Character & Community

The development of character has been at the heart of a Country Day education since the school’s founding in 1926. Both our strong sense of school community and our rigorous academic program are built upon this foundation of responsibility and integrity.

Recognizing that social and emotional growth are inextricably connected with academic success, our teachers begin the purposeful cultivation of character with our youngest students.

Incorporating strategies from Responsive Classroom, Lower School teachers create a safe learning environment where students feel respected by both their teachers and their peers.

Through activities such as Morning Meeting, students learn to speak confidently, listen respectfully, and ask good questions. They learn to connect actions with consequences and the importance of taking a thoughtful interest in the ideas and perspectives of their peers.

TIGER PRIDE

The TIGER PRIDE program provides concrete, memorable ways to reinforce the multi-faceted aspects of character. It gives even our youngest students a meaningful way to talk about character.

Leadership & Responsibility

At every grade level there are new, age-appropriate challenges. Our teachers pay careful attention to how and when they introduce new responsibilities, knowing that the experience of building on success is as important to growth as stretching to meet new challenges.

By the time they complete their ninth grade year, our students have experienced a degree of responsibility and leadership rare among first-year high school students.

By any measure, graduates of Country Day are successful. And underlying it all, harder to name and impossible to quantify but always present, guiding and motivating their actions, is the force of their character." - Adam Rohdie, Headmaster

Community Service

Throughout the school there is a dedication to community service. This commitment both brings us together as a school and broadens our individual horizons, connecting us with the world beyond campus and the knowledge that our own actions can make a positive difference.

Family School

Country Day is united by strong values, traditions, and friendships. Though educating brothers and sisters together reinforces the bonds within families and within our school, at GCDS, the meaning of “family school” runs deeper than sibling connections.

“I think students feel incredibly known here,” says Anthony Bowes, Head of the Upper School, “Not just known as a student, but known as a person. And I think faculty feel incredibly responsible for the children who are with us. It really is a family and a community here.”

Caring and involved, GCDS parents also play a crucial role in the life of the school, regularly contributing their remarkable talents and energies through the Parents Association.