{{for|the art school in London|Putney School of Art and Design}} {{Use American English|date=August 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}} {{Infobox school | name = The Putney School | image = Drone shot of The Putney School.jpg | logo = Putney School banner.png | motto = | established = 1935 | type = Private independent co-educational boarding and day high school | dean = Tarah Greenidge | head_label = Head of School | head = Daniel O'Brien | city = 418 Houghton Brook Road, Putney | state = VT | country = U.S. | campus_size = {{convert|500|acres}} | secondary_years_taught = 9th through 12th grades | enrollment = ca. 200 | faculty = 35 full-time, 24 part-time/adjunct | avg_class_size = 12 | ratio = 6:1 | classes_offered = Humans in The Natural World, American Studies, Ceramics, Fiber Arts, Astronomy, Existentialism | annual_tuition = $74,500 | athletics = | colors = Green, White | mascot = Elm Tree | athletic_conference = River Valley Athletic League | website = http://www.putneyschool.org/ | founder = Carmelita Hinton | campus_type = Rural }} '''The Putney School''' is an independent high school in Putney, Vermont. The school was founded in 1935 by Carmelita Hinton on the principles of the Progressive education movement and the teachings of its principal exponent, John Dewey. It is a co-educational, college-preparatory boarding school, with a day-student component. Putney is {{convert|12|mi}} outside Brattleboro, Vermont, on a 500-acre hilltop campus with classrooms, dormitories, and a dairy farm where students are expected to work.<ref name = "website">{{cite web | title = Putney at a glance | work = Website | publisher = Putney School | url = http://www.putneyschool.org/content/putney-glance | access-date = 2014-01-30 }} </ref> It enrolls about 200 students. Danny O'Brien is the head of school.
==Campus== thumb|right|200px|Animated panorama from the center of the quadrangle on the Putney campus. The original buildings on Putney's campus were overhauled or constructed by Putney work camp attendees, students, and faculty in 1935.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lloyd |first=Susan M. |title=The Putney School, A Progressive Experiment |publisher=Yale University Press |year=1987 |isbn=0-300-03742-2 |pages=21–3, 31}}</ref> The Currier Center is a departure from Putney's customary white, colonial-style architecture, instead using stone and concrete walls in an angular design. It is used for dance, music, movie-making and visual-art presentations.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2017-02-22 |title=Currier Center for the Performing Arts, The Putney School (includes several photographs) |url=https://architizer.com/projects/currier-center-for-the-performing-arts-the-putney-school/ |access-date=2025-11-25 |website=Architizer (Charles Rose Architects) |language=en-us |quote=Adding considerable complexity to the project was the large group of trustees, faculty and students who all wanted a say in the building’s design and who had strong emotional ties to the campus.}}</ref> The Field House, which opened in October 2009, was designed as a "net zero-energy building".<ref>{{Cite web|date=2018-07-04|title=Our Field House's Green Features|url=https://www.putneyschool.org/fieldhouse-green-features/|access-date=2020-11-06|website=The Putney School|language=en-US}}</ref>
There are ten active dormitories on campus. A few faculty members live in each.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Campus Map |url=https://www.putneyschool.org/campus-map/ |access-date=2024-04-30 |website=The Putney School |language=en-US}}</ref>
==Academic program== thumb|right|200px|Then-Director Brian Morgan addresses the graduating Class of 2004. In 1995, ''The Boston Globe'' described Putney as combining "a New England work ethic and a strong academic program."<ref> {{cite journal | last = Cohen | first = Muriel | title = Putney - A Vermont School that Dared and Succeeded | journal = The Boston Globe | pages = A42 | date = January 1, 1995}} </ref> It is a member of the Independent Curriculum Group and in 2009 received a 10-year accreditation review by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges.<ref> {{Citation | last = State Board of Education | title = Renewal of approval to The Putney School, Putney, VT to serve students in grades 9-12 | publisher = State of Vermont Agency of Education | date = May 19, 2015 | url = http://education.vermont.gov/documents/Item-C2d-051915-SBE-Meeting.pdf | access-date = 2015-11-11}}</ref>
Of his time at the school in the 1950s, the essayist Eliot Weinberger said, "the kids were mainly the children of hardcore old lefties, classical musicians, folk singers, writers and academics."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Reddy |first=Srikanth |date=2025 |title=The Art of the Essay no. 4 (Interview with Eliot Weinberger)|journal=The Paris Review |location=New York |volume=253 |at=79 |quote=Denise Levertov, whose son was at the school, came often. She was the first poet I ever met.}}</ref>
== Farm work == According to Jean Strouse, Putney's farm is "more utopia than school" and seeks to teach "moral values through practical experience and hard physical work".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Strouse |first=Jean |date=1988 |title=Do Something! |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25007155 |journal=Grand Street |volume=7 |issue=4 |pages= |at=222 |doi=10.2307/25007155 |issn=0734-5496|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Girls and boys work together on the farm.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Reddy |first=Srikanth |date=2025 |title=The Art of the Essay no. 4 (Interview with Eliot Weinberger) |journal=The Paris Review |location=New York |volume=253 |at=79 |quote=it was founded in the thirties on a farm, where we all worked, milking the cows and shoveling manure, and it was coed. I loved it there.}}</ref>
== Tuition == Tuition for the 2023-24 academic year was $74,500 for boarding students and $45,400 for day students.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Tuition and Financial Aid |url=https://www.putneyschool.org/tuition-and-financial-aid/ |access-date=2024-01-05 |website=The Putney School |language=en-US}}</ref>
== Notable alumni and faculty == {{See also|:Category:The Putney School alumni}} {{See also|List of Putney School people}}
== References == {{Reflist}}
== Further reading == * {{cite book | last = Lloyd | first = Susan McIntosh | title = The Putney School: A Progressive Experiment | publisher = Yale University Press | date = 1987 | location = New Haven | isbn = 0-300-03742-2 }} * {{cite book | title = Carmelita Chase Hinton and the Putney School | publisher = Palgrave | series = Founding Mothers and Others: Women Educational Leaders During the Progressive Era | editor-last = Sadovnik | editor-first = Alan R. | editor2-last = Semel | editor2-first = Susan F. | date = 2002 | isbn = 0-312-29502-2 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/foundingmotherso0000unse }}
==External links== * [http://www.putneyschool.org/ Putney School web site] * [http://boardingschools.com/school-profile.aspx?schoolid=1171 The Association of Boarding Schools profile]
{{Vermont High Schools Division III}} {{Vermont Prep}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Putney School The}} Category:Private high schools in Vermont Category:Boarding schools in Vermont Category:Preparatory schools in Vermont Category:Buildings and structures in Putney, Vermont Category:Educational institutions established in 1935 Category:Schools in Windham County, Vermont Category:1935 establishments in Vermont