School life

What happens between the bells

The timetable is half the school. The other half is the stage, the field, the club corridor at lunch, and five traditions old enough that alumni come back for them.

Students dressed in black rehearse as a choir, singing with feeling beside the piano

The arts

Every child on a stage before Grade 6

It's Ms. Chen-Aldous's one non-negotiable, because stage fright is easier to teach through at eight than at eighteen. Barton Hall and the studios carry it from there.

Marlowe Mainstage

Two full productions a year in Barton Hall (a fall play and a 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 and photography

An Upper School elective and club sharing the fabrication lab's editing bay. The Grade 12 films screen at Thesis Night.

A student in glasses plays saxophone in band class while classmates on French horn play behind him — Band class in the music wing. The jazz band plays Founder's Day, ready or not.

Athletics and the outdoors

Everyone plays. Then it gets serious.

No-cut teams through Grade 8. The Upper School fields competitive teams with honest tryouts, plus a standing intramural program for everyone else.

Young players in green and blue jerseys chase the ball during a soccer game on a grass field — Fall soccer. No-cut through Grade 8.

A smiling student in a helmet and harness rides a zip line between tall trees — Outdoor education, the road to the Ridge Hike.

A coach holds a volleyball at the net while students practise in the gym — Upper School volleyball, honest tryouts.

Fall

Soccer (MS and US)
Cross-country (Gr 4 and up)
Volleyball (US)
Ridge Hike training (Gr 8)

Winter

Basketball (MS and US)
Swimming (partner pool)
Fencing club (US)
Intramural futsal

Spring

Track and field (Gr 4 and up)
Ultimate (MS and US)
Badminton (US)
Rowing (US, river program)

Robotics club members' hands fitting a motor to a small robot built from colourful pieces

Clubs

Fourteen ways to spend a lunch hour

Students found the clubs and a teacher looks after each one: any three students with a plan and a willing adult can start one. These survived last year's yearly cull.

Robotics (Gr 5 to 12)
Debate and 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

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.

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, from 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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