First Friday of October
Lantern Walk
JK and kindergarten families walk the ravine path at dusk with handmade lanterns, led by the seniors who once carried them. Nobody graduates without both memories.
School life
What happens between the bells
The timetable is half the school. The other half is the stage, the pitch, the club corridor at lunch, and five traditions old enough that alumni come back for them.
The arts
Every child on a stage before Grade 6
Ms. Chen-Aldous's non-negotiable — because stage fright is easier to teach through at eight than eighteen. Barton Hall and the studios carry it from there.
Marlowe Mainstage
Two full productions a year in Barton Hall — fall play, spring musical — with student-run crews from Grade 7 up.
Music ensembles
String orchestra from Grade 4, junior and senior choirs, and a jazz band that plays every Founder's Day whether it's ready or not.
Visual arts studios
Dedicated Lower and Upper studios, a kiln, and a spring exhibition where every single student hangs at least one piece.
Film & photography
An Upper School elective and club sharing the fabrication lab's editing bay; the Grade 12 films screen at Thesis Night.
Athletics
Everyone plays. Then it gets serious.
No-cut teams through Grade 8. Upper School fields competitive teams with honest tryouts — and a standing intramural program for everyone else.
Fall
- Soccer (MS & US)
- Cross-country (Gr 4+)
- Volleyball (US)
- Ridge Hike training (Gr 8)
Winter
- Basketball (MS & US)
- Swimming (partner pool)
- Fencing club (US)
- Intramural futsal
Spring
- Track & field (Gr 4+)
- Ultimate (MS & US)
- Badminton (US)
- Rowing (US, river program)
Clubs
Fourteen ways to spend a lunch hour
Clubs are student-founded and faculty-sheltered: any three students with a plan and a willing adult can start one. These survived last year's annual cull.
- Robotics (Gr 5–12)
- Debate & Model UN
- The Quill — student newspaper
- Eco council
- Chess club
- Math circle
- Dungeons & Dragons society
- Coding club
- Culinary club
- Yearbook
- Mock trial
- Photography
- Service corps
- Student senate
Traditions
The things alumni come back for
Mid-February
Founder's Day
The whole school crams into Barton Hall for the jazz band, the head's one permitted joke, and pancakes served by the faculty. School closes at noon.
Late September, Grade 8
The Ridge Hike
Two nights on the Elmbridge ridge. Trained for all fall, led in segments by the students themselves.
Second Thursday of May
Thesis Night
Every senior defends their year-long Thesis in public. Half of Elmbridge shows up. The line for seats starts at 5.
Last day of school
Closing Circle
The entire school — JK to Grade 12 to the kitchen staff — stands in one enormous circle on the green. One minute of quiet, one enormous cheer.
The sixth tradition is the tour.
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