BB 01-09-26

BRADFORD BULLETIN

VOLUME XVIII, ISSUE 23

Jan 09, 2026

FROM THE OFFICE

IMPORTANT NOTES:  

  • Two ways to support our Seniors as they raise funds for their trip to ROME:
  • Scrooby – Extra Supplies!  It’s time for you to send in your extra supplies:  3 individual hand soap bottles, 3 paper towel rolls, 3 boxes of tissues.  Students can take the items to their respective campuses.  
  • Admissions and Enrollment Notes:
    • Applications for new students are open!  If you have other children you want to enroll at Bradford, please complete an application ASAP!
    • Students returning for 26/27 school year:  
      • Mark your calendars to complete an application for the NC Opportunity Scholarship in February.
      • We will send instructions in February for how to set up your new account in our new system.  There is nothing you need to do right now.
      • Students who will be in Kindergarten, 7th grade or 12th grade for the 26/27 school year are required to get updated immunizations.  Please schedule a doctor’s appointment and then send the record  directly to the office.  This will be due before the first day of school.  Plan ahead!
    • Students who will not be returning for the 26/27 school year:
      • Submit a letter in writing to the office no later than February 15th.
      • Notices that come after February 15th are subject to a $500 contract opt-out fee.

LOWER SCHOOL IMPORTANT NOTES:

  • FROM MRS. MITCHELL:  Hospitality is “the act or practice of receiving and entertaining strangers or guests without reward or with kind and generous liberality”.  (Webster’s 1828 Dictionary)  We are in high season for admissions, which means that many tours are coming  through to learn about the classical, Christian model.  Your children are sharpening their skills of hospitality by learning how to graciously accept brief interruptions to the schedule in order to make eye contact, be courteous, speak clearly, and answer questions with clarity.  Visitors are amazed that the children are so poised and polite.  We are grateful for these opportunities, as well as for the new families that the Lord is sending our way.   We pray that these skills will translate to other areas of your family and community life to the glory of God.

UPPER SCHOOL IMPORTANT NOTES:

  • FROM DR. SMITH: The Second Semester is off to a great start, even while we are putting the finishing touches on the First Semester! Due to the wide-spread illness that hit us at the end of the First Semester we postponed the 7th-12th grade Christmas concert until 7 p.m. Thursday, January 15. We look forward to seeing many of you there. Mrs. Bennington, Mrs. Johnston and Mrs. Thrasher have persevered in working with our band and choral students, and I am sure you will not want to miss the opportunity to reward their work with your presence that Thursday evening.   

UPCOMING

NEXT WEEK:

  • M 1/12: Varsity Boys and Girls Basketball games:  AWAY
  • T 1/13:  3:15 8th grade Class Meeting
  • Th 1/15:  RESCHEDULED 7th – 12th Christmas Concert, upper school campus
  • F 1/16:  JV Boys, Varsity girls, and Varsity Boys Basketball games:  AWAY

IN THE NEAR FUTURE:

  • M 1/19:  MLK day – no school – Bradford Camp Day – Register here!
  • W 1/21 – F 1/30:  8th grade Rhetoric Admissions Interviews
  • F 1/23:  1:00 Spelling Bee 4th – 8th at upper school campus
  • Week of 2/2:  Senior Thesis Pre-panels
  • Wed 2/4:  
    • 8:00 CLT10 for 9th
    • 10:15 CLT10 for 10th
  • Thurs 2/5: Coffee and Conversation
  • Fri 2/13:  Teacher workday – no school
  • Sun, 2/15:  Opt-out deadline for families not returning to Bradford for the 26/27 school year
  • Mon, 2/16:  Presidents Day – no school
  • Thurs, 2/19:  
    • 8:00 CLT for 11th
    • 10:15 CLT for 12th 
  • NEW DATE!  Tues, 2/24: 7pm 5th – 6th Patriotic Program
  • Thurs 2/26:  Upper School Career Day
  • Thurs, 3/5:  Coffee and Conversation
  • Mon 3/9 – Thurs 3/19:  SENIOR TRIP TO ROME 
  • Wed 3/11:  Soccer Tournament lower school
  • Thurs, 3/12:  Upper School Performing Arts Night
  • Fri, 3/13:  Last day of Q3.  Report cards
  • Week of 3/16:  SPRING BREAK

