St Thomas Choir School

202 West 58th Street

New York, NY 10019

12 Reviews

School District
Grade

3-8
Type

private

Find Homes for Sale in this School Zone

Reviews

Submitted by parent on July 13, 2019

Best thing that's ever happened to my son and I, hands down. STCS is beyond a great school. It's a way of life. It's an opportunity that just can't be passed up. My son is getting top of the line education in both music and academics, AND is being helped to mold his character into the utmost kind, intelligent and proper way possible. I don't know what I'd do without Saint Thomas Choir School in our lives, to be honest. It's been a complete BLESSING. Thank you so much to all the faculty and staff there constantly making sure my boy has the best life and education while at school, every single day. Love, Sara. Parent of a 5th grader (started in 3rd grade).
Submitted by parent on February 05, 2019

St. Thomas Choir School is exceptional! We are very impressed with the education our son is receiving there. It is a wonderfully nurturing school environment, that is academically rigorous and prepares them well for high school. The expectations of student performance in Math, English, Science & Technology and Language is high, and there are built-in supports to ensure students meet those expectations. Additionally, the music education is like no other school. -All boys have private voice and instrumental lessons in addition to group choir rehearsals. Daily practice and study hall is built into the schedule. All boys play sports and those in grades 5 and up participate on the school sports teams that compete with the local private schools. Parent communication is excellent! Our son is thriving at St. Thomas and we are so happy that he is part of this unique school community.
Submitted by parent on April 24, 2018

There is nothing at the St Thomas Choir School that is not first class, and that includes the musical training, the academics, the athletics, and the development of character. The teachers and staff are wonderful, and the location of the school in New York affords many cultural advantages. We cannot speak highly enough of our son's experience at STCS.
Submitted by parent on April 04, 2018

St. Thomas is a very special school, not only musically, but as an incredible life experience. When we were considering the school, we did deep research. The choir world is a small one; if there was anything to find, we would have found it. We didn't. Our son started this year, and we could not be happier. Be impressed by the singing and the academics, which are world-class, but St. Thomas offers something even more impressive: a rare opportunity for young boys to do something that matters deeply to others and is important in the larger world. The boys develop a poise, confidence, and deep sense of responsibility difficult to find elsewhere and important to future success. Still, they are given ample space to just be kids with ski trips, hide and seek games that cover 4 floors, camp, and snow days in Central Park. It's an incredible foundation for life. As parents, we feel warmly welcomed as part of the school community, and consider this a journey our whole family is undertaking. We are extremely happy we are.
Submitted by parent on October 11, 2017

Our son recently graduated from this school and we cannot recommend it highly enough. Our son had an amazing journey throughout; a journey that equipped him with all the tools necessary to be successful in life. Its important to remember that it is a choir school: it exists to educate and train young musicians to be members of the most elite men and boys choir in the United States. As such, the boys learn what it means to be a true professional at a young age. They learn teamwork, time-management skills, focus, independence, determination, and the value of good work-ethic; skills that will serve them throughout their lives whether they become musicians or not. In addition to the music, the boys are given a first-class education. With a student-to-teacher ratio of just 3:1, there's time available for individual attention. NYC becomes their classroom, with visits to museums and quality cultural experiences. While the school is situated in the midst of busy NYC, the building itself is quiet and calm. We never doubted that our son was safe. The all-organic menu is healthy and delicious. Athletics are accommodated in a newly renovated gym and in Central Park. What makes all of this possible is the school's strong leadership. The headmaster puts all of his efforts into creating an environment in which the boys can be nurtured. While the headmaster can seem elusive to parents at times, we learned that this is simply because he is focused on the boys' welfare and education. I would rather a headmaster focus on my son's wellbeing than on devoting time to handling extraneous parental inquiries. There's no doubt that the school embodies a traditional English boarding school ethos. However, it manages to be a warm, inviting and modern experience. As for bullying, we saw no evidence of this in 6 years. In fact, this was a primary concern for my family when we applied. Our son is a sensitive boy, and he graduated with the the same qualities with which he enrolled, only more confident and independent, and well-equipped for the next steps in his life. He had multiple scholarship offers from top-ranked high schools. A recent class with 3 graduating boys garnered over $1,000,000 in scholarship offers. Boys from Saint Thomas go on to diverse careers. Some have attend the Naval and Air Force Academies while others go on to careers in a variety of fields. Our son toured the United States and Europe as a part of an elite musical ensemble. He was blessed to have the Saint Thomas Choir School experience and we can recommend it without reservation to anyone that applies. Personally, I don't know why the school isn't flooded with applications if for no other reason that a boy can receive a $100,000 education per year for a mere fraction of that cost.
Submitted by parent on September 20, 2017

My family has been very happy at Saint Thomas. The boys develop amazing skills academically, socially and musically. The staff and faculty have shown warmth, compassion and tremendous extra effort on students' behalf. I cannot recommend it highly enough.
Submitted by parent on September 17, 2017

My overall experience at St. Thomas has been excellent.
Submitted by parent on August 15, 2017

My son recently graduated and cannot recommend this school in the shape it is in now. I agree with the reviewer who suggested that you do deep, very deep research before sending your young son to live here. The school is desperately trying to get new kids, but there are some uncomfortable problems, including inappropriate behavior that is not addressed by the headmaster, even when evidence is brought to him, bullying, homesickness, favoritism, small class sizes (the recent graduating class had three kids, several classes have had three kids and one current class has one kid), no on-staff counselor or trained reporter to prevent and watch for inappropriate behavior, the moody headmaster who many kids are scared of, no PTA, and so many more things. There is not much diversity, with two entire grades having not even one white or black kid. If your seven or eight or nine year old boy likes to sing, he may be safer and happier at home singing in a city or school choir rather than living away from you at a place like St. Thomas Choir School.
Submitted by other on April 27, 2017

I have been a parishioner of St. Thomas for 11 years and I have been consistently amazed over the years at caliber of boys coming out of this school. Almost without exception, they are hard-working, respectful, and tremendously talented.Given its unique nature, the school allows the boys to develop skillsets that just aren't available anywhere else. When they graduate, they will generally go on to top tier secondary and post-secondary schools. Further, many alumni return year after year because of their lasting fondness of the institution.
Submitted by parent on April 18, 2017

It is a Very gifted and extraordinary school
Submitted by other on November 30, 2016

If you have a boy who loves to sing, there are many safer, happier places for him to be than Saint Thomas Choir School. The school is in the midst of a publicity campaign with placement in The New York Times, The New Yorker and some local news, but none of the publicity changes that the school and the choir, which operate separately from each other, are both extremely dysfunctional. The school has maybe 23 kids in it at this point. You would not know this from visiting the website and looking at pictures because the school uses old photographs of when it was larger and more diverse to hide how small it has become. There is a grade with one child, there is a grade with three children and grades with four kids and others with five kids. There are grades that have no american kids in them (the school is made up heavily of children from Korea whose parents do not speak English). In the old days, grades had 10 to 18 kids in them. But because of unusual things that have gone on at both the school and in the choir, good boys from good middle class families have left midyear and over the summer to sing in other choirs..
Submitted by other on January 28, 2014

Research deeply and ask a lot of questions before thinking about sending a boy here. The administration is filled with people who don't know education (never studied it, nor have they taught) and who are only interested in hiring teachers who will "tow the party line." The teachers are given no training or professional development and are hired straight out of college and without backgrounds in education. The turnover off faculty and staff is astounding. Don't be fooled by the beautiful singing and the promises of the best high schools, it's not worth it.