The Boarding Experience - Co-Ed School in CT

Time is important — time to think, time to play, time to breathe. From early morning classes to late night conversations, the power of the Pomfret Experience comes from the moments between the moments: over meals, in the dorms, at the movies. This is only possible at a school where everyone lives and works and learns together. A place like Pomfret. Make our boarding school in Connecticut your new home.

In Loco Parentis

The Pomfret campus is your home away from home. Close to 100 percent of our faculty live on campus, with over 70 percent of dorm parents and affiliates, who are here to supervise, guide, mentor, and support students. A highly valued role at Pomfret, the in loco parentis focuses on:

Providing individual attention to each student
Helping students learn from the differences of other students’ backgrounds and beliefs
Developing a sense of unity within each dorm

Dorm Living

The majority of our third formers (freshmen) live in "house dorms" in what is known as Freshman Circle, providing a community within a community for our younger first-year students. Upperclassmen live in one of four larger dorms, known collectively as The Bricks. These dorms overlook Pomfret’s central quad – an outdoor meeting place for student activities like barbecues, dances, and casual socializing. Each dorm unit has a Common Room that’s comfortably furnished and includes a flat screen television and microwave. These areas serve as convenient space for dorm meetings, socials, and a place to relax.

Third and fourth formers (freshmen and sophomores) learn quickly the value of evening study hall, lights-out, and room cleaning regimes. As they become fifth and sixth formers (juniors and seniors), they carry these routines forward as habits. Students and faculty organize their dorm lives by planning everything from fun and meaningful activities to participating in dorm maintenance – all terrific lessons for life in college.

Pomfret utilizes student leaders (Prefects) to help faculty lead each dorm unit. Student prefects are elected and placed by faculty and the role is one of highest regard. All prefects undergo extensive training before each school year begins. They arrive on campus early each year to help prepare for Opening Days and to welcome new and returning students with the spirit and pride that is Pomfret.

Day Students

The Pomfret campus serves as a home away from home for all our students. Day students have a faculty advisor and several prefects to provide leadership and guidance. They also have their own Day Student lounge/study room conveniently located in the middle of the campus action in the Olmsted Student Union/Corzine Athletic Center. Day students are provided with all the same benefits of boarding students, other than a dorm room, and many stay overnight with boarding friends on weekends.

7:50 AM

Breakfast of Champions

Roll out of bed, take a quick shower, and head over to the dining hall for breakfast. Made-to-order omelets with a friend, one last review of your presentation notes, and you’re ready to meet the day head-on.

8:32 AM

Experiential Learning

Make yourself comfortable. This Centennial math classroom includes modular furniture, writable desks, a short throw projector, and an idea wall. You’ll be here for the next 80 minutes, calculating how much load a suspension bridge can tolerate with six other classmates. Later on, in English, you’ll be revising an original short story called Hilltop Zombie Apocalypse. Then, in entrepreneurship, you and your team will be pitching an idea for solar energy to a visiting alumnus who specializes in renewables.

9:59 AM

Chapel Talk

Twice a week the whole school gathers in Clark Memorial Chapel for a spiritual refresh. Today two seniors are delivering chapel talks, an annual rite of passage for every member of the sixth form. There are no assigned topics and no specific requirements, save one: stand up and say something you mean. It sounds scary, we know, but you’ll have plenty of time to prepare before it’s your turn. After chapel, don’t forget to give each of the speakers a quick hug. It’s tradition.

1:15 PM

Office Hours

You’ve been working hard and your brain is starting to get full. It happens. With two classes, a chapel service, and a sit-down lunch in the books, now is the time to switch gears and relax a little. Today you’re meeting with your math teacher for extra help. That question about how much load a bridge can handle is turning out to be harder than you anticipated, but you don’t have to figure it out alone. Tomorrow this is your club block. Don’t forget you’ll be planning our upcoming Relay for Life event.

3:10 PM

Extracurriculars

When your third and final class ends, your day is just beginning. On your way to rehearsal in Hard Auditorium, you happen to pass your roommate headed down to the lacrosse field. Different ways to spend your time, but the lessons are the same. At Pomfret, friendships are forged, teams are made, and leaders are born in the afternoon.

6:12 PM

Advisory Dinner

It happens to be Monday, so dinner will be at your advisor’s house. Just a handful of classmates, your advisor, and her family. This is your home-away-from-home. Your second family. When you want to celebrate or need advice, you can always come here. Oh, and it’s pizza night. Yum!

8:20 PM

Study Hall

After all that food and conversation, it’s time to prepare for tomorrow’s classes. Hang in your dorm, head over to the library, or visit one of our peer tutoring centers.

10:11 PM

Being Together

When study hall is over, the smell of something chocolaty wafts up the hallway, so you wander down to the common room where your dorm parent is waiting — with cupcakes! This is where your day will end, laughing and talking with your dormmates, eating cupcakes on the couch. And many years from now, when all the other memories grow a little bit fuzzy, this may be the moment that holds its focus a little longer than the rest — just you and your friends, being together.

10:36 PM

Lights Out

You’re lying in bed. The dorm is quiet. And through an open window you can see more stars than you thought possible. And now you’re thinking about that bridge buckling and how everyone teared up a little bit at chapel this morning and how good those cupcakes tasted. And then, in the blink of an eye, your lids grow heavy and the day is done.