 

FROM THE TEACHER’S DESK

 

GRAMMAR SCHOOL

Transitional Kindergarten  (Mrs. Grubb and Mrs. Weber)

TK students were excited to be back at school this week! We had a great first week of the quarter with several new concepts and activities. In math, students were introduced to clocks and learned to tell and show time to the hour on an analog  and digital clock. Our letters of the week were J and S this week. The students have been bringing such a great variety of items for show & tell. Fine motor skills are progressing and students are working so hard on writing letters and numbers. A few of our centers included: writing letters in pretend snow, identifying ordinal position 1st-4th, a journal entry about Christmas break, identifying real and pretend books, and a discussion on signs. While it didn’t feel like winter this week, students discussed what kinds of things we would see and feel in winter. Students got to feel pretend snow and made a snowstorm in a jar! We read about John the Baptist this week and the job that God had for him which was to tell others about Jesus. Students also began learning Proverbs 3:5-6. Next week we will read about Jesus calling His disciples. 

Lower School Art (Mrs. Knight)

3rd & 4th 
  • Students began a snowman sketching project which will include colored pencils and paint.  We are developing observation skills and working to sketch accurately. Shading and coloring will be next. 

Lower School P.E.  (Mrs. Bennington)

K-4th
  • Students did a great job in P.E. this week following directions, working as a team, and working on soccer skills/drills.  

Lower School Music (Mrs. Bennington)

K-4th
  • Students worked hard this week learning the first verse to our new hymn for the quarter, “Lo In The Grave He Lay”. Students discussed what the term, style, means in music and how that is represented in the hymn. Students also listened to some of Dvorak’s Symphony 9. 

Kindergarten (Mrs. Rivera and Miss Burdeshaw)

This Week:

Our kindergarten scholars had a great week back from Christmas break! In math, we learned how to model, compare, and build three-dimensional shapes. In phonics, we finished going through our reader, “To the Rim of the Map,” and reviewed all of our previous phonograms. In history, we discussed the Destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. The Jews had been revolting against Roman rule, and as a result, the city of Jerusalem was destroyed. In art, we discussed our artist of the quarter, Winslow Homer. He was an American painter who specialized in realistic landscapes. In science, we introduced our new unit on the solar system and planets. The students had the opportunity to color a workbook with the sun and the eight major planets. We also mentioned that Pluto, the formerly known ninth planet, is classified as a dwarf planet. We are praying for a wonderful third quarter!

Memory Work:

John 3:16 and review!

1st Grade (Mrs. Cantaffa & Mrs. Smith)

This Week: 
  • We were thrilled to see the kids after Christmas break and had a strong start to the third quarter. The kids finished their memorization of Psalm 1:1-6 and are on Catechism 16 now! In reading, the students read a book about a spy (very James Bondesque) who defeated Red Hood and his plan to destroy the world with his Ka-doom Ray. The art in the book is inspired by the famous Soviet Stenberg brothers who created posters in the 1920s and 30s for the new cinema. The students tried their hand at making a poster for our book in a similar style for art. The bird of the month in January is the American Robin and the students learned much about the bird in science this week, with a video, coloring sheets, and interesting facts. In cursive, we are working on our 3 letter phonograms. The students made models, drawings, and used hands-on materials along with worksheets and board work to find tens and ones in numbers 20 – 100. History has us following the heartbreaking, but inspiring story of Squanto, Friend of Pilgrims. The kids are still practicing memorizing and writing their addresses in grammar, as well as understanding we all live on Earth, in America, in the U.S.A., in N.C., but possibly in different counties, cities, streets, and homes. Ask your child what country they live in, what city, what state…you may get a funny answer as their short 6 years of experience tries to grasp the concepts being taught.
Memory Work:  
  • Jeremiah 9:23-24
Upcoming:      
  • Martin Luther King Jr. Day / No School – Monday January 19th

