Tulsa’s only, PreK through 12th grade independent Episcopal school
Holland Hall provides a challenging and comprehensive educational experience grounded in a rigorous liberal arts, college preparatory curriculum that promotes critical thinking and lifelong learning. Here, we seek to foster a strong moral foundation and a deep sense of social responsibility in every student.
— Holland Hall Mission Statement
Welcome to Holland Hall
From Holland Hall Head of School J.P. Culley
We believe a great school changes lives — and we’ve been doing just that for more than a century. As Tulsa’s only PreK–12 independent Episcopal school, we are grounded in a tradition that honors academic excellence, spiritual reflection, and moral imagination, all within a community that cherishes every student’s growth.
We are unwavering in our pursuit of excellence — whether in the classroom, on the stage, in the lab, or on the field. Here, students apprentice in self-discipline, guided by gifted, student-centered faculty who set high expectations with deep care.
This is a school where the arts are vibrant, the athletic spirit is grounded in character, and the classroom experience is alive with discovery. We celebrate creativity, scholarship, teamwork, and wonder — and we do so within a deeply connected and joyful community.
Come visit. Walk our halls. Listen to the laughter, the questions, the music. You’ll see — Holland Hall is so much more than just a school.
In Community,
J.P. Culley
Head of School
jculley@hollandhall.org
Episcopal School Spirit
As a proud Episcopal school, Holland Hall is rooted in a faith-based educational philosophy that blends academic excellence with spiritual and moral development. We foster religious inclusivity, ethical reflection, and respect for tradition while encouraging independent thought. We welcome students of all faith traditions. At Holland Hall, faith, learning, and leadership intersect — shaping compassionate graduates prepared to lead with integrity.
“This is a place that should make people more of who they are. Whatever their culture, whatever their religion or background, we’re interested in making healthy human beings who understand that spirituality should be an integral part of the human experience.”
— The Rev. Sarah Smith, Upper School chaplain
Chapel Services
Regular, age-appropriate chapel services are offered to all students starting in Prekindergarten.
Upper and Middle School students attend services once a cycle in All Saints Chapel to hear talks by our campus chaplains, community leaders, or representatives of other faiths.
All students, parents, and faculty members are invited to participate in a weekly Episcopal service that utilizes the Book of Common Prayer.
Join us at 7:15 a.m. every Thursday in All Saints Chapel.
Board of Trustees
Board Chair
Vice Chair
Treasurer
Secretary
Emeritus Board of Trustees
Philip B. Allen ’73
Roger B. Collins
Katherine G. Coyle
Elizabeth G. Griot
John B. Hawkins
David A. Johnson
Tammie L. Maloney
Susan C. Stone
Barbara D. Sturdivant
Diversity and Inclusion
A culture of inclusion is essential to the mission of an Episcopal school with the Church’s history of passionate advocacy for social justice and human unity. The skills of multiculturalism are essential to the depth of students’ learning and their ability to participate in our interconnected world. We employ these skills to drive academic excellence, embolden students to embrace their own identities, and foster appreciation for the differences of others. We welcome and strive to integrate varying family structures, socio-economic backgrounds, genders, ethnicities, sexual identities, religions, races, and physical and cognitive capabilities. In every aspect of school life, Holland Hall commits to teaching and challenging our community to discard stereotypes, embrace inclusion, and practice radical empathy.
Diversity and Inclusion statement approved by Holland Hall Board of Trustees, April 2016.
Diversity: The visible and invisible differences that make us all unique.
Belonging: A fundamental human need of being respected and accepted as a full member of the community.
Inclusion: The work engaged in to ensure all people feel a deep sense of belonging in the diverse community.
Diversity, Belonging, and Inclusion definitions approved by the Holland Hall Board of Trustees, April 3, 2024.
Strategic Plan
All schools evolve. The really good ones do so with their mission, core values, and a sense of their history at the center of their thinking. As an Episcopal school, that foundation has guided Holland Hall since 1922. The deliberate focus on creating an apprenticeship in self-discipline and on helping every child in our care find their light and share it broadly in service to others remains the anchor for our decision-making.
In honoring the education we have provided for more than 100 years and in looking to the future, we share Holland Hall’s current strategic plan — one rooted in our mission, our values, our Episcopal approach, and in our confidence in what’s to come.
School Profile
Holland Hall is an independent, coeducational, Episcopal day school that provides a challenging, comprehensive educational experience grounded in a rigorous liberal arts, college preparatory curriculum that promotes critical thinking and life-long learning.
