Mission Moment

Dear Covenant Community,

You can read a brief message I wrote in our 2025 yearbook, but I want to riff on that a bit in this - my last official communication as Covenant’s Head of School.

It’s not “farewell,” but “fair winds” that retirement has me wishing The Covenant School as I sail off to the new adventures that God has planned for me. Having just published Wisdom and Eloquence for Parents (an autographed copy is reserved for each Covenant family and employee), I have invitations to visit classical schools on two continents in the coming months. And my passion for Covenant’s amazing Charlotte Mason-inspired classical Christian approach to education is as strong as ever. So, in addition to some actual sailing, I plan to cruise the classical Christian school world in pursuit of opportunities to share, with other schools and organizations that are part of a growing worldwide movement of classical education, the wonderful lessons and experiences Covenant has provided me.

When I left Covenant College in 2002, having served there as academic VP, I recognized that I had gained far more from the good people there than I could have ever hoped to have given them. The same is true, many times over, for me about The Covenant School. I know my fondest memories of my entire professional life will always be of The Covenant School, thanks to all of you - and with very good reason. Covenant is an extraordinary place for families to educate their children and for employees to serve. There is a joy on campus that most schools just can’t duplicate, seen best in the faces and heard best in the voices of our students. It’s beyond sweet. It’s truly magical!

But don’t take my word for it. Our families and staff say the same. For a second year, our 2025 Best Christian Workplaces (BCW) Staff Engagement Survey identifies Covenant as a “flourishing” work environment. Only 30% of Christian schools share this distinction with Covenant. And while the average promoter score for Christian schools is 36% (which BCW considers “excellent”), Covenant’s employee promoter score is 66% - and 94% of Covenant employees would “recommend Covenant to others as a good place to work.” BCW says this makes us a school sector leader, and that reviewing our results is particularly satisfying. (The promoter score is calculated by subtracting the % who disagree about this statement from the %of those who strongly agree.)

Meanwhile, we also achieved accreditation this spring with the Society for Classical Learning, which designated Covenant as “thriving” and selected us as one of only five “Thriving School Partner” schools, worldwide. Their separate surveys of parents and staff returned promoter scores about recommending Covenant to others as a good place to educate children and to work of 74 and 75, respectively, using a ten-point scale (perhaps slightly more accurate than BCW’s five-point scale). Why this matters so much is that when parents and faculty are this happy with their school, that translates to happy students!

Ironically, “happy” is not a stated intended outcome of a Covenant education (see our portrait of a graduate here). But, on top of all that, I’ll take “happy” as a wonderful side effect of our enviable school programming and community culture!

Finally, I could not be more excited about Melissa Hill taking the helm of such an amazing school, whose students, families, faculty, administration, trustees, and programs are world-class. It just feels to me like my time here has been preparatory for Mrs. Hill taking the lead, and I believe that Covenant’s best days and years are ahead. So, I find myself feeling extremely blessed to have served this exceptional community of faith and learning for a brief stretch of an exciting journey. My years may have involved some tacking back and forth across the channel (I can’t forget Covid), but I pray tail winds are strong and the waters calm for smooth sailing into Covenant’s promising future.

As with graduation for the Covenant class of 2025, my retirement is not the end. It is the commencement of a new chapter in my life story and in The Covenant School story. I am eager to see what God will write in coming chapters of these unfolding stories, perhaps while sailing some calm waters of my own. Among my favorite Covenant experiences is to see our alumni “coming home” to Covenant so often. I look forward to seeing you all when I visit Covenant, like an alumnus, in coming days.

Fair Winds, Covenant!

Non Nobis,

Robert Littlejohn, Ph.D.
Head of School