Private Boarding School in New York State

Oakwood Friends School, New York:
Founded in 1796, Oakwood Friends School is New York State's oldest co-educational boarding and day school. We are an independent college preparatory school serving Grades 6-12 located in Poughkeepsie, Dutchess County in New York's historic Hudson River Valley.

Co-educational Day & Boarding School Programs:

Middle School: Grades 6 - 8
Oakwood's middle school offers a rich, vibrant program that provides challenging academics in a supportive and friendly school environment. Our students learn well, respect one another, and have good relationships with their teachers. As a small Quaker school, we take the time to explore difficult subjects, discuss important questions, and begin to master skills needed for learning and for navigating the complicated world we live in.

Our classes are small so that students have the chance to participate actively in their classes and work closely with their teachers. Oakwood teachers use a variety of approaches to engage and challenge our students. We help students gain competence in a wide variety of thinking, writing, speaking, researching, and problem solving skills – we are as concerned with teaching methods and processes for learning each subject as we are with covering the content. Physical education and the arts are integral parts of our program as we seek to nurture the athlete and artist in each middle schooler.

By providing learning experiences that are academically, socially, and emotionally geared to middle schoolers, we are preparing them for all aspects of high school life, and especially our own college-preparatory upper school program.

As they leave eighth grade, our students have the skills and confidence needed to take an active part in Oakwood's rich upper school curriculum as well as the clubs, sports, and other extra-curricular activities. And they are ready to continue their journey of learning to be active, positive members of their family, school, local community, and the wider world.

Upper School: Grades 9-12
Oakwood's upper school serves students in grades 9 through 12. About half of them live on campus and the rest commute to school as day students. The upper school offers programs and activities specifically designed to meet the needs of students in these important college-preparatory years.

Small classes, committed, accessible teachers (most of whom live on campus), and comfortable facilities provide for individualized programs and a strong sense of community as students prepare for the demands of college.

A central element of each school day is Collection. Led by a student clerk appointed by the community, this daily morning meeting includes a brief period of silent worship, followed by announcements from students and teachers, and sometimes humorous skits, presentations, and music as well. We all look forward to this time together as we gather our thoughts and plan our goals and schedules for the day ahead.

Upper school students typically enroll in five classes. Some may be traditional classes with an enrollment of 15 or 16 students; others may be quite specialized and have an enrollment of five students. Some students design their own independent study under the supervision of a teacher they have selected.

Arts:
Oakwood Friends School offers a full range of programs in music, drama, and visual arts, all of them emphasizing the process of creation. Whether on stage, in the art studio, or behind the lens of a camera, students experience growth and a sense of accomplishment through self-expression.

Oakwood's extensive program includes a drama department that mounts three main stage productions each year, an array of studio and art history classes that prepare interested students for enrollment in college-level art school, and varied instrumental and choral music offerings.

Athletics:
A full range of interscholastic and intramural sports allows all students, regardless of ability, to experience the excitement, camaraderie, and physical health that come from athletic activity. Oakwood fields interscholastic teams in cross country, soccer, volleyball, basketball, swimming, softball, baseball, and tennis. Intramural life sports include running, yoga, martial arts, tennis, walking, and fitness training. Some students develop individual sports programs that are conducted off campus.

Oakwood teams compete in three athletic leagues stretching from eastern New York to western Connecticut. Our coaches emphasize participation, skill building, and sportsmanship, and our teams have achieved considerable success in league competition. Over 65% of our students participate in at least two interscholastic sports each year. Scores and schedules are available on Oakwood's calendar.

Technology:
Supported by an extensive fiber optic network, Oakwood's 63 acre, 14 building campus enjoys full connectivity. Academic spaces are supported with networked computers in all classrooms. Collins Library houses a 24-unit upper school computer lab, while Crowley provides the middle school with a state of the art 11-unit computing center. Both students and faculty enjoy wireless printing capability from all points on campus. 

Computer centers in both dorms allow student access to the school server and internet. All hard-wired dorm rooms provide direct connectivity while wireless internet access is supported in common living spaces and all academic buildings.

Faculty, student proctors, and network filtration software provide three layers of internet supervision and promote responsible, safe, and appropriate internet usage. Oakwood's technology helps support vibrate programs in the media arts, film study, digital photography, scientific experimentation, math, music and theater.