FAQ
Listed below are questions frequently asked about Holland Hall:
Q. What is the student-faculty ratio at Holland Hall?
A. In the PreSchool, classes regularly have 14-16 students with a full-time teacher and full-time assistant (8 students:1 teacher). Kindergarten-3rd grade have classes of 20-21 with a full-time teacher and full-time assistant (11:1). The average class size in the Middle School is 16 students, while it is 12 students in the Upper School.
Q. What is the average faculty tenure at Holland Hall?
A. One of Holland Hall’s strengths is the excellent, knowledgeable faculty whose average tenure in the teaching profession is 19 years.
Q. What is a “shadow” day? Are there set “shadow visit” dates throughout the school year? Are they important in the admission process?
A. When a prospective student “shadows” at Holland Hall, he/she arrives in the morning to meet a student ambassador who leads the visiting student through the school day. For students in grades 4-11, lunch is included in the visit. There are no set dates for the shadow visits at Holland Hall—students will frequently shadow at Holland Hall when the school they regularly attend is not in session (this occurs more frequently in the Fall Semester). The shadow visit is tremendously valuable in the admission process—providing the faculty with a chance to meet, observe and interact with candidates while enabling the visiting student with an opportunity to get a feel for how the school functions.
Q. What is the age cut-off for students starting in the Primary School?
A. August 1st is the cut-off date for the grades in the Primary School. For example, a candidate for the 3-year-old program will turn three before August 1, while a Kindergarten applicant will turn five-years-old before August 1.
Q. What does Holland Hall’s testing assessment entail?
A. The Primary School Admission Committee has compiled a collection of activities testing readiness skills and ability of students in Kindergarten-3rd grade. The assessment takes forty-five minutes and regularly occurs in the course of a predetermined visiting date. Students in Grades 4 and 5 take two portions of the California Achievement Test and write an essay (duration is 1 hour, 15 minutes). Students in Grades 6-12 also write an essay and complete three portions of the Educational Records Bureau (ERB) standardized test (duration is 2 hours, 30 minutes).
Q. Is financial aid available for all students demonstrating need?
A. Holland Hall annually gives more than $1.9 million of financial aid to students in need. Customarily, students are eligible for assistance through financial aid when they are entering the sixth grade.
Q. Does Holland Hall award scholarships for success in athletics or arts?
A. The Goddard Scholarship, the only scholarship currently given at Holland Hall, is a merit-based scholarship awarded to an incoming sixth and ninth grade student.
Q. Is it possible to live in Midtown Tulsa (or outside of the Tulsa metro area) and make it to Holland Hall for the beginning of the school day?
A. Many of our current student body do not live in South Tulsa. The commute from Midtown is made easier by the fact that the trip to school is a “reverse commute” in the morning and the trip down Riverside Drive, Lewis Avenue or the other major north-south streets is very easy. We also provide bus service for Midtown in the morning, as well as 5:30 p.m. (sports bus) to Midtown.
