About Trevor Day School - History of the School

Founding and background of the School
The Day School of the Church of the Heavenly Rest (Episcopal) was founded by the Reverend Henry Darlington in March 1930 in the Parish House of the Church at 2 East 90th Street. Two teachers from the Sunday School taught nine nursery pupils. In 1932 the school added a first grade, and created a Board of Trustees and an Executive Committee to be in charge of general policies of the school. The Rector was elected Chairman of the Board and Headmaster. The school was incorporated and received a provisional charter from the Board of Regents.

During the period between 1932 and 1937 a second grade was added, enrollment increased from 15 to 60 students, and the school ". . . made a definite place for itself in the preparing of young children for more advanced work in larger schools."

The Day School continued to prosper over the next 28 years increasing its scope to include the third grade. There were few significant changes in its organization or mission. The school was formal in most ways. The children wore uniforms, and they rose from their seats to greet an adult entering the room. Grades were given for both homework and term evaluations. The curriculum was centered on text books, and the beginning reading instruction was accomplished with basal reading systems. By the early 60's, some of the methods associated with new mathematics had been brought into the classrooms, but the school remained traditional in most other ways.

When the rector and vestry of the church chose to make The Day School an independent entity with its own 501 C-3 number, the rector, Burton Thomas, resigned as Chairman of the Board and Headmaster of the School, offices which the rector of the Church of the Heavenly Rest held ex officio.

The Day School board voted to expand to the 8th grade in 1960. John Harrison was elected president of the board of the Day School in 1964. On January 12, 1965 the board purchased the Trent School at 1 East 92nd Street and enrolled its students. In 1965 Thomas Mansfield became Headmaster. The school proceeded to become fully independent of the Church by establishing its own board of trustees in 1969 After substantial renovation to the 92nd Street building during the summer of 1967, the youngest students, Nursery through Grade 1, and the business office took occupancy. Summer workshops for faculty, class excursions to Wyngate Farm in Putney, Vermont, and the school's first computer were also added. The school incorporated new programs that centered on the learning experience of the student, particularly in the areas of math (where Cuisenaire rods and other manipulative materials were used) and reading (where activity-based programs such as Words in Color were adopted. Paul W. H. Trevor was elected president of the board in 1969 and his collaboration with Tom Mansfield on the new approaches to learning was significant to the successful incorporation of the practices into the Day School’s program.

Grades six through eight were added yearly from 1967 until the first eighth grade graduated in 1970. Throughout the 70's, The Day School faculty explored a variety of school structures, all student -oriented and all chosen with the goal of improving the level of the learner's involvement. During this time the faculty urged the abolition of uniforms, which occurred in the early '70s. As the enrollment grew, the school expanded its use of the basement space at 4 East 90th Street, beneath the nave of the church. In the early part of the decade, the large room in the west end of the basement was designed as a gymnastics studio. When it became necessary to schedule classes in the space, movable furniture allowed academics in the morning and physical education in the afternoon.

The divisional structure of The Day School began to be of major significance in its ability to serve differing ages, abilities and learning styles. The Lower School included three year old nursery classes up to a half-day first grade. The pre-school programs were offered in separate morning and afternoon sessions. The use of Cuisenaire rods and Words in Color, along with the sense that young learners could do much more than they were normally asked to do, informed the character of the Lower School program.

The Middle School, grades 2, 3, 4, and 5, was located in the 90th Street building. After a short experiment with inter-aging (combining grades 2, 3, and 4) the division established an operating style that worked with the four grades in two groups – second and third, and fourth and fifth. The classes were not mixed age groups, but the use of specialists, the lunch room, and other schedule factors were based on the dyads. In curriculum and teaching, the division continued what was begun in the Lower School, added Elementary School Science materials, the Science Curriculum Improvement Study science curriculum, Man: A Course of Study in the social studies, and supported a growing level of teacher autonomy.

