice, students will be limited to six Kent Denver classes* plus the Seminar. This is important for ensuring students have a well-balanced educational experience while maintaining their well-being.

*Upper School students will still have access to online courses through GOA or OneSchoolhouse along with independent study opportunities as they do now.

Our 12-Month Schedule Design Process

Over the past year, Kent Denver's leadership team has undertaken a thoughtful and collaborative process to create our new daily schedule for the 2024-25 school year. Here are a few of the important milestones along the way!

2023

April / May — School-wide faculty/staff schedule survey
June / July — Development of three prototypes based on survey
August / September — Meetings with Administrators, Department Chairs, and Deans; Narrowed the prototypes to two.
October / November — 20+ faculty/staff focus groups with 79 participants reviewed the two schedule prototypes
November / December — Selection of final prototype; faculty/staff Think Tank groups meet to refine MS & US prototypes

2024

January / February — Think Tank meetings continue; Student leaders across grades 9-11 meet to offer feedback
February — The administrative team approves the final schedules for the 2024-2025
March — New daily schedule shared with trustees, faculty/staff, students and families
August — School year begins with new daily schedule in place

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