2nd Grade (Miss Verroi & Mrs. Eng)

This Week: 
  • A new year and a new quarter are always a good time to evaluate areas we can improve and to look back on God’s faithfulness in the first half of the year.  Mr. Johnston challenged the students to make resolutions to improve in several areas of the school life and to have a flinty face.  This is taken from Isaiah 50:7 “For the Lord God will help Me; Therefore I will not be disgraced; Therefore I have set My face like a flint…..” One of our goals in second grade is to help the students develop good study habits and set a solid foundation, so we will be working on the “small details” this coming quarter.  We will be memorizing verses in Proverbs 25 for the next few weeks as we study the Second Intermediate Period up to the Early New Kingdom in history.  These verses are nuggets of wisdom for the students.  Our new book, Mr. Popper’s Penguins, is a delightful story, but a little challenging for the students to read.  Please read this book with them each evening to review what we have read in class to allow them to read the unfamiliar words more fluently.  The unseasonably warm weather has been such a blessing as we have been able to be outside more and benefit from the fresh air as a break from our classroom studies.  

3rd Grade (Mrs. Clark and Mrs. Meredith)

This Week
  • During our first week back, students eagerly launched into writing using the Story Sequence Outline in preparation for the Burlington Writers Club. We are discovering that drafting a strong creative story is truly a process! In history, students learned about three influential Greek philosophers: Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, who were known for their love of learning. Socrates, dissatisfied with the teachers of his time, believed that discovering truth required learning to think independently. Ask your child to explain the Socratic Method and how it works! Socrates’s most famous student, Plato, went on to establish an academy where students were taught not what to think, but how to think. Plato’s Academy became the first institution of higher learning in the Western world and produced many great minds, including Aristotle. In math, students continue building fluency in division as they explore fact families and the order of operations. In science, we began our study of astronomy and discovered the immeasurable vastness of the universe—created and sustained by God. We rejoice in knowing that “the heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork!”
Upcoming Memory Work:
  • Psalm 19: 3-4
Upcoming:
  • Burlington Writers Club Submissions Due 1/22

 

4th Grade (Mrs. Graham and Mrs. Rankin) 

Week 1  St Francis of Assisi

Welcome back! We hope you had a joyful Christmas break filled with meaningful family time. We pray your hearts were filled with a renewed hope as we celebrated the birth of Christ, our ultimate Savior.

Students have returned with new enthusiasm, and have easily fallen back into well-established routines. This week we got to know St. Francis of Assisi, wrestled with the legend and mystery surrounding this founder of the Franciscan Order, and had good discussions about sacrificial giving, which is from the heart. Students are excited to study Chemistry, which will take us deeper into understanding matter and God’s intricate creation, and will culminate in a research project of one of the Elements, and of course the well-loved Periodic Table song. In math, students are learning to be exact in their terminology, understanding the definitions of factors, products, and multiples, and how these relate to one another. Students are also hard at work on their submissions for the Burlington Writers Club, demonstrating creativity and dedication. 

The third quarter is known to be our most rigorous academic period, with many new and challenging concepts on the horizon. This is a wonderful opportunity to encourage your children to persevere and remain steadfast, even when the material becomes demanding. Together, we can help them thrive and grow!

