Friday Morning Assembly: Each Friday, our community gathers on the yard under the palm tree to take part in an assembly. Parents listen as students present a project or topic from their classroom, with a different grade featured every week. Students also lead a welcome song and birthday blessing, take community announcements, and run a raffle sponsored by our environmentalist club, the Green Task Force. Parents enjoy coffee on the yard and, most importantly, make connections with one another. 

Welcome Potluck: In September, all families are invited to join fellow parents, students, teachers, administrators, and board members for the first community gathering of the year. Families share a potluck lunch, learn about volunteer opportunities, reconnect with friends, and meet new members of the CDS community.

Grandparents & Special Friends Day: Held on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, this is a day to introduce grandparents and other special friends to our school. Grandparents are welcomed at a morning musical assembly, tour the school, and participate in the child’s classroom.

Annual Performances: Each year in December, Lower School students and teachers collaborate on division-level winter performances encompassing all of the school’s arts programs. In January, Middle School students and faculty present a showcase for student performers, and in March, Preschoolers perform a musical show called Bungalow Boogie. Parents, siblings, grandparents, and friends are all invited to attend these performances. 

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration: In January the CDS community pays tribute to the life of the great leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with a special assembly and march.

Harvey Milk Celebration: In late May, the CDS community celebrates the life of the equal rights activist Harvey Milk at a special assembly. 

Spring Festival: Each year, we hold a benefit auction to raise money for sliding scale tuition. Comprised of an online, silent, and live auction as well as a fabulous community-wide party, this annual celebration brings families, faculty and staff together to raise money for sliding scale tuition, a program that is at the heart of our school's mission. 

Cesar Chavez Celebration: This special Friday Assembly event celebrates the life and work of Cesar Chavez, whose activism on behalf of social justice serves as one of the models for our school’s mission.

Earth Day Celebration: This Friday Assembly event takes place around Earth Day and celebrates the difference we can make when we take responsibility for our environment.

Country Fair: Each spring the CDS community comes together to celebrate our community and unique farm and garden program at our annual Country Fair. Attendees eat barbecue, play games, enjoy live music, and celebrate homemade arts and crafts using wool from our very own sheep and produce from our garden!

Passing the Torch Ceremony: This special morning assembly at the end of the school year allows each class to impart three pieces of wisdom and advice to the class below them. Classes then officially “rise” to the next grade level for the following school year.

Eighth Grade Graduation: Our annual graduation ceremony on the yard at 333 Dolores Street honors our students and wishes them well as they head off for new adventures.

San Francisco Pride Parade: Each June, all families are invited to participate in the San Francisco Pride Parade in support of our LGBTQ families. CDS families march with a contingent of local Bay Area independent schools.