David O'Halloran, Headmaster - Saint David's School, New York City

Earlier this week, Saint David's warmly welcomed back alumnus Tommy Robertshaw '10 to deliver a Chapel Talk at one of Saint David's special traditions, the Mother-Son Chapel. The annual Chapel gathers our fifth grade boys and their mothers or mother figures for a special, shared experience; a Chapel Talk by a young alumnus who reflects upon the role his mother has played in his life.  Eloquently connecting his love for his mother with his affection for his elementary school, Tommy's words moved and inspired us all. I would like to share them, below:  One of my very early memories is from Kindergarten, making gold and red streamers out of construction paper in the back yard—right out there—for the school’s Golden Jubilee–its 50th birthday. Now the school is 72 and I’m 26. But this room is exactly the same.  And so is this: All that we can be, all that we will be, all we are began in thee. O alma mater, fostering parent, hail to thee Saint David’s School.  Can anyone t...

There is nothing like that special connection between a boy and his musical instrument, and the collaboration involved in listening and responding to fellow musicians. Each individual contributes his own unique piece to the more complex and complete whole. This morning, our Philharmonic Ensemble performed in our theatre, together for the first time since the pandemic began.    Through most of this school year, the boys were restricted by Covid protocols to rehearsing just with members in their own grade. Recently, we were able to bring all our Ensemble musicians, who span Grades Four through Eight, together for a series of rehearsals. The boys were thrilled to be able to play with and off each other as an orchestra, with our esteemed Ensemble Director Philip Hough leading them through St. Anthony Choral (Joseph Haydn), Cielito Lindo (Traditional Mexican Folk Song) and Brandeburg Concerto No. 3, 1st movement (Johann Sebastian Bach) - much to the delight of their parents and ...

The recent Dinosaur Show presented by our Omega class, our third graders' "Three Fractured Fairy Tales"  and the sixth graders' Digital Universe space shows were far more than "entertaining shows" (although that they most definitely were). More importantly, these productions exhibited performances of understanding, built skills and confidence, and empowered the boys. Our young Omega paleontologists revealed their knowledge of the dinosaur facts they discovered during their exploratory, interdisciplinary unit about the prehistoric animals. They entertained with dinosaur jokes: What do you call a dinosaur ghost? A scare-a-dactal !, and they danced and sang their hearts out. In "Three Fractured Fairy Tales" the third graders revealed the truth behind fairy tales we all think we know so well: Jack and the Beanstalk, The Big Bad Wolf and Three Little Pigs . The boys collaborated to cast, block, and create set pieces for the production, and assumed all...