Solebury is a college preparatory school that develops students' capabilities by encouraging them to push themselves academically and to recognize that the easiest path is not always the best. Our philosophy and curriculum are geared toward helping the student become a successful academic achiever and a critically aware citizen of the world. Toward that end, our classes are small; we average 11, so students are able to participate meaningfully in discussions and work closely with their teachers, who have regularly scheduled conference periods three days per week and routinely offer additional support at other times.
In addition, Solebury adopts an academic theme each year as the cornerstone of our whole academic program: we create courses, assemblies, evening lectures, and student groups, interclass and school-wide projects, all around this one general concept. Our goal is for the academic departments and even individual teachers to shape the theme to suit their coursework (and vice versa) and challenge their students’ patterns of thinking. In addition to the topical issues that will be relatively specific to each course, we hope that general themes will emerge. To facilitate that process, we select books for our summer reading that reflect the academic theme.
It’s hard to really know any school until you meet the teachers because they are the people who breathe life into the curriculum and give the school its character. At Solebury, we have teachers who have been here virtually their entire careers and others who arrived recently. Whereas some schools recruit teachers from only one mold, ours have been drawn here for many of the same reasons as our students: they prize the opportunity for individual expression and value the creativity that results. What they have in common, however, is a commitment to continuing education, both their own and their students.
Steve Buteux
Director of Studies