Back to School
Welcome!
Dear Saint Paul's Choir School Families:
I recently returned from a beautiful week away in Vermont, where the Green Mountains inspired me to do more hiking, and I caught up on my summer reading. The Choir School is looking great, with newly painted hallways and colorful lockers, yet it doesn’t quite feel right without the boys! We are eagerly anticipating their return. As people change, so does the school, and we are pleased to welcome our new Music Director, James Kennerley and his family to Cambridge later this week. We also welcome several additional faces to our faculty and are pleased to welcome back returning staff for the 2019-20 Academic year when we convene for professional development next week. We take our days together in staff development with great importance as these are the people who will shape the school.
We will also welcome twelve new students to the school this year. Every student will arrive in September with different life experiences, schooling and academic gifts, and as a result we will be a school different than any other in SPCS’s history, yet we will carry on our long-held values, such as the expectation of true academic vigor, musical beauty and of each boy flourishing and helping each other to achieve each other’s dreams.
While many of us had time to rest and reinvigorate this summer, there are many people who have been working throughout the summer in preparation for the new year and to them we owe our gratitude. Most significantly is our phenomenal office administrator, Dianne Flaherty. She works all summer long to ensure that we are ready to go in September. In August, Mr. Moran joined our administrative staff officially as he transitioned into the role of Director of Admissions in a seamless manner. Faculty are arriving to prepare their classrooms and have been planning their courses and preparing to teach this year’s SPCS students. The Parish staff have kept operations running, from paying bills to upgrading the facilities. And speaking of our Facilities, in addition to the beautiful upgrades to the walls, our fourth floor is now air conditioned, a very special welcome to our new music director and the new students who are entering our 3rd and 4th grade classrooms.
Last year’s 8th grade parents generously raised funds to provide new signage for our entryway to compliment the recently installed sign for the school. All students will appreciate the renovated study room on the 4th floor, which is now more than a study as it is gradually accepting a carefully curated collection of reading material and is hence called our new library. Thanks to the design by resident architect and historian, Prof. Chip Piatti, the room is decorated with new furniture and provides a peaceful setting for individual study or small group meetings. If you have books that you would like to donate, please pass them along to Ms. Fox or Ms. Cunha, our new ELA teacher.
Our 2019-20 calendar has been posted online, a calendar that demonstrates just how busy the boys will be this year! Creating a calendar that meets the needs of the students, parents and faculty is a challenging task, yet it will always carry the caveat that it can change if needed. I am especially grateful to all who contributed to the many drafts reviewed by our Administrative Team and faculty who worked together to create and coordinate such a complex undertaking. Please make sure to take note of the dates relevant to your family, especially the arrival of new students for an induction on September 3 from 9:00 - noon and the start of school for all students on September 4 for the beginning of full days.
I welcome you to—or back to—Saint Paul’s Choir School. I hope that you have had time to relax in the company of friends and family, to read good books, to slow down, and to be bored enough that your imagination was fired up. I pray that you enjoy these final weeks of summer with each other.
Warm regards,
Thomas Haferd
Head of School