Video in Celebration of Oak Lane, May 16

Dan Brown '92, brought his camera and recorded his impressions of Oak Lane on a day we had set aside to celebrate everything good that has come from Oak Lane in this, its final year. Hope you enjoy! And thanks, Dan!

November News

As of November 5, 2009, Karl Welsh has stepped down as head of Oak Lane Day School after serving the school community in this capacity since July 1999. A hallmark of Karl's tenure has been his care of the physical plant, with significant improvements in the Perch Hankin Building and the Barn, and with special care of the grounds.

Karl led the Tribute Campaign that raised funds to build our beautiful Cutler Gymnasium. Under his leadership, the academic program was strengthened: the Learning Skills program was added, progress reports were standardized, and teachers implemented Reading and Writing Workshops and the Everyday Math program. The decision to close the school at the end of this year has been difficult for all of us, none more so than Karl and his wife Karen Cavallo, who have given enormous time and effort to make Oak Lane the very special place it is. Karl and Karen will continue to be part of the Oak Lane community as parents.

Martha Platt will serve as Head of School for the remainder of the 2009-10 school year. Martha is a member of Oak Lane's Board of Trustees and, for the past twelve years, has been both a part of the faculty and the Director of Oak Lane's summer camp program.

Besides providing a full academic year for our students, we are working hard at the appropriate placement on behalf of our students as they seek to continue their journey of learning following this school year.

Oak Lane In Its Final Year

The Board of Trustees recently made the decision to close the school at the end of June 2010. The past several years of declining enrollment and the current economic climate forced the school to sell the land on which it stands in the spring of 2009. In the months that followed, Board members, faculty and staff worked diligently to secure a new location and explore the possibility of Oak Lane continuing elsewhere. When it became clear that this was not financially feasible, the Board determined that it was in the best interest of the school to cease operations.

Founded in 1916 in Cheltenham Township, Oak Lane Country Day School, as it was then known, was rooted in progressive education and became one of six schools in the country used by the U.S. State Department as a model school for visiting dignitaries. Until 1960, Oak Lane was connected with Temple University as a lab and demonstration school. After that connection ended, the school ultimately moved to its current location in Whitpain Township.

The hallmark of an Oak Lane education has always been a focus on the preservation of childhood and an emphasis on “learning how to learn.” Graduates of Oak Lane leave the school as strong independent learners who have gone on to excel in the fields of arts and entertainment, sciences, entrepreneurship, literature and writing, athletics, social concerns and other endeavors.

While it has been frequently said that Oak Lane’s existence at the corner of Butler and Stenton Avenues in Blue Bell was a “well-kept secret,” the many families who experienced an Oak Lane education made no secret of their love for the school. The graduation speeches of outgoing students resonate with appreciation for the beautiful campus, the arts program and the many opportunities for performance across all the grades. Sixth graders talk passionately about the benefits of being “sons and daughters” of Oak Lane, of being known and appreciated by all faculty members. Also referenced are beloved traditions like the Woodland Walk, catching frogs, sledding on the meadow, tractor rides, the all-school theme of Winterlude, drama club, community service with “buddy” classes and learning to play recorder. A rich and recurring motif in the speeches is the students’ sense of themselves as valued members of a diverse community, who leave the school knowing that their voices have been heard.

In one sense, every current student at the school will graduate in June 2010. Between now and then, the children will continue to mine the deep vein of an Oak Lane education and experience the community’s respect for childhood. The mood will be celebratory and the broader Oak Lane community, past and present, will be invited to join in the gatherings planned for this year.

Winterlude - Long Ago Stories

LONG AGO STORIES, stories that teach a lesson, myths, tall tales, folk tales, and fairy tales have all been passed down for ages, by word of mouth, from grandparents to parents to children, since before time began. Stories always have a part in Winterlude, and reading, writing, and telling stories is a component of every grade at Oak Lane, but our immersion in the world of Long Ago Stories has been unique. Walk into any classroom, and you’ll find piles of story books made up of stories from long ago, and universal tales that have been told to children as the wisdom of the ages is passed down. We were fortunate that renowned Native American storyteller, Dovey Thomason, was available for a captivating assembly that inspired many conversations and imitations of her dramatic style.

Winterlude culminates in the Winter Concert, a celebration in the performing arts of each year’s theme. Over the years, Marlis has often created a concert around a story, and that seemed like a natural for this year, but instead of looking for an existing story, we decided to create (or at least adapt) our own. Since we only had two weeks to create this story, plus a week to rehearse it, we started with an existing book, The Spyglass.

Just before Thanksgiving, the faculty introduced this story in a reader’s theater style performance, and then boiled it down to its essence: a place has fallen on hard times; someone shows up with a spyglass that will show the possibility of how things could change and gives that spyglass to another who will inspire people to make that change. We liked the wisdom of this story, about having a vision of making the world a better place, and then going out and working to make it so. The teachers set some basic guidelines for their class’ part of the story. The Kindergarten and 1st grade would create a part of the story where the spyglass inspires people to clean up a polluted place. Sherry’s 4th/5th grade class would set the mood for the beginning, and the celebration at the end. The 2nd/3rd Graders imagine the spyglass helping to settle an argument over whether the people should plant a garden or build a playground, and the preschoolers bring the flowers.

Each class imagined and discussed, drew pictures, read stories, and came up with ideas for their part of the story. By the beginning of last week, ideas were presented to Marlis, the 6th graders and I, and we got to work on the task of taking what the younger students had decided for their parts of the story, stitching them together into a coherent story, and then creating a concert around those ideas. When it became clear to the 6th graders that the setting of the original story (a king in a run down castle) had been abandoned for a more contemporary setting, the 6th graders had to come up with a new setting, and a new main character after they decided that it would be a better lesson in this story if it was a more ordinary person who could change the world.

After several discussions about who would have this spyglass in a world more like ours, they decided that it would be a kid. That was nothing compared to the challenge the Kindergarten and 1st Grade presented when they wanted a talking chipmunk in their part of the story! Then there was nothing left to do but write, rewrite, read aloud, figure out what else was missing, revise, revise and revise some more. In almost every class, discussions led to a list of ideas, and then that list got boiled down to two ideas, with the class evenly split between the two. The lessons of the stories were remembered, and in each class, a new idea was born, the combination of the two ideas: a forest in the city, a playground in the garden, and so on.

Once again, Winterlude gave the Oak Lane community a chance to learn together across grades, and to share a common purpose for these three weeks, and to strengthen skills of collaboration, problem solving, listening, and imagining.

-- Martha Platt, 6th Grade Teacher & Winterlude Committee Chair --

WINTERLUDE Themes Through the Years:
2008 STORIES
2007 BREAD
2006 RHYTHM
2005 DWELLINGS
2004 PHILADELPHIA
2003 FLIGHT
2002 TREES
2001 BRIDGES
2000 HOLIDAYS
1999 TIME
1998 COMMUNITY