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For the Lower School Theater Arts Festival, the fifth graders performed scenes from “Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass.”
Opening Message
Happy Summer
Brendan Largay, Head of School
Post Date: June 10, 2022
These are exciting days here at Belmont Day as we are in the flurry of celebrations and traditions that will close out the school year. It will be exciting to experience an in-person Moving Up Assembly where we marvel at our students’ physical and academic growth. Teachers have been hard at work drafting final student reports that will serve as the closing punctuation for each learner this year. Soon enough, they will be available for you to read and reflect on your child’s growth and progress over the semester.
I encourage you to take a close look at your child’s school photo that appears on the cover of their report. Many of you may find yourself looking rather wistfully at that photo that is a reminder of ‘how young’ they once were. Especially during these formative elementary and middle school years, a single year can bring extraordinary growth.
Alongside the physical evidence of the changes students have experienced, our reports explicate the learning they have experienced. The change between now and then is rooted in the excellence of the program they have experienced in the interim. It is the byproduct of classes spent in the BDS garden, Singapore math, PE classes in the Barn, or learning how to play violin during ensembles. It is the novel they read, the poem they wrote, the quiz they took, the language they learned, and the lines they memorized. It is the vowel sound they learned or the letter they’ve written. It is a heartbreaking loss under the lights or a thrilling overtime win.
The difference in your child today from that picture on their report is also shaped by the relationships they have crafted since those early fall days—relationships with classmates, teachers, and a school that strives to make six core values visible to each student every day and inspire those values within them. What you see is the development of respect, honesty, responsibility, caring, and joy. What you see there is the excellence that comes with another year gone by at Belmont Day.
From all of us at Belmont Day—the very folks responsible for some of the changes you see in your child today and for the reports you will read—we wish you a happy, healthy, joyful, and wonderful summer.
Upcoming Events
Coming Up This Week
Monthly Calendar
The 2022 Yearbooks Are Here!
All students who ordered a yearbook will receive them on Tuesday of next week. Students who will not be in school next week will receive their copies before they leave.
We have a limited number of extra copies that will be available for purchase next Tuesday during Moving Up Day. Copies are $10 each. Please contact Elisabeth Klock if you would like to reserve one or if you have any questions.
Thank you to the students and faculty who worked on the yearbook!


