Groton Assistant Head Chosen to Lead Dana Hall
Groton School congratulates Assistant Head of School Katherine Bradley, who has been appointed the new head of Dana Hall School in Wellesley, Massachusetts.
Ms. Bradley joined Groton School as a Latin teacher in 2001 and became assistant head in 2011. She has influenced numerous students as teacher, dorm head, and advisor, and has recruited and mentored many Groton teachers.
As Groton's assistant head, Ms. Bradley has helped manage a variety of day-to-day operations, from residential life and the Deans’ Office to the Health Center and academic, athletic, and counseling departments. Over the years, she has taught all levels of Latin and Greek and headed the Classics Department. She continues, now, to teach Latin and head a dorm. In fact, “Bradley’s Dorm” has been a Groton School fixture for nine years.
“The loss of Katherine Bradley is bittersweet and a huge gain to Dana Hall,” says Groton School Headmaster Temba Maqubela. “No one has done more to help me acclimate to Groton. A stellar teacher, dedicated dorm head, skilled administrator, and loyal friend to many, Katherine will be dearly missed.”
Amidst her many contributions to Groton School, Ms. Bradley says she is particularly proud of staying in touch with students as she moved into a more administrative role. “After twenty-five years in the classroom, I wanted to be an administrator who remained focused on the kids,” she says. When she leaves Groton July 1, 2016, she says she will most miss the "strong community around the Circle," as well as morning chapel, relationships developed with students, friendships with colleagues, and watching students and faculty children play on the Circle in the evening.
Ms. Bradley says she is looking forward to the unique opportunities at Dana Hall, a girls school founded in 1881 that serves boarders and day students in grades five through twelve. In particular, she says she relishes the chance "to help girls develop into well-educated and strong leaders—girls who will have a voice in the world.”Before joining the Groton faculty, Ms. Bradley spent eight years at Greenhills School in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where she taught Latin and English and served as college counselor and ninth grade principal. Through her classroom work and personal study over the years, she has long nurtured a scholarly interest in Cicero and Vergil. She wrote A Vergil Workbook, which is used in many AP Latin classes, and was a member of the SAT Latin subject test development committee from 2010–15.
Ms. Bradley will be one of many heads of school who prepared for leadership at Groton School. According to a recent article in the Groton School Quarterly, more than thirty former faculty have gone on to head independent schools.
Groton School will miss not only Katherine Bradley, but also her husband Matt McCracken and their children. “All of us at Groton wish Katherine, Matt, Degefe, and Ajaje well on this exciting and well-deserved journey,” Mr. Maqubela said. “I know the whole community, on the Circle and beyond, joins me in thanking Katherine for her outstanding service and loyalty to Groton School.”
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