The student most likely to find academic, social and personal success at Marvelwood is a young man or woman who is both motivated to achieve in a college preparatory curriculum and enthusiastic about taking an active role in a vibrant and diverse educational, athletic, extracurricular and residential setting.  Our program is challenging, supportive and encouraging of individual learning styles. With 160 students, the school is small enough for everybody to know everybody else.  That also means that every person plays an important role in the life of the school.  Students can find roles they are comfortable in as well as responsibilities that challenge them.  You learn who you really are, and how easily that identity can be expanded, through a wide variety of opportunities and a deep sense of belonging.  Marvelwood is an intimate community that celebrates each student’s individuality while constantly reinforcing the warmth and security of a family-like atmosphere. The school is exceptionally proud of its diversity: our student body is made up of young people from all over the world, with different cultures, backgrounds and life experiences. You live and work with people from all over the world.  In getting to know them and their many differences, you’ll also discover how much you have in common.  We encourage our students to learn from each other’s experiences and beliefs in order to build a common and evolving school character. Marvelwood’s students are fiercely proud of their school.  Many students and faculty report that they chose Marvelwood because, when they visited, they could see themselves here when they couldn’t see themselves anywhere else.  The intimacy of the school community validates that initial sense of belonging, creating a deep sense of ownership that is obvious to outsiders.  An independent commission charged with evaluating Marvelwood’s program for re-accreditation in 2008 rated the experience of the students “exemplary” and commended the school “for creating an environment where students, alumni, and current and past parents continually express their love of the school, the faculty, and the Marvelwood community.  There is a genuine, deep gratitude from the parents and students for the gifts of confidence, success and hope that the students gain from being members of the Marvelwood community.”       Challenge.  A Marvelwood education is characterized by intensive personal attention to the individual student.  We are passionate about providing a college-preparatory environment that nurtures academic and personal growth and awakens the potential that resides in each of our students.  A small, coeducational boarding and day school located just two hours from New York City in beautiful Kent, Connecticut, Marvelwood strives always to be a place where each child is known, valued, and treated with respect. Support.  Honors and Advanced Placement courses, English as a second language, private learning support and math tutorial programs and a dedication to experiential education enable Marvelwood to serve a diverse student body with a wide range of learning styles.  Our experienced and dedicated faculty is committed to each student’s success and delivers a superior educational program attuned to individual strengths and weaknesses.  Small classes, a strong advisory system, and an enviable 4:1 student/faculty ratio ensure that all students are known, everyone has a voice, and individual attention is guaranteed.  Supplementary programming including weekly community service, visual and performing arts electives and ensembles, an impressive slate of interscholastic and noncompetitive sports offerings, and a variety of clubs and leadership opportunities increase the potential for engagement and success outside the classroom.  In every way, the structure of the school is thoughtfully designed to support college-bound students in their efforts to achieve positive intellectual, social, personal and moral growth. Encouragement.  Marvelwood is an intimate community that celebrates each student’s individuality while constantly reinforcing the warmth and security of a family-like atmosphere where adolescents and adults work together to uncover, nurture, and celebrate the academic and personal potential that lies within each child.  We invite you to peruse our website…or better yet, spend a day with us!  See for yourself the extraordinary commitment and enthusiasm of our teachers, the Marvelwood spirit in our students, and the sense of family that binds us as a community.   At Marvelwood, we have long delivered an academic program that we feel every school should strive to emulate: one that is customized to each individual student’s interests and needs, one that is intentionally challenging and appropriately nurturing, one that is sensitive to and accommodating of learning differences.  The academic program is geared to providing a strong preparation for college and laying the foundation for a lifetime of curiosity, inquiry and learning. For a small school, Marvelwood offers an impressive variety of courses for students of all ability levels.  We continually adjust our curricula with an eye to providing the most engaging and stimulating academic program possible. In addition to “standards” such as American literature, world history, Spanish, calculus and physics, students may choose to study international relations, computer programming, art history, Mandarin Chinese, ethics, jewelry-making, astronomy and ornithology.  