Poly Prep Country Day School

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Polytechnic Preparatory Country Day School
Established	1854
Type	Private
Headmaster	Dr. David B. Harman
Faculty	150
Students	975
Grades	N-12
Location	9216 Seventh Avenue, Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, New York 11209
Accreditation	NYSAIS
Campus	26 acres
Colors	Blue & Grey
Mascot	Blue Devil
Yearbook	The Polyglot
Newspaper	The Polygon
Website	http://www.polyprep.org/
The clock tower atop the main building

1 History
2 Becoming a Country Day School
3 Changing Times—the 1970s to Today
4 Arts
5 Athletics
6 Student Life
7 External links

[edit] History

In 1854, the Brooklyn Collegiate and Polytechnic Institute, the first school for boys in the City of Brooklyn], opened its doors at 99 Livingston Street in Brooklyn Heights. "The Poly", as it soon became known, offered an academic program designed to rival those at the most prestigious boarding schools of the time. However, the school intended its boys to remain "surrounded by all the saving influences of home and the family circle."

Poly's first trustees promised a program offering excellence "in all those studies and attainments that can enlarge the understanding, develop the mental action, cultivate the mind, and beautify and adorn the intellect and the heart." These original ideals—respect for academic rigor and for the bonds of family and community—inform the school to this day.

Over the next thirty-five years, the school flourished, with its rigorous college preparatory program drawing students from all over Brooklyn and New York. Students in the upper grades were engaged in a full course of college-level studies, and it eventually became clear that the preparatory school and the collegiate division should be separated. In 1891, the construction of a new building next door provided a home for the college, to be known as the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn.

The Polytechnic Preparatory Institute continued to thrive at 99 Livingston Street, and by the mid-1890s was one of the largest prep schools in the country, with over six hundred students. Now independent from the college, Poly Prep students took a more active role in shaping the school for themselves, creating a newspaper, a dramatic society, and a debating club, and urging the school administration to provide more opportunities for athletics.

[edit] Becoming a Country Day School

The headmaster at the time, Dr. Francis Lane, supported the students and encouraged attention to physical activity as a critical part of the students' education and development. In 1905, the school purchased a plot of land between Ocean Parkway and Gravesend Avenue for use as athletic fields. The students traveled there on the Culver Line Elevated (now the F train) at the end of the academic day.

Dr. Lane believed that the inclusion of physical education had broad benefits. Of the new program he wrote, "In addition to the sounder bodies and surer morals that naturally attend properly regulated athletics, the school has been able to secure a more consistent scholarship and a finer esprit de corps, and to give wider opportunity for development in leadership and in practical experience."

Lane's vision expanded with the rise of the country day school around the country. In keeping with the mission of the school's founders, Lane argued that the school could best provide for its students by offering a full program of academics, arts, and athletics—in a campus setting.

In 1916, a twenty-five-acre parcel of land, formerly the Dyker Meadow Golf Course, was offered to the trustees. On July 1 of that year, the Polytechnic Preparatory Country Day School was incorporated.

Construction at the new site was still underway as 350 students arrived to begin classes in the fall of 1917. They quickly became accustomed to staying on after school, engaged in the wide range of activities that continue to make up the country day school experience today.

[edit] Changing Times—the 1970s to Today

Under the leadership of Headmaster William M. Williams, Poly Prep began the transition to coeducation in the mid-1970s, graduating its first class of girls and boys in 1979. The headmaster and trustees believed that young people must be educated in an environment that reflects the make-up of the world around them. Admitting girls was just the first step in creating the diverse student body that is Poly Prep today.

Poly Prep expanded dramatically in 1995 with the acquisition of the historic Woodward Park School (or, as it's sometimes known, "The Castle") on Prospect Park West in Park Slope. Renamed Poly Prep Lower School, this second campus provides an intimate, nurturing, and academically stimulating early childhood experience for Nursery through Grade 4 students. Fully prepared for Middle School, children move on to "big Poly" in the Grade 5.

[edit] Arts

From the Early Childhood Division through the Upper School, the Arts Program encourages students to explore the creative process and express themselves through a variety of art forms. Beginning in the Lower School, children work with professional artists — their dance, drama, visual art, and music teachers—learning the language and fundamental skills required in each artistic discipline. In Grades 5 and 6, all students take dance, drama, music, and visual arts classes in their arts core rotation. Beginning in Grade 7 and continuing through the Upper School, students choose their arts classes from leveled electives. There are also independent study options for students who wish to pursue a particular discipline beyond the scope and sequence of courses currently offered.

After school, students may choose to become involved with theater productions — both onstage and behind the scenes — to join one of several singing groups, or to be part of the band or smaller instrumental ensembles.

[edit] Athletics

The tennis courts at Poly

The goal of Poly Prep's Athletics Program is to promote character, confidence, self-esteem, and mental and physical health in all Poly Prep students. The Athletics Program begins in the Early Childhood and Middle School Divisions, where students learn about fairness and sportsmanship through a variety of games and through the introduction of basic skills. As they move through the program, students learn about their own physical fitness, setting personal goals and establishing healthy conditioning levels that they hope they will maintain throughout their lives.

At the Bay Ridge campus, the Jordan Center for Fitness and Dance is a key part of the program. Here, the physical education staff helps boys and girls increase and maintain their physical fitness using state-of-the-art cardiovascular and weight training equipment. The personal attention of the physical education staff and coaches help young people develop a sense of confidence.

Poly's extensive facilities also include squash and tennis courts, an indoor pool and field house, a track, and playing fields for soccer, softball, football, and lacrosse. Poly students can participate in any of the sixteen sports currently offered, including cross-country, football, basketball, baseball, soccer, volleyball, track, wrestling, lacrosse, softball, track and field, golf, squash, tennis, and swimming. In all sports, coaches teach and reinforce the values of the school, requiring commitment, loyalty, self-discipline, and integrity of all players.

[edit] Student Life

A view of the library

First-time visitors to Poly are always pleasantly surprised by the beauty and scale of the Middle and Upper School campus. Poly students and families will tell you about the spaces at Poly: the studios and fields, the oval, the Quad, the library, and the ponds.

At Poly, students constantly stretch the boundaries of their academic, artistic, cultural, social, and athletic worlds. Academics, arts, extracurriculars, and athletics coexist and coincide. A Poly student might dance in the morning, run Student Senate meetings at mid-day, debate or sing in an afternoon class, and play soccer on the back field after school.