A Look Inside The Upper School Campus

Stanwich Opens New Upper School Campus

 

In the gymnasium a lively meet-and-greet is happening on the second floor of the Upper School. A buzz of excitement and anticipation rises from the mingling crowd. Young men and women with broad smiles eagerly meet each other and exchange stories of summer and class schedules.

It’s the first day of school for this pioneering group of 110 seventh and eighth graders who are the first Stanwich School students to occupy the 75,000 square foot traditional school building. Once their ties were straightened and their hair fixed just right, the students streamed out onto the front circle to commemorate the special milestone in the school’s history.

This is a day that’s been in the making since the school was founded twelve years ago, but not realized until today. It wasn’t until Stanwich was given the opportunity to lease the beautiful 11-acre campus, that the school had the proper facilities to accommodate students through twelfth-grade. Now, the school’s eighth-grade class will have the opportunity to continue their education at Stanwich, rising a grade-level each year.

“As one of our Grade 8 students so fittingly said to me, ‘Mrs. Young, this means we get to be seniors every year until we graduate,’ ” said Pat Young, Stanwich’s founding headmistress.

During the ribbon-cutting ceremony, Doug Moffitt, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, welcomed the students and faculty to, “being an important part of Stanwich School’s exciting history.” He went on to say, “We are so grateful for all of the great work that was done this summer to get this wonderful school ready for all of us today. Students, we hope you are able to take full advantage of it to build all of the traditions that make this school so special.”

 

About the Program

The Senior House at Stanwich will be an innovative extension of the Primary, Intermediate, and Junior House programs, building upon the character development and the academic preparation that have defined Stanwich.

Stanwich’s Senior House, run by Head of House, Derek Krein, will offer a rigorous, traditional college preparatory curriculum, balanced with creativity and innovation in both content and process.

An emphasis on individual initiative and leadership opportunities will be balanced with teamwork and a commitment to living harmoniously and respectfully with others in a community. A comprehensive college placement curriculum for students will begin in Grade 9 with a richer, more holistic program than the “get them in to ‘X’, ‘Y’, or ‘Z’ college” approach of many schools.

Our college preparatory curriculum will offer Advanced Placement courses in the arts, as well as in the five traditional academic disciplines (English, History, Mathematics, Science, Modern Language). We will very purposefully prepare our students to be confident and effective speakers, polished and persuasive writers, and proficient users of technology.

We will help our students to develop global perspectives, preparing them to enter a “flat world” where we must all be expected to truly understand, respect, and appreciate other cultures.

Our faculty will continue to challenge each student to be their best each day, encouraging them to take risks and to stretch their “comfort zones.” Our faculty and administrators not only teach, but model, how to react with composure and how to learn and grow from temporary setbacks, as well as how to acknowledge successes with satisfaction and with grace.

Most importantly, our Senior House will be a joyful, exciting place in which adolescents grow and mature into confident, competent, thoughtful, and kind young adults.

 

Grade Levels

For the 2009-10 school year, the space will house Stanwich’s 7th and 8th grades. Stanwich will commence its high school program, beginning with 9th grade, in 2010 and projects to graduate its first high school class in June 2014.

 

About the Campus

Built in 1921, the campus has 21 large-scale, brightly lit classrooms housed in a traditional brick school building of approximately 75,000 square feet in size and can accommodate up to 300 students. The Stamford campus also boasts a playing field for soccer, field hockey, lacrosse and softball. The school’s indoor gymnasium is used as a practice facility for basketball as well as for fitness classes.

 

Stanwich Road Campus

In the meantime, Stanwich continues to make progress toward beginning work on its permanent home which will be built on Stanwich ’s 37-acre campus, located at 257 Stanwich Road in Greenwich. That plan, which has been approved by the Town of Greenwich, is expected to begin construction next year and will, when completed, be the only co-educational, Pre-K to 12th grade independent school in Greenwich, CT.