Moving Up Assembly
Tuesday, June 14
11:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.
Barn Gym
Please join us on the last day of school for Moving Up Assembly, a beloved BDS tradition. Each student will be acknowledged by name and welcomed by the teachers who will be teaching them next year. For our eighth graders, this is a symbolic “moving up,” recognizing that they will move on to high school in the fall. Pre-kindergarten students will present their eighth grade partners with a small gift—a handmade paper flower.
Moving Up is a chance to cherish the community we have been for the past year and contemplate the community we will become in September. We hope to see you there.
Lunch & Snack Menu
June 13 to June 17
Monday
Snack: apple slices; assorted snacks
Lunch: Picnic Lunch for all grades: pizza; Sunbutter and jelly sandwiches; popsicles; fruit; milk and water
Tuesday
Last Day of School
Moving Up Assembly
Snack: assorted snacks
Faculty Lunch
Wednesday
Graduation Day
Faculty Lunch
Thursday
Closing Meetings
Faculty Lunch
Friday
Closing Meetings
Faculty Lunch
BDS News
COMMUNITY NEWS
Next Schools for the Class of 2022
Congratulations to our eighth grade class on their recent decisions on which high schools they will attend in the fall. We’re proud of every student for the journey they’ve taken to reach this milestone in their education. While the decision may be that of the individual students, getting successfully to this moment is always an achievement for the community—parents, families, friends, faculty members, mentors, and coaches. We look forward to celebrating the Class of 2022 and all who guided them in the days ahead. Use the dropdown below to see the full list of high schools.
High School Placement
- Beaver Country Day
- Belmont High School (2)
- Boston Arts Academy
- Boston College High School
- Boston University Academy
- Brimmer and May School (2)
- Brooks School (2)
- Buckingham Browne and Nichols
- Cambridge Rindge and Latin School (4)
- Cambridge School of Weston (2)
- Catholic Memorial High School
- Chapel Hill Chauncy Hall
- Commonwealth School (3)
- Concord Academy (6)
- Dana Hall School
- Gann Academy
- Groton School
- Kimball Union Academy
- Middlesex School
- Noble and Greenough School
- Northfield Mount Hermon
- Phillips Andover Academy
- Pike School
- Somerville High School
- Ursuline Academy
- Winchester High School
BUSINESS OFFICE NEWS
2022-2023 Tuition Payments Are Due July 1
While we are all looking forward to summer break with great anticipation, parents are reminded that tuition payments for the 2022-2023 school year are due by July 1 for families who elected the Single Payment Plan and the Two Payment (60%/40%) Payment Plan. For families who elected the Ten Payment Plan, the third payment is also due on July 1.
Please check your account for any outstanding balances from the current school year. Some families still have balances due for the after school program and other incidental charges.
Tuition invoices and any invoices for incidentals can be reviewed and payments made by logging in to the Parent Portal and clicking on the “Invoices and Payments” button in the top right corner of the portal. Be sure to log in soon. For those who are enrolled in autopay, the payments will be drawn from your bank account on July 1. For everyone else, you can make an online payment through the parent portal, or you can mail a check to the school at 55 Day School Lane, Belmont, MA 02478, and mark it to the attention of the business office.
Please contact the business office team if you have any questions about your bill. We look forward to seeing everyone in the fall!
– Fred Colson, director of finance
COVID UPDATES
Weekly COVID Testing Results
We have completed our last round of weekly PCR testing of the school year.
Since our last report, seven people have tested positive for COVID-19 through outside or home tests—4 students and 3 faculty members.
In this week’s in-school PCR testing, two pools returned presumptive positive results. One student pool has identified an individual with a positive test through rapid testing. One adult pool was rapid tested at school, and all returned negative results. We received confirmatory individual PCR results for these two pools that indicate 2 additional positive cases.
Also, CIC Health, which administers our testing program has provided us with a Testing Impact Report with our statistics from October to May of the 2021-22 school year. Those results are detailed in the accompanying image.
Let us know if you have any questions or concerns at covidresponse@belmontday.org. We are grateful for your partnership this year and wish you all a healthy, joyful summer!
– COVID Response Team
HEALTH NEWS
Student Medication Pick Up
If your student has any medication at school, such as Epipens, inhalers, and daily medications, please come into the nurses’ office to collect it next week.
Nurse LaRocque and Nurse Azzone will be available in the office to return medication at drop-off and pick-up times on Monday, June 13, and Tuesday, June 14, and before and after graduation on Wednesday, June 15.
Parents must pick up medication—we cannot send it home with students. By law, we need to dispose of any medication remaining after the close of school—it cannot be held over for next year.
Thanks so much for your help with this.
– Liz LaRocque and Dario Azzone, nursing team
Learning Updates
From Maine to Hawaii: The Third Grade State Fair Shines Across the USA
Third graders celebrated the State Fair on Tuesday to a packed house of families and faculty. The fair is a beloved annual event in which students showcase their learning from the past two months of state research. The students took turns proudly sharing in a short speech a few interesting facts about their state and something important they discovered about themselves as learners.
On display were their written reports, relief maps of their states, graphs of the area of natural parks, promotional designs created in art class, flags and flag stands designed in woodworking, and models of their state animals. Some students even came in costumes that represented their state! It was a morning filled with pride, demonstrating the dedication, focus, and new skills the third graders developed this spring.
– Larissa Rochford ’93, Leigh Twarog, and Carlyn Simons, third grade teaching team


Parents’ Association News

2022-2023 Committees
What a year! The committees of the parents’ association have accomplished so much, from gathering our community for a fun and successful pumpkin sale to organizing our first hybrid online and in-person book fair. They have also supported and expressed our gratitude to the faculty with food, flowers, notes, and videos. The PA committees begin to meet in August to plan for the upcoming school year. If you are interested in participating on a committee or serving as a co-chair, please email bdspa@belmontday.org.
Friendraiser
Let’s keep walking! The Friendraiser Committee invites returning families with new students to join us to walk this summer. This will give new families a chance to meet one another and ask questions about our community—and for returning families with new students to share their knowledge about the school. Mark your calendar for these events on June 29 at 10 a.m. and August 23 at 10 a.m. Meet at the grass circle in front of the Schoolhouse.
Beyond BDS
CLASSICAL CONCERT
BDS Musicians to Perform with Conservatory
The New England Conservatory is presenting its annual Preparatory String Orchestra concert tomorrow, Saturday afternoon, June 11, and three Belmont Day students will take part in this prestigious event. Third grader Clara Min (cello, featured soloist), fifth grader Emily Chen (violin), and sixth grader Jovana Zivanovic (violin) will all perform.
The concert repertoire will include:
- Vivaldi, “Concerto in g minor for Two Cellos, Allegro”
- Bach, “Art of the Fugue, Contrapunctus III”
- Holst, “Brook Green Suite, Prelude, Air”
- Le Chevalier de St. George, “Sinfonia in D Major, Allegro presto”
The event is free and will also be live-streamed. Click here for more information on tickets and live-streaming.
