Portsmouth Abbey School

The Portsmouth Abbey education is grounded in the Western intellectual tradition, from ancient Greece and Rome and continuing into this century. This liberal arts curriculum is balanced by a focus on spirituality, athletics, arts and co-curriculars.

The Abbey prepares you for post-secondary academic work by providing you with a broad and liberal education in the Benedictine tradition. We foster crucial academic and life skills through a structured sequence of courses. Our curriculum celebrates the classics of the Western canon and addresses three fundamental objectives: to develop a common background of knowledge among students; to use the study of a classical language and ancient history to train students in disciplined thinking; and to give students a thorough grounding in and appreciation for the written and spoken word.

Elite colleges, top graduate schools, and the most highly skilled professions demand of high school graduates what they have always demanded—outstanding skills of literacy, numeracy and reasoning, an ability to master content in core academic disciplines, a fluency in the cultural literacy of our Western tradition, and the initiative to work hard and to confidently manage one's own learning.

Practically speaking, we offer a range of honors, accelerated, and AP core curricular and elective courses. The academic year is divided into terms—Fall, Winter, Spring—and each term ends with a formal examination period which determines twenty-five percent of the term grade. At the end of each term, grades and detailed comments from the student's teachers, houseparent, and athletics coach are reported to parents.

In addition to traditional secondary disciplines, we offer a number of electives to broaden your preparation for college, including offerings in the fine arts and advanced work in classical and modern languages. We offer a wide range of honors, accelerated, and Advanced Placement (AP) courses.

Your high school years reveal so much about your future self, the adult you are becoming. And the place in which you spend those years imbues you with certain enduring qualities. Students undergo a definite transformation during their time at Portsmouth Abbey and build unique traditions and memories. And it's a transformation they never forget.

At the core of the mission of Portsmouth Abbey School is the desire to "grow in knowledge and grace" in a life dedicated to Christ. In light of this basic apostleship, the spiritual life of the school is inspired by the Benedictine ideal of a community life of work and prayer ("ora et labora"). As Saint Benedict sought in his Rule for monks, so too does the school community seek a life of spiritual growth, centered in intellectual development and balanced with physical and social activities, recreation and rest. To this end, oriented by the Catholic tradition, we offer a comprehensive and structured academic, athletics and residential life program.

That's because at Portsmouth Abbey, we place a very high value on living in a close-knit community. We are fiercely loyal. We support each other through triumphs and challenges. We arrive as strangers and quickly grow into friends. And we keep those bonds of friendship alive long after we leave.

The presence of non-Catholic and non-Christian members of the school community creates a rich diversity and promotes an atmosphere of acceptance and respect for various religious traditions. This diverse community is drawn into a reflection on and an attentiveness to the life of the spirit, as it lives out its central mission.

Our conviction at Portsmouth Abbey School is that God is at the very center of the human search for meaning and that the perennial human questions - Who and I? Where do I come from? Where am I going? How do I get there? - all find their answer in God. Accordingly, we seek to promote in the lives of our students a lifelong search for God as the beginning and end of their lives. This spiritual education of the heart, soul, and mind is the basis for intellectual and academic work at Portsmouth Abbey School.

We believe it is vitally important to introduce our students to the classics and the best of the Western intellectual tradition, which includes both the humanities and the sciences. Portsmouth Abbey School develops the mind, heart and body through an integrated and ordered progression of learning in a structured environment. Our students are provided an excellent opportunity to discover fundamental truths, beliefs and texts that have challenged every generation since antiquity, and to develop an abiding love of learning.

We are committed to living as a community that values each of its members. Portsmouth Abbey School is inspired by a monastic presence and the Benedictine tradition of common life that includes prayer, study, work and recreation. We welcome students from diverse backgrounds while encouraging an appreciation for the Catholic faith. We seek to honor the dignity of every person as a child of God, and strive to nurture the talents of each individual for service and leadership in our own community and in the larger world.