Head of School Jeanne Huybrechts will release a new professional growth handbook to all teachers in January.

Teachers frequently attend workshops and seminar to improve their skills, Huybrechts said, and she hopes the handbook will guide teachers’ professional growth and development.

“I think this is a really, really good move for the school,” Huybrechts said.

The handbook will not replace the current faculty and staff handbook, and will be shorter to focus on the core values and guiding principles of teaching at school.

“I thought that what we needed was something much smaller, and that’s what this will be, and it is sort of what guides us as teachers,” Huybrechts said. “What are our core values and our guiding principles? What are our standards of teaching at the school?”

Huybrechts said she hopes the handbook will be a “more intentional way for us to be writing down what our goals are for the year and then what the plan is to implement those goals.”

Parts of the handbook stress guiding principles that include placing a priority on students as well as valuing collegiality, professional growth and continuity of care.

“Collegiality is terribly important,” Huybrechts said. “We do a lot of team teaching at this school and it’s important for [teachers] to get along with [their] colleagues.”

Huybrechts presented the handbook to the upper school Faculty Academic Committee two weeks ago and to the middle school Faculty Academic Committee last week. She plans to release a copy to department chairs this week and send it to all teachers in January.