Where
We’ve Come From
Putney holds a unique place in American
education. It is one of the oldest progressive schools, and offers
a distinctive combination of experiences in academics, the outdoors,
the arts and community life.
Over the past decade, Putney has made
great strides to secure its place in American education and strengthen
itself as an institution. The major elements of its strategy have
been:
- High Standards: Putney is a school for students who are, among other things, intellectually
curious, academically capable, socially and emotionally healthy, and
community-minded.
- The Arts Program: Putney’s arts program has flourished and it has become a truly distinguishing
feature of the Putney experience. The Michael S. Currier Center was
a major initiative and has become a centerpiece of the performing arts
program.
- The Land Use Program: The Putney Farm and land use program are understood to be integral to
the life of the school and play an important role in the classroom as
well as the work and afternoon programs.
- A Boarding School: Putney is committed to remaining a boarding school because we believe
that the mission and ideals to which we aspire are best served in a
residential environment. We want to ensure that the boarding experience
and community remain vibrant, and our residential program is healthy
and fully supports our mission and ideals.
- A Strong and Healthy
Community: Putney is able to deliver the experience it
does because we attend to and value community life. Many of our investments
over the past few years have been to strengthen support for community
life, including improvements to our dorms, the planned field house and
increased support for the health center. We also value community debate
on important issues and decisions, and pay close attention to issues
of discipline and personal health and safety.
- Growth of the school: To support greater diversity of programming, Putney embarked on an effort
to grow the school from 135 students in the mid 1980s to 225 students
today. This growth has enabled continued investment in the school’s
program and was made possible by the addition of the Huseby House dormitory.
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