Pomfret School
Address
Map
398 Pomfret Street

Pomfret
,
Connecticut
06258

United States
Coordinates41°53′10″N 71°57′54″W / 41.8862°N 71.9651°W / 41.8862; -71.9651
Information
TypePrivate, Coeducational, Secondary, Boarding
MottoCerta Viriliter
(Strive Valiantly)
Established1894 (130 years ago) (1894)
FounderWilliam E. Peck
CEEB code070615
ChairmanJustin P. Klein
Head of schoolJ. Timothy Richards
Grades9–12, postgraduate
Enrollment350[1]
Campus typeRural
Student Union/AssociationOlmsted Student Union Pomfret Alumni Association
Color(s)Red and black
  
Athletics42 interscholastic teams
MascotGriffin
NewspaperPontefract
Websitewww.pomfret.org

Pomfret School is an independent, coeducational, college preparatory boarding and day school in Pomfret, Connecticut, United States, serving 350 students in grades 9 through 12 and post-graduates. Located in the Pomfret Street Historic District, the average class size is 12 students with a student–teacher ratio of 6:1. Over 80% of faculty hold master's degrees or doctorates. Typically, 40% of students receive financial aid or support from over 60 endowed scholarship funds (see Endowed scholarships), 20% are students of color, 21% are international students.[1]

The school opened on October 3, 1894,[2][3] founded by William E. Peck and his wife Harriet.[3]

Historical background

Architectural rendering and facilities plan of Pomfret School c. 1906
Construction of the George Newhall Clark '04 Memorial Chapel at Pomfret School c. 1908

In the first decade of the 1900s, Pomfret was transformed from mainly Colonial Revival buildings to a "planned institution."[4] By 1906, architect Ernest Flagg had designed a master plan for the school.[4] The pavilion arrangement reflected the influence of Thomas Jefferson's design for the University of Virginia.

For the chapel, commissioned by Edward Clark in 1907, Flagg chose Norman architecture as an appropriate model and emulated the rich textures of the unpolished stone-work characteristic of that style.[5]

Following a visit to the campus in 1910, when construction was nearing completion, Flagg compared Pomfret to his design of the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, remarking, "The school is better architecturally than Annapolis." While his design for Annapolis had been repeatedly altered by the Navy during construction, the work at Pomfret scrupulously followed his design.[6] Flagg hoped that his work for Pomfret would set a trend and lead to a "national style of architecture."[6]

The Pomfret's coat of arms was designed by Harriet Peck Jones, wife of founder and first Headmaster William E. Peck. She had contacted members of the Fermor family, holders of the earldom of Pomfret in England. They expressed an interest in the new school, and hoped the school's coat of arms would be that of their family: Argent, a fess sable (black) between three lions' heads erased gules (red).[7]

Adam Hochschild, who attended Pomfret in the 1950s, described it in 1982 as one of about twenty select American schools, all built around 1900 or before, which were until the 1960s "upper-class single-sex boarding schools". He added that it was, at the time, "basically a school for the rich."[8]

Hochschild's perspective may have been accurate in the 1950's, but the school has gradually attracted a significantly more diverse student body. In the 2023-24 school year, for example, Pomfret awarded $5 million in financial aid to 37% of the student body. [9]

Campus

The 500 acre campus, established in 1894, was designed by landscape designer Frederick Law Olmsted,[10] and expanded over the years to its current size through gifts and acquisitions. The facility's master plan was designed in 1906 by American architect Ernest Flagg.[11]

Notable buildings

A number of Pomfret's buildings and houses are listed in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP).[12][13]

Holiday Carols in Clark Chapel
The 13th century rose window from St. Julien Cathedral, France, Clark Memorial Chapel

Memorial Chapel

Dedicated on St. George's Day, 1908, and consecrated on May 16, 1909,[14] the chapel was designed by Ernest Flagg[15] and houses three extraordinary stained glass windows from 13th century France.[16][17][18]

The ten-foot-high rose window above the chapel doorway and two of the arched-top, oblong windows along the walls are apparently from the 13th century cathedral, Saint Julien of Tours, on the Loire river in France. The ancient windows were donated to Pomfret in 1947. They are recorded as having been imported to the U.S. in 1904; they were auctioned in New York to an anonymous bidder and installed in Clark Chapel in 1949.[16][17]

du Pont Library

It was designed by Cambridge Seven Associates, finished in 1969, and won many awards.

Jahn Ice Hockey Rink

In 2005, Brown Rink, the original name of the rink, underwent a major renovation and was renamed Jahn Rink after Helmut Jahn, the architect who helped design it. Jahn's son had attended Pomfret.[19][20]

Parsons Lodge

It won the 2010 AIA Connecticut People's Choice Award for “the building in which people would most like to study”; 2009 Best Fireplace Award from Masonry Construction magazine.[21]

Athletics

Pomfret Crew Regatta 2011

A member of the New England Preparatory School Athletic Council (NEPSAC),[22] Pomfret fields 42 teams in 15 different sports[23] and has won numerous championships during its history in both men's and women's sports.[24] Recently, Girls Varsity Volleyball won the 2015 NESPAC Class B Championship.[25] Boys Varsity Hockey won the 2017 NEPSAC Small School Championship.[26]

Arts

Pomfret's arts programs are guided by practicing artists and offer formal classes and other opportunities for training and participation in drawing, painting, digital arts, film and video, sculpture and ceramics, photography, music, theatre, and dance. Performance opportunities are available to all students in theater, dance, and music throughout the year. Facilities include sculpture, ceramics, painting, and drawing studios; rehearsal and practice rooms for dance and music; the Schoppe Dance Studio; Hard Auditorium stage; and a photography laboratory.

The Pomfret Grifftones and Chorus tour within the United States and overseas for concerts; in 2015 they were in Italy where they performed in Florence, Lucca, and St. Stephen's School in Rome, and in the United States at the University of Connecticut (all March 2015).[27]

Crisis in the 1960s and 1970s

Pomfret went through a crisis in the 1960s and 70s, making "desperate fundraising appeals" necessary. Pomfret alumnus Adam Hochschild claimed that since "Pomfret had never been quite in the top rank of New England boarding schools," the economic crisis was even more dire for them. One year, the entering class did not reach the expected (small) number of students. Teachers were compelled to take ten-percent less in pay. Some started planning for the school's closing. In a men's toilet on campus, someone scrawled on the wall over the toilet paper dispenser: “Pomfret diplomas. Take one.”[8]

Sexual misconduct allegations

In 2016, an independent investigation found that four teachers had "likely engaged in sexual misconduct" between the 1970s and 2000s.[28][29] A letter sent out from the school to the community said that the investigation "found four teachers 'more likely than not' engaged in sexual misconduct", and there were "nine other 'credible reports' that teachers engaged in inappropriate behavior", but concluded there was "insufficient information".[29][30] An investigation conducted by the Connecticut State Police into the allegations was closed with no criminal charges being filed.[31][32]

Notable alumni

Edward Stettinius
Ridley Pearson
Sarah vaillancourt.jpg
Sarah Vaillancourt

Notable faculty

References

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External links

New England Preparatory School Athletic Council
Authority control databases
Categories