Community and Belonging at Speyer

The work of belonging at Speyer is not the work of one person — it’s a shared effort of everyone in the Speyer community to help our students see themselves and the world around them in ways that expand empathy, deepen understanding, and inspire meaningful change.

At Speyer, belonging doesn’t mean everyone thinks the same or looks the same or comes from the same story. Belonging means you can bring your whole self — your ideas, your questions, your identity — and know that you will be met with respect and care.

Our community believes belonging is the soil from which intellectual and emotional growth springs. When children feel safe and valued, they take risks. They wonder out loud. They listen more deeply. They learn with curiosity and confidence. This work of belonging happens in countless small moments — not only in assemblies or special programs, but in the rhythm of the daily life of school.

In Speyer’s classrooms, teachers build spaces where multiple perspectives are welcomed. In Humanities, students explore stories that reflect both familiar and unfamiliar experiences. In Science, they learn how diverse ways of thinking fuel innovation. In every subject, they are encouraged to approach learning with both rigor and empathy.

Our students will need to maneuver and succeed in a world where division may feel louder than connection. That is why, at Speyer, we embrace a different narrative — one where difference is not a barrier, but an invitation. We teach our students to listen with empathy, to navigate disagreement with courage, and to lead with compassion. They are reminded that they don’t have to have all the answers — but they do have to show up, stay kind, and stay open. It’s how we start every conversation, every lesson, every community gathering. It’s how Speyer’s administration, faculty, staff, Board, and parents anchor themselves, and how we help our students anchor themselves, too.

When children know they belong, they don’t just learn — they thrive. And when they thrive, they help all of us move, even by a millimeter, toward a better world.

Below is our Official Diversity Statement as well as a variety of diversity initiatives in action at Speyer.

Speyer strives to provide a responsive and rigorous academic program for each and every student — and to do so by embracing diversity, practicing equity, ensuring inclusion, and promoting community.

Our curriculum is culturally aware and intentionally designed to incorporate a broad range of perspectives and traditions. Our faculty works diligently to ensure that every student feels known and supported in reaching their potential. Each student feels a strong sense of belonging and each family feels valued and welcomed within the Speyer community. We work to place equity at the center of our academic and programmatic vision and strive to offer every child an opportunity to find multiple mirrors in which their identity and experience are reflected, multiple windows through which to learn about and understand the identities and experiences of others, and multiple prisms through which to understand the complexity of their community and the world at large.

Because of their intellectual curiosity and awareness, Speyer students often observe and question what they see and experience around them with insight beyond their years. Students bring these lived experiences into the classroom, while Speyer faculty actively facilitate conversations connecting real-world perspectives to curricular content. They help students make meaning out of what they learn from one another and apply this knowledge to their understanding of the world.

Beyond the classroom, Speyer also works hard to ensure that our overall program — not just academics, but also extra- and co-curricular activities for students, community events for families, and social and learning events for parents — intentionally includes every Speyer family. Speyer commits to embedding social-emotional learning across our entire program, so each student learns to be empathetic, kind, and caring allies within our community, to be engaged in courageous conversations, and to appreciate failure as a path to success and a requirement for resiliency.

A Few of Speyer’s Diversity Initiatives

• Student Affinity Groups in both the Lower and Middle School that provide supportive spaces for students to connect with peers and faculty who share aspects of their identity to explore their common experience. Affinity Groups in Lower School currently include Banana Splits Affinity Group (for students whose families have experienced divorce, separation, or loss of a parent); Girls Affinity Group (for students who identify as girls); Students of Color Affinity Group (SoCs; for students of color), and Jewish Affinity Group (for students of Jewish ancestry). Our Middle School Affinity and Alliance Groups include Jewish Affinity Group (JAG; for students of Jewish ancestry), Students of Color (SoCs; for students of color), and Q&A (for those that identify as part of and allies of the LGBTQIA+ community). 
• Parent Affinity Groups provide a safe and supportive space for parents to share experiences, resources, ideas, and more. Parents strategize solutions to common problems and come up with ideas for positive change. Over the years, our Parent Affinity Groups have included Parents of Girls, Parents of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) Students, Parents of AAPI (Asian American and Pacific Islander) Students, SAPAS (South Asian Parents at Speyer Affinity Group), Shalom Speyer, Neurodiversity-Affirming Families, and Dragon Pride. 
• Commitment to hiring and retaining a diverse faculty and staff that is representative of our student body and of the broader community.
• Continuous review and revision of our curriculum to ensure that all students are able to see themselves and their experiences represented — and in so doing, to deepen their engagement and to help them build lasting connections between themselves, their learning, and the broader community.
• Professional development and in-service training for faculty and staff focusing on diversity and equity and on practices and skills needed to support learning within a diverse environment and to facilitate conversations that nurture understanding, empathy, and respect.
• A robust and inclusive Parents Association that promotes community by organizing a wide range of events — including book clubs, speaker events, programs for new families, community service efforts, family gatherings, and parent socials — that are financially accessible and accommodate varied family schedules and circumstances.

Director of Equity and Inclusion

Our Director of Equity and Inclusion works closely with all constituents of the Speyer community to promote institutional equity, inclusion, and belonging across the school. Through this work, Speyer has grown in the past three years articulating our community-wide values. This office provides training and professional development and engages with expert speakers to inform our community of the best and emerging practices that promote a sense of belonging for all. On the academic end, it is the role of the Director to ensure equitable, inclusive, and fair practices. Lastly, to promote a sense of belonging among certain groups, this office oversees Speyer’s Student and Parent Affinity Groups. This work emphasizes that we all have a responsibility to be inclusive in our practices to accomplish our goals of sustaining a safe and welcoming community that promotes belonging for all.