Upcoming  Memory Work:

1 Corinthians 13:8-10

 

LOGIC SCHOOL

Mrs. Bennington

5th-6th Band
  • Fifth and sixth grade Band students combined with Choir students  this week to discuss our Christmas Concert. We talked about our favorite parts, what went well, and areas of improvement moving forward. We then started a  musical unit with the, “The Sound of Music”. Students discussed the way music is used in a musical as both background music and as a way to tell parts of the story. We also discussed the story being told and some of the historical background behind the musical. We will finish the movie next week before diving back into our regular lessons. 
7th-8th Band
  • Students did an amazing job this week remembering and adding clarity back to our concert music. I am so thankful that everyone is well and able to play again. We are looking forward to having the opportunity to still perform our Christmas Concert this Thursday, January 15th at 7pm. The concert will be held at the Upper Campus. I am so proud of these students and how hard they are working! 

Mrs. Johnston

5th – 8th Choir
  • 5th and 6th Grades combined to discuss December’s concert. We talked about what went well, what was our favorite parts, and things to work on moving forward. We spent the rest of the week watching the Sound of Music, discussing what makes a musical as well as the story being told. We will finish the movie next week together before diving back into our regular lessons.
  • 7th/8th Choir spent the week remembering and refining our concert music. We look forward to performing our rescheduled Christmas Concert on January 15th, 7PM at the Upper Campus.

Miss Pugsley 

5th-8th Girls’ PE
  • This week we continued basketball drills and half-court games in the gym! On Wednesday, we had Bradford Bootcamp where each girl recorded their mile time and how many situps and pushups they were capable of doing. A few girls have improved their mile times and everyone has been working very hard! 

5th Grade (Mrs. LaTour and Miss Johnston) 

This Week
  •  The students did a wonderful job of hopping right back in after the extended break. In history, we learned about the French and Indian War and talked about how it was a factor in setting the stage for the American Revolution. In math, we continued learning about subtracting fractions and finding like denominators. Instead of doing a spelling list this week we did some practice spelling bees and the students continued studying for the bee. In literature, we had one last discussion, completing Voyage to Freedom. We began our new book, The Witch of Blackbird Pond, and the students have thoroughly enjoyed it so far! We are nearing the end of our Burlington Writers Club Story writing and I enjoy seeing their imaginations show through in each story! This quarter will be a busy one for the students! 
Memory Work:

Phil. 2:1-2

Upcoming:

Burlington Writer’s Club Stories, Wax Museum

Mrs. Knight

5th Art
  • Students finalized their research for their chosen topics for the Sons of the American Revolution  poster contest. They were encouraged to discover the Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How of the Revolutionary event as well as why the event is significant. Students created a plan for their posters, which will be distributed next week. These will be displayed at the Patriotic Program in February and judged by the Local SAR chapter shortly afterwards. Students can advance to compete at the county, state, and national level. 

6th Grade (Mrs. McDorman and Miss Pugsley)

6th Reading and Literature
  • Students finished rehearsing and performed their A Christmas Carol play, demonstrating confidence and teamwork. We also began reading about Eric Liddell, introducing his life, faith, and perseverance.
6th Grammar and Writing
  • In grammar and writing, students practiced identifying and using subordinate conjunctions to form complex sentences. They also began writing a persuasive essay using the Lost Tools of Writing approach, working through the ANI chart, outline, and a simple essay format.
6th Bible
  • Students continued comparing and contrasting the four Gospels while working our way through the book of Mark, noting each author’s perspective and emphasis on the life and ministry of Christ.
6th History
  • This week in history, students reviewed the significance of the Transcontinental Railroad and how it transformed travel, trade, and westward expansion. We also began studying Reconstruction, examining the challenges the South faced as the nation sought to reunite after the Civil War.
6th Science
  • This week we have started our study of the cell and levels of organization in biology. We studied the five kingdoms (Animalia, Plantae, Fungi, Monera, and Protista) and introduced the ways that living things are organized, starting with atoms and ending in ecosystems! 
6th Logic
  • This week in Logic we have wrapped up our study of Avoiding the Question Fallacies with the second quarter exam! The students have been studying Ad Hominem, Special Pleading, Tu Quoque, Appeal to the People, Appeal to Authority, Red Herring, Genetic, and Straw Man fallacies.

