Saint Ann's School

[EduCativ]

We are an independent, non-sectarian day school offering instruction to students in preschool through 12th grade. Over the past 50 years, Saint Ann's has embraced a commitment to education for its own sake, oriented to each student's capacities, free of the encumbrances of formal grading. At the same time, we are unabashedly committed to excellence in all that we do. Our graduates' lives, their achievements as dancers and doctors, poets and physicists, musicians and mathematicians, speak powerfully to the potential of education based on these principles to ignite a passion for learning and sustain creative energy in every field of endeavor. We accomplish this by offering talented students instruction shaped by creative and dedicated faculty, forming a real community of learners from pre-Kindergarten through high school.
We believe education is a rich, subtle exploration and questioning of the world, not a means to an end. Since 1965 Saint Ann's School has brought together gifted children and passionate teachers in a fierce pursuit of knowledge, skill, and artistry. We cultivate a joy for learning through an in-depth and rigorous curriculum, in which the arts are an essential presence. So that every child will flourish, we eschew grades, rankings, and prizes in favor of ongoing dialogue and teacher reports. At Saint Ann's, we offer our dreams to those who will share theirs with us.
Saint Ann's education imparts the best of human traditions and discoveries while nurturing intellectual adventure. Our students are given great freedom — certainly to achieve, trust themselves, and find deep satisfaction in learning for its own sake. In anecdotal reports, the classroom, at sports events, or on stage, we hold central the students' celebration.
Teachers at Saint Ann's are chosen for their vital intellectual and artistic interests and their commitment to our children's education. Faculty are allowed to communicate their enthusiasm, to use whatever they find practical to draw out the most original and exceptional work from their students. Our teachers' leadership in the classroom and out arises from their intellect, accomplishment, and a profound sense of humanity.
Our curriculum is a realm of possibilities where we meet our students. It is a substantive and dynamic means to engage every child. It is flexible and responsive. Whenever feasible, our students undertake accelerated or specialized work in subject areas ranging from music to calculus to Chinese, based upon talents and interests rather than age or grade.
We are a genuine community, operating seven days a week, reinvented continuously as our members move from role to role, sustained by a commitment to each other, and to the ongoing symposium that is our school. The growth and success of Saint Ann's owe much to the faithfulness with which we adhere to our educational philosophy: that education is, in the last analysis, a celebration of life and that life is wondrous, ephemeral, and for those reasons, sacred.
Each year, it is our distinct privilege and pleasure to meet with children and adolescents from all over the city and, over forty-five minutes or so spent with each one, to try to understand something essential about them. Invariably we are dazzled by their bravery as they come to meet us, sharing who they are, what they love, and what makes them tick. At the end of each four-month cycle, new classes are formed (or existing classes enhanced), and together these children undertake an incredible journey. The particulars of this journey will be unique for every student. While they will certainly cover much common ground together, their paths will diverge as they each explore our rich curricular offerings.
This journey is made more enriching, stimulating, and challenging for all if we ensure that our band of fellow travelers represents the broadest spectrum of talent, grace, curiosity, culture, socioeconomic status, and identity possible. For a while, each path is unique; collectively, these young people will chart new territory, making miraculous discoveries about the world, themselves, and each other all along the way.

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