Brooks School

Established in 1926 in the town of North Andover, Brooks School provides a co-educational, college preparatory program for 380 students on a 270-acre campus overlooking Lake Cochichewick. Small classes allow students to work closely with teachers, fostering a relationship that is at the core of the warm, close-knit community. With a challenging academic curriculum that includes 20 advanced placement courses, Brooks also offers opportunities to study abroad in Africa, Europe and South America. The school’s exceptional athletic program has earned numerous league and New England championships.

At Brooks School, we seek to provide the most meaningful educational experience our students will have in their lives. Within an environment of academic excellence, Brooks strives to promote and focus intellectual growth and curiosity. The school encourages students to develop analytic and creative capacities; to read critically; to think, speak, and write with cogency and precision; to broaden aesthetic sensibility; to make effective use of technology in the learning process; and to be aware of the larger world beyond the school community.

The school emphasizes moral awareness and strives to provide daily lessons in tolerance, integrity and social responsibility. Civility and decency are as important now as ever before. The chapel program gives expression to the spirit of the community. Since its founding, Brooks has been affiliated with the Episcopal Church. The school seeks to further the teachings of the Judeo-Christian ethic while valuing all religious traditions and honoring the beliefs of the students who hold them.

One of the most important capacities Brooks develops in its students is the ability to make good decisions and to profit from mistakes. It does not presume to make every choice for them, either academically or socially. The school creates a climate where high standards are balanced with reasonable expectations, tolerance and understanding. In this way, Brooks hopes and expects students to grow in wisdom, confidence and maturity. We believe that providing a program which emphasizes learning by doing is critical to finding — and realizing — meaning in one's education.

Underpinning and clarifying the mission statement are core values which the school hopes will permeate all programs, and which might serve to direct community members in their experience with the mission. The core values of the school are:

• Empathy
• Engagement
• Integrity
• Passion
• Confidence
• Creativity

Of these, empathy and engagement are considered preeminent. We model, and hold ourselves accountable to, these values in ways that prepare our students to be exemplary citizens and strong leaders of communities throughout their lives.

Brooks School is a coeducational boarding and day school, grades 9 through 12, located in North Andover, Massachusetts. The school does not discriminate on the basis of disability, race, gender, religion, sexual orientation or color in the administration of its educational and admission policies, scholarship and loan programs, or athletics and other school-administered programs and activities.

This is the goal of every class at Brooks — to inspire students to immerse themselves in the lessons. As they devour Beloved for the first time, they're asked to read and interpret at a deep level. As they grapple with the birth of the U.S. Constitution, they're preparing to become engaged citizens. As they dive into statistical data, they must uncover the real story behind the numbers. This is what it means to have a meaningful educational experience.

The course catalog provides a sense of the depth and breadth of our curriculum. Requirements are considered the minimum needed to graduate from Brooks. Students should look beyond what they must take to what they ought to take to make themselves the most attractive candidates for college admission. For example, all students should complete courses in the three basic sciences (physics, chemistry and biology), even though they are not necessary for graduation. Most students graduate with transcripts that far exceed the school's requirements.