Trevor's History

List of 17 items.

• 1930

  Trevor Day School’s proud history began in 1930, on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, where Nursery and Kindergarten students formed the student body of The Day School of the Church of the Heavenly Rest. 

• 1933

  The Day School soon expanded enrollment through 2nd grade, grew facilities, and developed its unique approach to education. Nearly 50 children were enrolled by 1933.

• 1965

  The Day School of the Church of the Heavenly Rest purchases 1 East 92nd Street (formerly the Trent School) and enrollment expands to 250 students.

• 1969

  The Day School became independent from The Church of the Heavenly Rest. The Day School was committed not only to academic growth and achievement, but also to children’s social and emotional development. From this foundation grew the tenets of Trevor: collaboration, meaningful teacher-student relationships, and active learning—with students at the center.

• 1970

  The school’s first 8th-grade class graduated in 1970.

• 1978

  In the late 1970s, the first iteration of Trevor’s signature common spaces took form when basement walls were knocked down to create a more flexible and collaborative learning space.

• 1980

  MiniTerm was introduced.

• 1982

  Committed to innovation and the meaningful integration of technology into the curriculum, The Day School first introduced computers to the classroom in 1982. 

• 1991

  As a part of Trevor's rich heritage, the Walden School merged with New Lincoln School in 1988, and the New Walden Lincoln School then merged with The Day School in 1991. In that same year, the Goodman Building at 1 West 88th Street was acquired, allowing for an expansion of The Day School through 12th grade. This building is named for Andrew Goodman, the civil rights activist who, in 1964, was murdered alongside James Chaney and Michael Schwerner, while registering African-American voters in Mississippi. Their deaths inspired support for the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

• 1990s

  Trevor’s adaptation of the parent-teacher conference, called the family conference, was developed in the 1990s, giving students an active voice with which to celebrate achievements, identify challenges, and chart goals within their educational trajectory. 

• 1996

  With a steady eye on the future, Trevor led many of its independent school peers as a pioneering one-to-one laptop school in 1996. Trevor remains at the forefront of technology, incorporating cutting edge computer science curriculum and makerspaces across the grades levels.

• 1997

  In 1997, the Board of Trustees voted to rename The Day School in honor of the leadership and dedication of Paul Trevor, an early Board President. The Trevor Day School era had begun.

• 2011

  To innovate and grow for its student body, Trevor began construction of a new Middle and Upper School campus in 2011.

• 2015

  Trevor opened its state-of-the-art, LEED Gold, 105,000 square foot Middle & Upper School building on East 95th Street in 2015 and the Lower School relocated to the renovated Goodman Building on West 88th Street. Both of these buildings were designed to advance the Trevor mission and offer students exceptional academic, athletic, arts, and collaborative spaces.

• 2020

  Trevor celebrated its 90th Anniversary on March 5, 2020, and later that month an unprecedented pandemic shut down schools. Trevor pivoted to an effective remote learning model in less than two weeks. 

• 2022

  Trevor launched a suite of signature programs: Global Studies, Health & Wellness, and an Environmental Studies Concentration.

• 2023

  Trevor welcomed Class of 1984 alumnus, Daniel Feigin, as the institution’s sixth Head of School.