The Upper School, grades 6, 7, and 8, began to experiment with reduced class schedules, increased student responsibility for out of class work, and the development of the advisor system. These structures resulted in opportunities for students and teachers to begin to have serious and productive relationships rather than the more characteristic ones filled with antagonism and an adversarial tone. Central to the belief that younger adolescents could have meaningful contact with faculty was the use of the advisor system wherein faculty members provided close guidance to a comparatively small number of students (8-10), wrote their reports to parents, and served as their representative in school situations. Surveys of school practices were conducted, and promising strategies were incorporated into The Day School Upper School program.

John Dexter served as acting Headmaster in 1978-79 and was appointed to the position in June 1979 when the enrollment was 325. He began a capital campaign for major renovations – new gym, library, computer room and school entrance. Under his leadership, The Day School added after school sports and music programs and continued the process of evaluating its programs. Robert Worth succeeded Paul Trevor as President of the Board in 1980. Mr. Worth served the school until 1985 when Cynthia Bing was elected president. After this period of adjustments and refinements to the school, the Long Range Planning Committee was established in 1986 to consider where The Day School was and what it should work toward in the future. The Committee focused the school on improved teachers' salaries, continued development of programs to serve learners, and the establishment of new or renewed committees of the Board. The Building Committee accepted the Long Range Planning Committee's charge to find a new and improved facility. The Education Committee, reestablished as the Intra-School Committee, undertook the process of improving communication throughout the school, within both the professional and parent communities. The Multicultural Education Planning Committee accepted the goal of the Long Range Plan to work to improve the Day School's service to families of color.

When the building at 11 East 89th Street became available in bankruptcy court, the Board of Trustees knew the will of the school community from the Long Range Plan and, after thorough review of the educational and financial ramifications, chose to purchase the facility and sell the 92nd Street building to the Jewish Museum, an institution that had long sought the building as it is adjacent to their main property on 5th Avenue. Mrs. Bing’s leadership of the board was also crucial in the decision to accept the assets of Walden-Lincoln School and extend our services to include the High School division at 1 West 88th Street.

In the fall of 1990 the Walden Lincoln School approached The Day School about the possibility of going forward together. The Walden Lincoln School enjoyed fine facilities part of which were brand new, a strong and broadly experienced staff, and an enthusiastic parent body. They were, however, painfully under-enrolled with no reasonable solution to that problem. After many lengthy discussions the two schools agreed that The Day School would take over Walden Lincoln, receive its assets, enroll the qualified students from the school, and employ as many Walden Lincoln faculty members as mutual interest and need could accommodate.

In September 1991, The Day School opened classes with its 136-student Lower School housed at 11 East 89th Street; 135 students in grades one through three in the Parish House of the Church of the Heavenly Rest at 4 East 90th Street; 92 fourth and fifth graders in the area in the basement at 4 East 90th; 127 sixth, seventh and eighth graders in the newly redesigned Upper School facility in the Goodman Building at 1 West 88th Street; and 65 secondary students in the same West Campus location.

The expansion to include a High School division created many issues for the school. The questions of how to incorporate the Common Room philosophy into the High School environment and how to maintain the special characteristics for 6th, 7th, and 8th Graders that an 8th grade school offered, were foremost on the minds of all the faculty and staff in the Upper School building. Many other issues developed from the changes and a consultant was hired to guide a Strategic Review. Several topics were explored and the fundamental result of the effort was to affirm that The Day School was one institution, Nursery through 12th Grade and that each division had a role to play within that definition. Grades 6, 7, and 8 were more fully integrated into the west campus, renamed the Middle School and the High School became the focal point of the school.

In 1996, the school reorganized its divisional structure and naming to reflect its span as a Nursery through 12th Grade school.

The school from grades 6 – 12 is called the Upper School. The school from PreN – 5 is called the Lower School.

The administrative organization has also changed. In place of the Office of the Head we now use leadership teams to guide the school. For the Lower School, the Leadership team consists of the Head, the Associate head for education, the Assistant head for Finance and Operations, the directors of the Early Childhood Division and the Elementary Division, the Director of Development and the Director of Admission for the Lower School

For the Upper School a parallel organization is in place. The team consists of the Head, the Associate head, the Assistant head for Finance and Operations the directors of the Middle School, and the High School, the Director of Development and the Director of Admission for the upper school.

