Academic Program

South Kent School is committed to academic excellence and expects that all students are capable of and desire to pursue post-secondary study. We provide a traditional college-preparatory program, including advanced courses. Our graduates join the larger world with the tools and skills to accept life’s challenges. We value courage, honesty, respect, self-awareness, consideration of others, self-reliance, risk-taking, goal-setting, and self-advocacy.

One of the things that students like best about South Kent School is that learning here is more than just reading books or listening to lectures. Teachers engage students in thoughtful discussions, encourage them to ask questions and think. Learning here involves field trips, interesting projects where students use their hands as well as their brains. Using computers, experimenting in a laboratory, acting in a play, working at a real job and brainstorming with friends are all part of the learning process at South Kent.

Our classes are small, usually eight students. Teachers live on campus and serve as advisors, coaches and dorm parents. They get to know the students, and they're here to help. Each student has a faculty advisor who meets with him weekly and helps him get the most from South Kent's education.

We use what we call form-based programming to engage and challenge each age group. Programming for Third and Fourth Forms is interdisciplinary and inquiry-based, while programming for the Fifth and Sixth Forms is more traditional but includes continued Form activities.

Faculty Advisors

South Kent School understands the vital role of adult mentors in the lives of young men. At the beginning of the year, each student is assigned a faculty advisor who is a member of his form teaching team. Faculty advisors help students to plan their academic programs, review with them their weekly Quality and Effort Cards, and serve as a source of adult support and advice. They work in partnership with parents to help each boy achieve his personal goals.

Effort System

At South Kent School, a boy’s efforts are recognized through an effort rating system that encompasses just about every facet of school life. There are two sections of the effort system – for academics on a weekly basis and for community life each marking period. We believe that it is important to recognize young men who meet their commitments, are responsible, and show initiative, even though they may be struggling to achieve high quality results. We hope that success in the process of learning will eventually yield success in the product.

Our academic effort system is built around the weekly “Effort Evaluations” that are submitted by classroom teachers. The student’s effort in each class is assessed on a scale ranging from Outstanding (1) to Poor (5), based on clear criteria.

A similar scale is used at the end of each marking period to assess a boy’s performance in other important parts of his life at South Kent: athletics, jobs, dormitory, and general citizenship. The top ten students are rewarded with additional school privileges.

Cum Laude Society

The Cum Laude Society is a national honor society formed in 1907. Modeled on Phi Beta Kappa, it is designed to encourage and recognize learning and sound scholarship in secondary school. Chapters of the Cum Laude Society are established only in schools of excellent academic quality. South Kent School elects as members those students in the Sixth Form year who demonstrate outstanding academic achievement and who have maintained an honors record throughout their high school career. Election to the Cum Laude Society is one of the highest honors South Kent bestows on its students.

Graduation Requirements

South Kent graduates are well prepared for academic work at the collegiate level and have carried a challenging class load.

Minimum requirements include:

English 4 credits

Mathematics (Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II) 3 credits

History (to include U.S. History) 2 credits

Foreign Language 2 credits

Science (to include a lab science) 2 credits

Art/Media/Drama/Music l credit

Electives 4 credits