Honors and Advanced Placement courses and 25 arts electives round out an impressive blend of traditional college-prep classes and unique alternatives. Innovative, experiential education is a way of life at Marvelwood. Our teachers bring a sense of creativity and fun to their lesson planning, connecting concepts and ideas to real-world applications and constantly seeking to find the ideal combination of seeing, hearing and doing that will unlock the door to success for every one of their students. Marvelwood’s students are also given many unique opportunities to work with professionals outside the school community and to engage in research, outreach and community service on a local, state and global scale. These opportunities have provided many students with practical experience that has significantly influences their college and career choices.   The Marvelwood School Arts Program thrives and continually expands, thanks to the wide-ranging talents of the dedicated arts faculty as well as the School's location within a supportive arts community and proximity to top museums and theaters in the region and in New York City. The self-expression afforded by The Arts makes these opportunities essential components of the Marvelwood experience. Curricular and extra-curricular options in studio art, music, theatre, photography and film/video challenge and encourage the creativity, technique and talents of our students with a combination of hand-ons, performance/production time, history, theory and critiques.   Marvelwood's Visual Arts offerings explore different media and ensure students have guidance and resources for self-expression in 2D and 3D forms. All Visual Arts programs are electives and can be added to a student's course load as determined by the student and his/her advisor. In addition, after-school arts programs and club activities include visual arts workshops. Visits to museums in New York City, and in the museum-studded Berkshire Hills bring studies to life.   Digital arts are becoming more and more important as technology improves and becomes integrated into classroom curriculum and leisure time. Students contribute their work to Marvelwood's photography library for use on the website, in news stories and press releases, on the School's Youtube Channel, and more. Creative college applicants use digital media to bring their resume alive. And moving into the college years, a creative and technical understanding of digital tools becomes essential.   Marvelwood Athletics is an essential component of the School's overall educational curriculum.  The program seeks to teach and instruct students in the rules, fundamentals and skills necessary to participating in various team and individual sports.  Athletic participation provides both physical training and a suitable outlet for youthful energy. Competition within and between schools encourages principles of good sportsmanship and fair play, and fosters the spirit of amateur competition as well as school pride. Marvelwood students participate in a sport or an activity each of the three terms of the academic year.  There are a total of seventeen teams in eleven different sports.  The School offers teams in soccer, volleyball, cross country, basketball, wrestling, alpine skiing, lacrosse, baseball, softball, tennis and ultimate frisbee.  In addition, there are a number of non-competitive athletic options in theOutdoor Adventure Program which include mountain biking, hiking, recreational skiing/snowboarding, rock climbing and canoeing.   Life on campus is vibrant, congenial, and takes advantage of the School's spectacular setting to inspire both work and play. Marvelwood is truly a place "where everybody knows your name." Students and faculty, families of faculty who live on campus, and day students and administrative staff greet one another by name on the winding campus paths. Frisbee games break out between classes or before dinner on the circle near the Piper Bell, open to whoever would like to join. Student life is never boring! Classes and athletics take up plenty of time, but activities abound, whether they fill out students' resumes or are just plain fun.    

Who is a Marvelwood Student?

A MARVELWOOD STUDENT SHOULD HAVE:

• Strong motivation to succeed academically, extracurricularly and socially

• A desire to go on to college

• A history of getting along well with peers

• Varied interests, and a desire to participate in extracurricular activities

• An understanding of the value of community service and a desire to contribute to his/her school and community

• A willingness to be challenged both academically and personally

• The ability to appreciate individuals from different backgrounds and cultures, with different talents and interests, and an eagerness to be part of a diverse, global, and familial school community.

A MARVELWOOD STUDENT MAY HAVE:

• Struggled, under-achieved, or failed to reach potential in other school settings

• A non-traditional learning style

• A language-based or math-based learning difference, executive functioning issues diagnosed in psycho-educational testing, or suspected learning differences

• A need for learning or organizational support or academic accommodations

Challenge, Support, Encouragement

Academics at Marvelwood

The Arts

Visual Arts

Digital Media

Athletics

Student Life