The school changed its name in January of 1997. The Trustees voted to name the school Trevor Day School in honor of Paul W. H. Trevor who served as the President of the Board from 1969 to 1981. Prior to the change the school’s official name continued to be Church of the Heavenly Rest Day School. Even with the separation from the Church in the late 60’s, the name had never been officially changed. Issues of identity with both common names, The Day School and Church of the Heavenly Rest Day School, became significant problems as the population of the High School classes became more diverse and colleges and universities needed a more recognizable name.

After Cynthia Bing ended her term as President of the Board of Trustees, Alexandra Peters was elected. Mrs. Peters had been a teacher at both Browning and Chapin and she was eager to continue our innovative practices. During her tenure, the foreign language program for younger students was established and she spearheaded the adoption of the laptop program for the both the Board and the parent body. She also oversaw the change in our name in January of 1997.

In the 1994-95 school year the early childhood foreign language program was established. Through the generosity of an anonymous TDS parent, a pilot study was begun with a group of 4 year olds who would begin to learn French. The success of the program stimulated an expansion of it to the Kindergarten through 5th grade. The first group is in the class of 2009, so the full effect of the early start in foreign language study has not yet been realized. Trevor Day School is now serving as a leader in the work popularly known as FLES, foreign languages in the elementary school. This effort, which takes full advantage of our technological capability, provides teacher education workshops and conferences on a bi-annual basis.

In May of 1996 The Day School was offered the opportunity to join 27 other schools in the Microsoft/Toshiba sponsored program called Anytime Anywhere Learning. The educational director at Microsoft learned of a school in Australia that was conducting an experiment using laptops in schools. She convinced Microsoft to bring elements of that program to the United States and the program was begun in the spring of 1996. In September of that year The Day School opened with laptops in the hands of all the 5th, 6th and 9th graders. Their teachers had received a preparatory program over the summer and the Anytime Anywhere Learning Program was launched. By September of 2000 all students in grades 5 through 12 were carrying laptop computers. In September of 2001, the entire school was equipped for wireless access to our network, and the Internet. Teacher education in the integration of technology into the curriculum continues at high levels throughout the school. Several new initiatives were executed for the 2003-2004 school year. Among them, my.Trevornet a portal, a customized the website for each user and the Microsoft Class Server Learning Management Platform, an online homework organization and delivery tool directed to all Middle and High School students and their teachers.

In keeping with the Tradition of Innovation, TDS began to explore science education in the high school, with a view to improving the overall knowledge of science accomplished by the graduates. There was considerable concern about the ignorance or avoidance of physics. The first change in the curriculum took place in 1997 when physics was moved into the 9th grade. After learning of the coordinated approach to science education, where all three traditional areas are taught yearly for three years, we decided to adopt this approach and hired Keith Shepard to serve as a consultant to us. In 1998, at the same time as we were redesigning our curriculum, we redesigned our science floor, incorporating state of the art equipment and furnishings into a set of laboratories that included a common area for faculty and students to work collaboratively on projects. Our renovation efforts were completed in September of 2001,and the first cohort of students who studied coordinated science graduated in 2003.

David Thomas was elected Board President in 2002 after Alexandra Peters retired from the post. He is working to consolidate the programs that we have put into place recently and identify new directions for the school.

On October 25, 2005, two years after the resignation of Dr. John H. Dexter, and through careful stewardship of Acting Head of School, Thomas Eaton Tinker, Ms. Pamela J Clarke was installed as new Head of School.

Ms. Clarke will lead the school toward excellence through expansion of facilities and will help prepare Trevor students for "the active work of life" guiding them through an education that will insure a promising future through careful preparation for a complex world, as it is encompassed by the Information Age, envronmental and cultural challenges. In her installation speech, Ms. Clarke remarked, "Our students need to understand the process of learning as more important than the product; they will need the perseverance to search for truth."