A Rigorous Program

Academic rigor has been a characteristic of Saint David's since the school's founding. We expect our boys to master the basics, and we have found no substitute for hard work and perseverance in accomplishing the task. At the same time, we try not to confuse rote and repetition with true teaching and active, engaged learning. We encourage creativity and discovery, whether in a science lab, a computer class, or the pottery studio.

Our boys learn by doing. In the Third Grade, they study the Middle Ages, design their own coat of arms, and participate in a special knighting ceremony. The Fifth Grade spends a June day in Central Park reenacting, in the same location, a Revolutionary War battle fought by George Washington. Seventh graders use principles of physics introduced in their science classes to design and build machines to aid people with disabilities, while eighth graders prepare scholarly lectures on great works of art and present them to neighboring girls schools and professional art critics. Our ideal is an integration of academics and aesthetics in exploring the greatness of Shakespeare, Mozart or Matisse.

With its emphasis on active learning, Saint David's provides each boy with the skills to succeed and the courage to take intellectual risks in what we hope will be a lifelong pursuit of learning.