Mrs. Crotts

6th Math
  • In math, students charged into Chapter 8–multiplying and dividing fractions!  This looks to a promising New Year!

Mrs. Wright

6th Latin
  • It is great to be back in class with the students.  We have hit the ground running in Latin!  This week we jumped right into translating Capitulum VI.  This chapter is focused on furthering their understanding of prepositions and their objects, the ablative of means, and also the passive use of the verb and how that is formed in Latin.  The students are engaged and doing great work!

Mrs. Palmer

6th Art
  • Students learned this week about their new artist of the quarter, Winslow Homer. We studied and analyzed several of his well known works of art. This quarter we will be focusing on watercolor as our new medium. 

Dr. Wright

7th Omnibus
  •  We have resumed where we left off unexpectedly before break.  Students did an excellent job on Greek research paper presentations, and are preparing to dive into the wild world of Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex.  2nd drafts of Burlington Writers’ narratives have been submitted.  We continue to work through 1 Samuel. 

Mrs. Frueh

7th Science
  •  Work began this week on the final copy of the formal soil lab report. These are due on January 22nd.
7th Pre-Algebra
  • Reading comprehension played a large role in our math lessons this week. First, we practiced writing and solving fractional part word problems for real life situations. Then we practiced solving problems with changing rates. While the arithmetic for these problems is not complex, the reading comprehension skills required using their logic skills to construct a mathematical equation that matched the given situation.

Mrs. Palmer 

7th Art
  • Students learned this week about their new artist of the quarter, Winslow Homer. We studied and analyzed several of his well known works of art. This quarter we will be focusing on watercolor as our new medium. 

Mrs. Wright

7th Latin
  • It is great to be back in class with the students.  We have hit the ground running in Latin!  This week we jumped right into translating Capitulum VI.  This chapter is focused on furthering their understanding of prepositions and their objects, the ablative of means, and also the passive use of the verb and how that is formed in Latin.  The students are engaged and doing great work!  
7th Logic
  • It is wonderful to be back in class with the 7th grade Logic students.  Due to the cancellation of the last week of classes in quarter 2, we spent this week reviewing chapter 3 before taking the test on Thursday.  We will start on new material next week.  

Dr. Wright

8th Omnibus 
  •  We have resumed where we left off unexpectedly before break.  We have wrapped up Tolkien’s Fellowship of the Ring.  Students did an excellent job on biographical research paper presentations, and are preparing to dive into Augustine’s Confessions.  2nd drafts of Burlington Writers’ narratives have been submitted.   

Mrs. Wright

8th Latin
  • It is great to be back in class with the students.  We have hit the ground running in Latin!  This week we jumped right into translating Capitulum VI.  This chapter is focused on furthering their understanding of prepositions and their objects, the ablative of means, and also the passive use of the verb and how that is formed in Latin.  The students are engaged and doing great work!

Mrs. Frueh

8th Science
  • Work began on mousetrap cars this week! The students are leaning on all their recent learning about Newton’s laws of motion as they design their prototypes, troubleshoot their models, and redesign to solve problems, all as part of the engineering design process.
8th Algebra I
  • We started the new semester with a unit on graphing and solving inequalities and absolute value equations. We practiced translating verbal statements into mathematical statements and then into graphical representations.

Mrs. Palmer 

8th Art
  • Students learned this week about their new artist of the quarter, Winslow Homer. We studied and analyzed several of his well known works of art. This quarter we will be focusing on oil pastel and will do several cross curricular projects.  

  

RHETORIC SCHOOL

From the COLLEGE COUNSELING Office:

9th-12th:  Students will take the CLT (Classic Learning Test) this spring during the school day at Bradford. 

