Saint Ann's School

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 the capacities of each individual student, free of the encumbrances of formal grading. At the same time, we are unabashedly committed to excellence in all that we do. The lives of our graduates, their achievements as dancers and doctors, poets and physicists, musicians and mathematicians, speak powerfully to the potential of an education based on these principles to ignite a passion for learning and to sustain creative energy in every field of endeavor. We accomplish this by offering talented students instruction shaped by creative and dedicated faculty, forming a true 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 a deep 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.

A 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, also to trust themselves and to find deep satisfaction in learning for its own sake. In anecdotal reports, the classroom, at sports events, or on stage, we hold central the celebration of our students.

Teachers at Saint Ann’s are chosen for their strong intellectual and artistic interests and their commitment to the education of our children. Faculty are given the opportunity to communicate their enthusiasm, to use whatever they find practical in an effort to draw out the most authentic and exceptional work from their students. Our teachers’ leadership in the classroom and out arises from their intellect, accomplishment, and 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, so that 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, constantly reinvented 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 the course of 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 a great journey. The particulars of this journey will be unique for every student. While they will certainly cover much common ground together, their individual 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, race, curiosity, culture, socioeconomic status and identity possible. For 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.