The Williston Northampton School

The Williston Northampton School promotes excellence and achievement in and out of the classroom, and values individual expression as a way to create an authentic, diverse, and dynamic community. Williston believes responsibility begins with personal integrity, and we encourage our community to embrace diversity of thought. Williston students are empathetic and collaborative learners, and seek at all times to live and work with purpose, passion, and integrity.

In 1841, Samuel and Emily Williston formed Williston Seminary, a coeducational school that taught classics and science. It was renamed Williston Academy in 1924 when a more modern curriculum was adopted. Meanwhile, in the same year, Sarah Whitaker and Dorothy Bement founded the Northampton School for Girls. A close relationship between Williston Academy and Northampton School for Girls developed in the 1930s, first with dances, then with joint theater and music events. In 1971, the Williston Northampton School opened as a fully coeducational institution.

Williston fields teams at the varsity, junior varsity, and beginner levels to give students a full range of opportunities. Our coaches, most of whom are also faculty members, view athletics as a chance to educate and mentor students. Williston has an impressive record of success with students who aspire to play in college—our student-athletes are recruited by Division I, II, and III institutions in New England and beyond.

At Williston, we take the arts seriously. Our facilities are state-of-the-art, and our faculty members are practicing musicians, actors, and visual artists who bring their individual talents and experience to their classrooms and studios. All Williston students take at least three trimesters of art classes. Other unique programs include our Arts Concentration, Grum Project visiting artists program, Arts Walk, and professional arts gallery.