Young Scholars at The Taft School

Students enrol in three academic classes and one elective chosen after arrival. Teaching is in small sections, and coursework begins in class so that students can ask questions while the teacher is present; about two hours of work is expected during evening study hall. Taft does not award academic credit for summer courses, but it will forward a syllabus and final reports to a student’s own school on request.

The fee is all-inclusive: tuition, room and board, textbooks and lab fees, and all school-wide trips and activities including weekend excursions. A non-refundable application fee and an enrolment deposit are payable separately, and the deposit is credited against tuition. International students are additionally required to deposit an amount for mandatory health insurance, set by the school. Limited need-based financial assistance is available to full-time students from the United States.

Participants live in one of the two residential halls used during the summer, on a floor with students of the same age and gender; typically everyone is assigned a roommate. Dormitory faculty and interns are present in the buildings, and evening study halls are structured. About nine in ten students on the summer programme live on campus.

Full board on campus. The school’s dining facilities serve a daily variety of fresh menu options, with breakfast before the first class, lunch in the middle of the day and dinner after afternoon sports.

Afternoon athletics are entirely recreational and students may pick a different activity each week; typical offerings include soccer, basketball, volleyball, tennis, squash, running, weight training, aerobics and ultimate frisbee. The arts programme covers theatre, photography, pottery, studio art and video, and all students submit work to the end-of-term art show. Weekends bring on-campus events and day trips — amusement parks, Boston, New York City and New England university visits among them.

The campus covers 226 acres. Facilities used by the summer programme include two residential halls, a science and mathematics centre, a 53,000-volume library, a language lab, a black-box theatre, photography dark rooms and an art studio, a 24-hour health centre, dining facilities and a student union, an athletic fieldhouse with indoor tennis and basketball courts and an indoor track, a cardio and weight-training room, an all-weather track, twelve all-weather tennis courts with four pickleball courts, eight squash courts and multiple playing fields.

Because the buildings stand close together, students live where they learn. Class sizes are small and faculty are present through the day and in the dormitories in the evening; advisors, senior teachers and admissions officers are available to students who are considering boarding school full time. Parents receive a description of the work covered in each course and a report on their child’s progress at the end of the session.