  • Seniors: Thursday, February 19 at 8:00 AM
  • Juniors: Thursday, February 19 at 10:15 AM
  • Sophomores: Tuesday, February 4 at 10:15 AM
  • Freshmen: Tuesday, February 4 at 8:00 AM

Seniors are in the final days of waiting on early acceptance to colleges.  They are vigorously pursuing scholarships as well.  Seniors are encouraged to take the SAT again as SAT offers super scoring–the best scores from each subject over all of the SAT tests taken.  Seniors may also take more electives on-line or in person once approved from colleges offering dual enrollment.

Juniors are looking ahead this semester to taking the ACT (required) and some will take the SAT for the first time after completing the PSAT this past fall.  Juniors may also take more electives online or in person once approved from colleges offering dual enrollment.

Mrs. Palmer 

9th Spanish 
  •  We did not have Spanish this week due to IST. 

Coach Johnston

9th History
  • Students worked on coding and typing projects in technology IST. We also introduced material for our next history unit.

Ms. Oldham

9th Rhetoric I
  •  No class due to IST week. 

Dr. Byrd 

9th Bible Survey 

  • No class due to IST week. 

Mrs. Frueh

9th Biology
  • We did not meet this week due to IST. 
  • Next week we will wrap up our unit on cellular biology, followed by a unit exam on January 21st.

Mrs. Frueh

9th Geometry
  • We used some time during IST this week to work on geometric transformations in the coordinate plane, a skill that is useful in coding and graphic design (a focus of this week’s  Tech IST).

Mrs. Crotts

9th Literature
  • 9th Graders participated in Part 2 of IST (Intensive Short Term) for Technology, which included typing and coding as well as further discussions of the blessings and curses of technological advancements and the internet.

Mrs. Bennington

9th-11th Band 
  •  Students did an Amazing job this week remembering and adding clarity back to our concert music. I am so thankful that everyone is well and able to play again. We are looking forward to having the opportunity to still perform our Christmas Concert this Thursday, January 15th at 7pm. The concert will be held at the Upper Campus. I am so proud of these students and how hard they are working! 

Mrs. Johnston

9th-11th Chorus/Bradford Chorale 
  • 9th-11th Chorus and Bradford Chorale spent the week remembering and refining concert music. We look forward to performing our rescheduled Christmas Concert on January 15th, 7PM at the Upper Campus.

Dr. James

10th Chemistry
  • The students are presently involved with their IST course; Chemistry resumes on Tuesday next week. 

Mrs. Palmer 

10th Spanish
  •  We did not have Spanish this week due to IST. 

Mrs. Byrd

10th Algebra II
  • Our class will resume next week.  We will wrap up  one lingering topic “the Quadratic Formula” from our Quadratic Functions unit.  We will also begin our next unit on Polynomial Functions.

Mrs. Crotts

10th Literature
  • Students participated in Part 2 of IST (Intensive Short Term) for Economics taught by Mr. Johnston.

Miss Oldham

10th Rhetoric II
  •  No class due to IST week. 

Coach Johnston

10th History
  • No class due to IST week. 

Dr. Smith

10th Historical Theology 
  • Class did not meet this week due to IST.
11th Precalculus
  • Our class will resume next week.  We will return to our study of the unit circle and learn how to use it to find trig ratios of any angle.

Miss Oldham

11th Literature
  •   No class due to IST week. 

Mrs. Wright

11th NT Greek
  • The Greek students had the privilege of attending IST this week.  I look forward to class with them next week!

Mr. Webster

11th History
  •  Class did not meet due to IST.

Dr. Smith

11th-12th Apologetics
  • Class did not meet this week due to IST.

Coach Johnston

12th History
  • No class due to IST week. 

Ms. Oldham

12th Literature
  •  No class due to IST week.   
12th Rhetoric III
  • This week the seniors worked on editing their theses. Prepanels are the first week of February and final drafts are due March 6th. Please be in prayer for the seniors as we run this final leg of the race. 

Mrs. Byrd

12th Calculus
  • Our class has been working on the topic of Optimization this week.  Next week, we will launch into the third major topic of this course – Integration.