The Putney School, founded in 1935 by Carmelita Hinton, a pioneering progressive educator, is an educational community where the experiences are broad, expectations are high, and friendships are close. It is a school where energetic and thoughtful young people engage in a variety of educational experiences, learn responsibility and begin to develop their potential.

The school offers a structured yet diverse program. In addition to following a challenging college preparatory academic curriculum designed to foster intellectual curiosity and the skills necessary for thoughtful and thorough learning, each student participates in the arts and in music to develop skills that will bring lifelong enjoyment.

Music and art are viewed as basic expressions of the human spirit and the quest for beauty, and toward that end all students participate in two evening arts activities each semester.

The years at Putney are a time of intense outdoor activity. Students cultivate an appreciation of nature through their study of the environment and their work on the farm and land surrounding the hilltop campus. They gain confidence and lay the foundation for a lifetime of healthy activity through a vigorous outdoor athletic program of team and individual sports. They develop self-reliance and leadership skills through the student-run work program.

Sharing decision making in a small community, students learn responsibility and respect for others. They are, as well, strongly encouraged to look beyond their small community to the rest of the world and to work consciously toward the highest civilization they can envision.

Putney graduates go on to excellent colleges. They find their way into the worlds of public policy, education, business, science, literature - wherever they want to go, in fact. Many alumni reflect what they learned at the Putney School: that each individual can - and must - make a difference in the world.