Hopkins School

Hopkins School, the 3rd oldest independent school in the country, has a distinguished history that spans more than 350 years. Hopkins is an independent, coeducational, college-preparatory day school for grades 7-12. Located on a 108-acre campus overlooking New Haven, the School takes pride in its distinguished faculty and dedicated staff. Students who need and love a challenge flourish at Hopkins. We are a hub of intellectual curiosity where families, students and invested educators work together in our collective pursuit of excellence.

Our students come from families of varied ethnic, socio-economic, and cultural backgrounds who value education. If there is any common denominator, it is that our students are eager to learn, willing to work hard, and consistently place among the top ten percent of students in the nation in standardized testing. Hopkins classes are small – the average size is 12.

Our curriculum and distributional requirements ensure grounding in basic skills, exposure to a wide variety of subject matter and teaching styles, and rigorous preparation for advanced study. In addition, because Hopkins believes that informed and involved citizenship can be nurtured through the cultivation of a wide range of interests, the school encourages students to participate in extracurricular activities.

We define ourselves as a community of civility and learning, one that educates students from diverse backgrounds to a full measure of their talents and humanity. Together, we seek to:

• Develop in our young people the habits of mind of scholars as the foundation for a lifelong love of learning;
• Foster the courage to live and think as distinct individuals who embrace their responsibilities in the larger world;
• Expose every student to the deep satisfaction that derives from service to others;
• Enlarge the educational experience to include the creative joy and aesthetic sensibility of the artist, and the vitality and competitive spirit of the athlete;
• Provide, through the School’s advisers, the wisdom and goodwill necessary to guide our young people to confident self-reliance;
• Nurture the development of character essential to a rich and purposeful life.

Admission to Hopkins is very competitive: most applicants score above the 75th percentile on standardized entrance exams. Hopkins seeks highly self-motivated and diverse students whose talents and intellectual curiosity will enable them to take advantage of the challenging curriculum and rich resources offered by the School. All courses are taught at an honors comparable level. The academic program is challenging, requiring students to utilize skills in critical reading, clear and precise writing, conceptual thinking, factual mastery, and an involved classroom presence. Few courses, therefore, are designated Honors.

Students at Hopkins have multifaceted opportunities to go deep and wide, not just with academics, but also creatively and physically with arts, sports, and clubs. Experiencing all kinds of activities individually and in community, empowers students with the ability to see fresh perspectives and create meaningful balance and lasting connections.

Honesty promotes learning; dishonesty interferes with it. Hence, Hopkins seeks to provide an atmosphere in which principles of honesty guide students’ efforts and work. Students should submit work that is wholly and truly their own; otherwise they lose the opportunity to learn for themselves and to learn from their mistakes. All students will include the statement, “I pledge my honor,” and sign their names to every piece of graded work. At the beginning of the year, each student reads and signs the School’s Statement of Academic Honesty in a special adviser meeting, and each academic department instructs students in the policies, expectations, and guidelines specific to its discipline.

As a co-ed independent day school for students in grades 7 through 12, we believe that our classrooms are intellectually comprehensive and connected. We strive for blending happiness and achievement in all endeavors of school life—academic, athletic, and artistic—and we share these experiences on an intimate campus in New Haven, Connecticut.

We are a school that helps students cultivate intellectual curiosity and embrace a love of learning as they aspire to reach excellence; to enjoy wit and realize wisdom as they find their voices in the world. The faculty and staff foster a supporting and welcoming environment where both the individual and the community are valued, and this combination creates a campus alive with opportunity and promise.