Holidays and Birthdays
Holidays
At Great Hearts Irving, our students work diligently in pursuit of what is good, beautiful, and true. Our course of study is rich and rigorous and demands our students spend every minute of the school day working toward the highest goods while they are here with their teachers and classmates.
Popular holidays like Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Halloween, and Christmas can be divisive. That said, festivals have an important role in any community. As a result, at Great Hearts Irving, instead of holidays, we choose to celebrate what we are learning about. In each grade level, celebrations occur throughout the year at the culmination of certain units of study. Celebrations like Community Helpers, Animal Kingdom, Dinosaurs, Ancient Rome, Texas History, and Renaissance Festival have become traditional over the years, and our students look forward to them eagerly each year. Teachers communicate in advance about when these celebrations occur so that parents can see when there may be opportunities for students to wear a themed costume to school or for parents to volunteer on campus and help out with these fun and exciting days.
For more on our curriculum celebrations, including tentative dates for this school year, visit greatheartsirving.org/celebrations.
Student Birthdays
For the same reasons that we refrain from hosting holiday parties, we also do not celebrate student birthdays during the school day. While grade levels and classrooms may have their own traditions for acknowledging students on their birthday, we ask that families refrain from sending in treats, cards, goodie bags, trinkets, food, or other favors for birthdays or other special occasions.
We do encourage donating a beautiful book to our school library from our Amazon Wish List in honor of your child’s birthday. To access the most up-to-date list, visit greatheartsirving.org/wishlist.