In this promotional open‑house video, a speaker outlines Charlotte Country Day School’s educational philosophy and program offerings. The talk emphasizes a balanced curriculum that equally values moral, character, and academic development, highlighting the school’s rigorous science and makerspace initiatives that begin in lower school and continue through upper‑school university‑level courses such as organic chemistry and research labs. The speaker cites the school’s 100% college‑going rate, the prestige of the Moorhead‑Kane Scholarship (awarded to students five of the last six years), and daily physical‑education, language instruction (Spanish and French), art, and social‑emotional guidance as pillars of a well‑rounded education. Personal anecdotes about a lower‑school bird‑walk and the “magic” junior‑kindergarten year illustrate the nurturing environment. The overall message is that Country Day prepares students to be creative, empathetic, resilient leaders for the 21st‑century world.
Chapters
We all strive to be part of something bigger. Excellence in education unlocks that opportunity. Not only for today's children, but the children of tomorrow. Country Day education opportunities. Inspiring future leaders. Supporting. Educating. And nurturing generations to come. Our children leave here absolutely prepared for their next academic step. When 100% of your students go off to college and to, quite frankly, some of the best colleges in the country and in the world, and they are successful because they know how to study, they're confident in their academic abilities and thrive. The first thing you're going to notice when you visit Country Day is the balance of the program. So you're going to experience a curriculum that places equal emphasis on moral development, on character development, and also academic development. And we understand as a school that all 3 go hand in hand. The science programming that we have at Country Day begins in the lower school, and it's integrated, particularly in terms of the skills that we teach the students. Lower school prepares them, gets them thinking about the scientific method. In the upper school, we have experts in their field. We teach a huge variety of classes. Many of our courses actually are university-level classes. And they get experiences which are, I think, unique to the area, particularly in terms of offerings such as organic chemistry and our research classes, which you won't find anywhere else. Our objective is to prepare our students to be successful in an ever-changing world, and in order to do that, we need to help mold students to be creative, to be empathetic, to be resilient. So those skills that have always been important are especially important as we prepare our students to be successful in the 21st century. They love to do this. They want to build and they want to design. By it being open-ended and not telling children this is what we're going to make or showing them a model, it enables that child to be able to have their imagination run wild. Anybody remember what that is? It's the first one we heard. Yes? The American crow. The American crow. At the lower school, I do this bird walk each year, but I really look forward to it. We take them around the campus and open them up to the sounds of birds, and they really enjoy it. When we were looking at different schools, I wanted to find the school that provided the tools that kids would need as they transition through different stages of the educational process, and had to really be a school that provided that academic rigor and demanded academic excellence. And Country Day fit that mold perfectly. And we were really impressed by the investments that they were putting into the math and science and makerspace, and we felt like it was a great progression that our children would grow with the school into the 21st century. Now, the Moorhead-Kane Foundation and the Moorhead-Kane Scholarship is one of the most prestigious scholarships in the country, and to have students recognized and offered Moorhead-Kane Scholarships 5 out of the last 6 years At a place like this, we all expect that our children will get great educations. For us, we're interested in what really, you know, builds character and makes and shapes a whole person. When we looked at Country Day, we saw there's such a focus on empathy and teaching your children to be critical thinkers and problem solvers and embracing other people's opinions and learning to listen with respect. We just don't come on a field trip. This is important work that we're doing. Forward city street driving. What does that look like? We're extremely fortunate to have PE every day, junior kindergarten through 4th grade, to really build and establish the value of physical activity as just a part of their everyday life. You know, whether it's Spanish instruction at the youngest grades, Spanish and French as they go on later into lower school, science class, art class, daily PE, social-emotional support through our guidance program, you know, our youngest students are having these strong foundations built that are helping prepare them for what lies ahead. I think of balance when I think of Country Day. I think of well-rounded. For us, JK was a magic year. This is a school where a child will be known, where they'll be loved, where they'll be challenged, where they will be inspired. Country Day! Country Day ready! Country Day ready! Country Day ready! Now and always! Now and always!
