Avon Old Farms School is an all boys secular boarding and day school located in Avon, Connecticut. The current enrollment includes 294 boarding students and 91 day students.
We are a dynamic community of learning which challenges boys to stretch themselves and to explore untapped potential in their journey to manhood. Mentored by a dedicated, talented faculty who offer successful models for our students to emulate, Avonians develop the self-confidence to cope with the anxieties of adolescence and to forge the critical foundations of adult identity.
Our School motto: "Aspirando et Perseverando," effectively communicates our expectations for students; in every aspect of a boy's life, we expect him to strive consistently for his best. Our core values of honesty, integrity, and service permeate life at Avon and remain with our graduates throughout their lives. Our magnificent campus, with its distinctive Cotswold architecture, accentuates the traditional approach to education which is so successful here.
As a boys' boarding school, our programs are designed specifically to help young men focus on their development at a time in life when distractions abound. Although numerous opportunities exist for our students to interact with girls from Miss Porter's, Ethel Walker's and other nearby schools, boys are free to live and learn in our structured, supportive environment. In an all-boys context, our students embrace scholastic challenges and compete in the athletic arena while feeling safe exploring the arts, experimenting with poetry, expressing school spirit, and just being themselves.
Avon's academic program is anchored in the liberal arts and we require our students to explore fully the major disciplines in order to prepare for the intellectual rigor of college. The diversity of our student body is impressive, with students from some 30 states and over a dozen foreign countries. The rich array of cultures coexisting within our small community is charged with significant learning opportunities. The rapport that exists between faculty and students is exceptional, and the bonds developed among our students are lasting.
On this website you will read descriptions and view images that will better inform you about Avon Old Farms. However, only a visit to campus will truly illuminate the special characteristics that make us a unique school. We look forward to hosting you.
Avon Old Farms is a student-centered school; its mission is the education of adolescent males. To this end, Avon seeks to create a structured and supportive environment advantageous to the intellectual and physical growth as well as the social and moral development of young men.
Avon offers a thorough, straightforward, and structured program to students diverse in their academic abilities. In their efforts to succeed, all students are at once challenged and supported by faculty members who are consistently available to students for extra help outside the classroom. Avon believes that this approach, designed to nurture self-confidence and a healthy sense of self-worth, is excellent preparation for the demands and rigors of college.
Augmenting this pedagogical strategy, a broad athletic program emphasizes participation and intensity of play at all levels of ability and fosters self-esteem, teamwork and school spirit. Avon also offers extensive programs in the visual arts, music, and drama to support diverse interests and to encourage individual artistic expression. To promote a sense of the dignity of service, a work program within the school community provides each student with a job which he must complete satisfactorily and regularly. Through this commitment, a young man learns to accept personal responsibility and to feel a sense of involvement with his peers, his supervisors, and the school community at large.
Avon’s finest attributes lie in the strength, vitality, and coherence of its community, while the uniqueness of the architecture feeds and sustains a “sense of place.” The school’s size allows a family atmosphere to develop with faculty who interact with students regularly on the varied levels of teacher, coach, and advisor. Faculty members serve as role models for the students through this continual student/faculty interaction. Faculty families are an integral part of Avon’s vibrant community. A strong sense of belonging pervades the students, faculty, and administration of this single-sex school -- a sense of pride in being “Men of Avon.”
A strong code of ethics permeates the entire school program at Avon. Clearly articulated and consistent guidelines for behavior reinforce honesty, self-discipline, respect for self and others, and acceptable manners.
In the tradition of Avon’s motto, Aspirando et Perseverando, Avon continues to see its mission as one of structuring reasonable goals for its students and of supporting them in their efforts to succeed. This dynamic is the essence of the educational process at Avon Old Farms.
