Events and Traditions
An IDEAL Year
Highlights from an IDEAL school year
September
Starting Strong
The first student assemblies begin in week one with the Upper and Lower School convocations. Head of School Janet Wolfe officially kicks off the new school year with a discussion of the school’s unique mission and a Word of the Year. Division Heads share their own wisdom, hopes, and dreams for the new year, and students and faculty members sing the school song together, a tradition that closes all major school events. Monthly Lower School Friday assemblies and the weekly Upper School Pioneer Period begin. Back-to-School Night welcomes parents to meet their students' teachers and begin an ongoing conversation about curriculum, expectations, and plans for the year.
October
Getting Into the Spirit
October brings the first Spirit Week with fun, dress-down days devised by Student Council. In academics, all Lower School students present a history lesson about themselves and their families at the Identity Museum. Eighth graders enjoy their highly-anticipated overnight adventure at Frost Valley YMCA. Upper School dances begin, and fifth and eighth graders get a sneak peek of their next division. IDEAL's annual in-person open house welcomes potential families to meet our full faculty and staff, who engage children in activities while their parents learn about the school's mission and curriculum.
November
The Giving Season
November brings the giving season and IDEAL students' favorite sports season – basketball. The APEX after-school athletics program offers students a variety of options to join an inclusive team, from co-ed, club-level teams to league teams. IDEAL's Middle and High School boys teams both won their championships in 2024-25. Leading into the Thanksgiving holiday break, the whole school gathers for the Harvest Festival, and Giving Tuesday follows with a day of service learning.
December
Winter Wonder
In December, members of the after-school drama troupe perform their fall play, which they rehearse for most of the school year. The two most recent IDEAL plays were Law & Order: Fairy Tale Division and The Epic Adventure of Guard 2 and Guard 1. As the calendar year comes to a close, all music students take to the stage at the Peace and Light Ceremony, for an extended set of performances. Lower School classes and Upper School advisories also present their Peace Pledges to the Head of School, hoping to follow through on their promises to create a more peaceable school culture and win the IDEAL Peace Prize at the Moving Up Ceremony at the end of the school year.
January
Service and Learning
After a two-week winter break, students return relaxed and refreshed for the second semester, which begins in early January. Upper School students work on their Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service projects and their Black Heritage Month door decorations, hoping to win a divisional prize. Auditions and rehearsals for the spring musical begin, and IDEAL alumni get together before everyone gets back to work in their college or postsecondary program, postgraduate program, or their jobs.
February
Showcasing Science and Black History
In February, Lower and Middle School students showcase their research and presentation skills at the Lower and Middle School Science Expos. In 2024-25, the students completed projects on topics including space, land formations, natural disasters, New York Harbor, oysters, and parenting personality types. Dr. Antoinette Bush, a veterinarian and teacher, was the keynote speaker at the Middle School assembly. At the end of the month, Upper School students vote for their favorite Black Heritage Month door decorations, based on the theme they selected earlier, which in 2025 was changemaking Black women in literature, business, entertainment, athletics, and politics. Lower School celebrated Black culture through music, storytelling, and activism.
March
Living History
Lower School hosts two special Friday assemblies in March, Women's History Month and World Down Syndrome Day. For IDEAL seniors, it's a chance to walk in the footsteps of history with their capstone Civil Rights Journey, which, over several days, takes them to sites that reflect their work and deepens their understanding of the leaders and events they’ve studied. Past trips have included Washington, DC, Atlanta, and Birmingham. Walking across the Edmund Pettus Bridge and visiting Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthplace are powerful highlights that inspire students to see themselves as future change-makers.
Outside of the classroom, it's time for IDEAL's biggest and showiest fundraiser, the Annual Gala. In 2025, IDEAL honored four individuals who are outstanding in the field of inclusion: Tracy Nixon and Jane Providenti from GiGi's Playhouse NYC, Mindy Scheier, the founder of Runway of Dreams, and Alex Reznik, the founder of Complete Playground. The 2025-26 school year marks IDEAL's 20th anniversary, and co-founders Michelle Smith and Audra Zuckerman will lead the Gala, honoring 20 people who have contributed to the school’s success.
April
Spring Fling
While the musical production won't be on stage until early May, the actors and musicians have been working on their parts since January, and the art students are putting the final stitches into the costumes and coloring the background illustrations throughout April. Lower School celebrates Earth Day with the annual Earthfest assembly, which includes a dramatic reading of The Great Kapok Tree by fourth grade students bedecked in animal- and plant-inspired artwork.
May
Show Your Work
In the busy month of May, students present their final work on a school year's worth of research, writing, and project construction at the Civil Rights Museum. Building on the tradition, the Civil Rights Community Day brings in keynote speakers and scholars-in-residence to broaden the educational palette. In 2025, IDEAL was honored to host Emmy Award-winning journalist Cheryl Wills (pictured above) and her brother, cartoonist Clarence “Big Boy” Wills, for a reading for Lower School students, live cartooning, and an inspiring keynote address. Upper School students also shared their work, including several in a small setting that Ms. Wills captured on video. She ended her New York Tonight broadcast with a segment where students presented and discussed their work with her.
Also falling in May are the Middle School and Grade 5 Mixer, the second Spirit Week, the Eighth Grade Trip, Field Day, and Grandparents and Special Friends Day.
June
An End, and a New Beginning
In June, IDEAL celebrates the accomplishments of all our students and supports them in their next steps, whether that is up a grade or division, or on to college or a postsecondary program. Events include the Fifth Grade Moving Up Assembly, the Eighth Grade and Senior Dinners, the Next Steps Family Luncheon, and the Moving Up and Graduation Ceremonies on the last two days of school. ArtBeat, the all-school visual and performing arts showcase, and Senior Week, full of different activities for the graduating class, also fall in June.