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...

The notion of what it means to be a good man is at the heart of the mission of Saint David's School. This Seventh Grade Father/Son Dinner is an annual special event in which fathers or father figures, and sons explore what it means to be a good man, the relationship between parent and son, and other mission-inspired themes. We were thrilled to have fathers, sons, grandparents, brothers or other paternal influences in the lives of our boys at table together last week for this signature event--the first time we could hold it in person in the last two years. This year's featured guest speaker, Kevin M. Callahan, wrote  Brothers in Arms: Remembering Brothers Buried Side by Side in American World War II Cemeteries . Callahan's book centers on the stories of brothers who died fighting for freedom during the Second World War. After graduating from Yale University, Mr. Callahan had visited the American cemetery at Normandy and was taken by both the beauty of the grounds...

The following article by Alexis Aoyama, Saint David's Assistant Headmaster and Head of Upper School, appears in the latest issue of Saint David's Magazine : At Saint David’s, we strive to educate boys to be scholarly and creative. As defined in the Headmaster’s opening letter, “scholarly connotes a boy of great knowledge and learning, an erudite, educated, lettered, literate, well-read boy.”(1) Through diligent study, reading a variety of genres, evaluation of primary sources from a range of perspectives, and close observation, boys develop their knowledge base and begin to make sense of the world around them. We also aspire for our students to be creative – boys who are “innovative, inventive, and original (as opposed to imitative).”(1) To nurture and develop the creative mind, we provide boys opportunities to apply what they have learned to novel situations, to think outside of the box, and to build and create.  When designing curriculum at Saint David’s, we attend to both th...

The eighth grade's annual Italian Study Tour - 10 days exploring sites in Assisi, Florence, and Rome - is a longstanding capstone experience in Humanities for our graduating class and their teachers, alike. After a two-year, pandemic-imposed hiatus, we were able to resume this signature experience this March, making the 2022 Tour particularly meaningful.  The trip provides the opportunity for our boys to visit in-situ the actual paintings, sculpture, and architecture they have studied in their art history class. As such, it melds the scholarly and creative in an organic way. It is common for a boy to comment on Medici family history when presenting on Brunelleschi's Dome, for instance, and then, in the next moment, to analyze the dome's structure and design.  In preparation for the trip, the boys are assigned an iconic Renaissance building in Florence to explore: they research the building, its patron, architect and significance; and they share the results of their inquirie...

As our esteemed Philharmonic Ensemble Director Philip Hough recently observed, "Every year, we see Saint David's boys begin a process which will, in fact, last for their entire lifetime. We want to encourage that beginning, and for them to feel what it's like to develop with an instrument, to experience beauty, and have something that will take them beyond a concert." Mr. Hough was speaking about the depth of experience Saint David's boys have when participating in the Saint David's Philharmonic Ensemble. This opportunity is open to all boys in Grades Four through Eight who are able to read music, desire to participate, and are willing to commit practice time. While the concerts (including performing at Carnegie Hall every three years), are indisputable high points for our young musicians, a Saint David’s boy’s relationship with his instrument has a transformative element that goes beyond preparation for a performance and incorporates all aspects of curriculum...