Highlights & Action Items

Fall Edition of The Firebird Flyer
Accessing First Trimester Report Cards
Submit Your Questions for Middle School Info Night!
Afterschool Program Registration via Popsicle
Mini Poll About Our School Schedule
Reagan's Departure from the GSA
The Office Will Be Closed Next Week!
Firebird Fund Update: Final Week!

Fall Edition of The Firebird Flyer

Our school-wide publication, The Firebird Flyer, just released its fall installment! Click the link below to read a collection of news and stories written by our very own Middle School students.

A huge thanks to Dr. Jeremy Goheen for organizing The Firebird Flyer this trimester and cultivating a passion for storytelling and journalism within our students!

Read The Firebird Flyer Here!

Accessing First Trimester Report Cards

All families should have received an email from us in your inbox about accessing your child's trimester report card. As we continue to migrate to Blackbaud systems as a school, this will be how you access your report cards moving forward.

Here are the full instructions about how to create an account and login.

Please note that if you submitted a new application for the 2024-2025 school year, you will already have an account set up! Please sign in using your existing account information.

If you have any questions, or if your link is not working for any reason, please reach out to info@thegirlsschool.org. Please note that the office will be closed all of next week, so we will answer any outstanding questions as soon as possible.

Log Into Blackbaud Here

Access Blackbaud Instructions

Submit Your Questions for MS Info Night!

Current GSA 4th and 5th Grade parents (rising 5th and 6th Graders) are invited to a Middle School Information Night on December 3rd from 6:30 - 8:00 PM. Come and learn more about the entire arc of our Middle School program and how it all drives towards our mission of developing confident young women who lead intellectually vibrant and fulfilling lives.

We want to make sure this evening is as informative as possible for you, so we are asking you to submit any questions you may have in advance so we can be sure to answer them! (You can also RSVP at this link if you have not done so yet!)

As a reminder, this presentation is about the arc of our Middle School program as a whole, so the purpose is different from our Back-To-School Night. We look forward to seeing you there!

Submit A Question

Afterschool Program Registration via Popsicle

We excited to introduce a new registration platform for our Afterschool Care and Afterschool Programs called Popsicle! Popsicle is an online registration tool that helps organizations manage their programs in a more efficient and effective way. As a parent, you will set up an account where you will be able to register and pay for both Classes and Aftercare in one easy place. Attendance, student’s registration history, and receipts for IRS purposes are some of the additional benefits you will see with Popsicle. Popsicle is fully-mobile, responsive, user-friendly, and has a professional modern design to make your registration and ongoing experience as easy as possible.

We will begin class registration for our Afterschool Program as follows:

Receive Popsicle link to create new account: Friday, December 6, 2024
Registration opens (you have the option to wait to set up your account until registration): Wednesday, December 11, 2024
Afterschool Program Classes Begin: Monday, January 13, 2025
Registration closes: Friday, January 17, 2024

Aftercare will be released at a later date.

Mini Poll About Our School Schedule

We value our families’ voices and strive to consider your input whenever possible. As we plan for the 2025-26 school year, we’d like to hear your preferences regarding the start and end dates of the school year. While we must balance a range of considerations to finalize the calendar and cannot accommodate feedback on every aspect, after the challenges surrounding this year’s schedule, we felt it was important to engage directly with families on this specific decision.

Please take a moment to share your thoughts in the mini poll linked below. Thank you for your partnership!

Take Our Mini Poll Here!

Reagan's Departure from the GSA

As some of you may have heard this week, our beloved Director of Advancement, Reagan Ward, will be departing from the GSA on December 22. We are incredibly grateful to have had Reagan on our team for a little over 3 years, and her dedication and hard work will never be forgotten here within our school community! She will be dearly missed as she embarks on this next chapter of her career. Please read her farewell letter here.

As we begin the search for a new Director of Advancement, Robyn Burchfiel will serve as the Interim Director of Advancement until the end of June 2025. Robyn rolled off the GSA Board of Trustees at the end of last year, and during her time on the Board, she served on the Head of School Search Committee and she co-chaired the Strategic Planning Steering Committee. In addition, she has more than twenty years of experience in development and philanthropy in the non-profit sector and higher education. To add to all that, she is also a parent of Addie (GSA '22)! If you would like to contact her, please do so at rburchfiel@thegirlsschool.org.

Read Reagan's Farewell Letter

The Office Will Be Closed Next Week!

As mentioned above, the front office will be closed next week in recognition of Thanksgiving Break.

We will reopen on Monday, December 2, once our students return to school. Have a safe and restful Thanksgiving Break, everyone! We are so incredibly grateful for you!

Firebird Fund Update: Final Week!

We are happy to announce that on the final day of our fall Firebird Fund Campaign, our families have reached an outstanding 98% PARTICIPATION rate! Thank you to everyone who contributed!

Additionally, we are proud to announce that we have also reached 100% PARTICIPATION rate among our faculty and staff! This is an unprecedented feat for our team, and we are so thankful to everyone on campus for believing in the work we do each and every day.

A Final Message

From all of us at the Girls' School of Austin, your unwavering support has created a powerful sense of unity among our school community, making a lasting impact on the vibrant and nurturing environment we cultivate for our students.

Every contribution, regardless of size, plays a crucial role in shaping the future of the GSA. Your commitment to our shared goals is the cornerstone of our community, and we are truly grateful for the enthusiasm and dedication that each of you bring.

As we reflect on these achievements, we want to express our deepest gratitude for being the heartbeat of the GSA. Your generosity has set the stage for continued growth and success within our students, and we look forward to trailblazing an exciting journey ahead!