Campus and Facilities
Nestled on 167 acres in south Tulsa, Holland Hall’s campus is a living classroom. Outside of its three academic buildings, performing arts center, and athletic facilities are creeks, ponds, outdoor classrooms, gardens, a nationally recognized 5K wooded trail, native woodlands, and six playgrounds uniquely suited to the grades that use them.
History of Holland Hall
Holland Hall has been Tulsa’s premier independent Episcopal school since 1922, when a group of prominent businessmen established a rigorous academic institution to prepare their children for top eastern colleges.
Named in honor of the school’s first headmistress, who was of Dutch heritage, Holland Hall was to be a school “within reach of any citizen of Tulsa.”
That commitment holds true today, with more than 30 percent of students receiving some tuition assistance.
From its early days as a girls’ high school to becoming a fully coeducational Episcopal school in 1959, Holland Hall has grown from 60 students to more than 1,000, graduating more than 3,500 students into the nation’s top universities.
Its move to an expansive 167-acre campus on 81st Street solidified its place as a leader in Tulsa private education, with modern facilities like the Walter Arts Center and Hardesty Field supporting its legacy of academic, athletic, and artistic excellence.
On Sept. 21 the doors opened and Winnifred Schureman is named the first headmistress.
Frances Pearl Bemis becomes the second headmistress and oversees the establishment of Holland Hall at the South Boulder campus.
Holland Hall moves to the Riverside Studio. The school uniform consists of the long-sleeved middy blouse, calf-length blue skirt, the art deco-style blue and white HH patch on the left sleeve and a loosely-tied sailor tie.
The first male faculty are hired since the early 1920s. The first boys athletic program begins.
Holland Hall affiliates with the Episcopal Church and votes to include boys in grades 9-12.
The first celebration of Lessons and Carols. First edition of Hall Way (now Hallway) newspaper. First varsity football game. First organized girls athletic teams are formed (basketball and tennis.)
James M. Hewgley Jr. and Charles W. Flint Jr. purchase 80 acres of land on 81st Street.
The Holland Hall Fund begins. Charles H. Brown becomes the school’s head football coach and Holland Hall joins the Southwest Preparatory Conference. The school announces plans to move the campus to 81st Street, beginning with the Upper School.
Alumni Day, the first school-sponsored alumni reunion, is established. Pauline McFarlin Walter purchases another 80 acres of land on 81st Street for the school. A campus master plan is established and O’Neil Ford is selected as architect for the new Upper School.
Headmaster Bert Moore establishes the philosophy of “freedom with responsibility,” and oversees the move of the Upper School to the 81st Street campus. The Upper School adopts the modular schedule.
The school celebrates its 50th anniversary. The six-day cycle is adopted for the Upper School academic schedule. All Sports Dance becomes Dutchmen Weekend. Charles H. Brown is named athletic director and becomes president of the SPC.
The Lower School opens on 81st Street and becomes the Primary School. The Early Childhood preschool program begins.
Pauline McFarlin Walter passes away. The school receives an endowment from the Pauline McFarlin Walter Memorial Trust.
The Upper School’s Outing Club is formed and the first Freshman Orientation is held.
New Middle School building opens on 81st Street and the Birmingham property is sold. All three divisions are now on the same campus.
Traffic lights are installed at 81st Street and Yale Avenue. The middy blouse is dropped as the uniform for Upper School girls, replaced by the button-downs the boys wear.
The Pauline McFarlin Walter Arts Center (WAC) opens. Artworks becomes ARTworks, its own separate event. The Book and Art Fair becomes the Book Fair and Market.
Year-long celebration of Holland Hall’s 75th anniversary begins with the Founders’ Day picnic.
Upper School English and history teachers develop what becomes the American Studies program. A new school logo is adopted.
A renovated and expanded Primary School opens as the Mary K. Chapman Primary School.
Holland Hall leaves the SPC for the OSSAA, the governing body of Oklahoma high school athletics.
The A.R. and Marylouise Tandy Dining and Wellness Center and Chapman Green opens, providing a communal dining area for Middle School and Upper School students, plus updated athletics facilities.
The Upper School is placed on the National Register of Historic Places just after its 50th anniversary — the first year it could be included.
Holland Hall kicks off its 100th anniversary with a community-wide Convocation ceremony.
Holland Hall News
Golfer Megan Kalapura takes swing at history
Lessons from a 3,000-mile solo row across the Atlantic Ocean
Molly Cao: Lunar New Year celebration transforms language learning
Day of Service: 'It's definitely a Holland Hall tradition that I will miss'
Staff Spotlight: Kelly Danner, Middle School
