Fay School

Founded in 1866, Fay is the first junior boarding school in the United States.

Divisions

Primary School

Kindergarten - Grade 2

Lower School

Grades 3-6

Upper School

Grades 7-9

Enrollment

Total Enrollment

475 boys and girls

Boarding Students

150 (grades 7-9) from over 20 countries and across the U.S.

Day Students

325 from 49 surrounding towns

Campus

• Located in Southborough, MA, 25 miles west of Boston
• 30-acre main campus and 36-acre athletic campus
• 10 fields, 8 tennis courts, 4 basketball courts, 2 outdoor heated pools, and outdoor high and low ropes courses
• 2 fitness centers, indoor turf facility, and indoor rock climbing wall
• 7,000 square-foot Center for Creativity and Design
• 2 libraries with over 18,000 books
• 7 dorms for boarding students

Academics at Fay

Fay is organized into three divisions:
 

Primary School (Kindergarten through grade two)
Lower School (grades three through six)
Upper School (grades seven through nine)
 

Within each division, teachers work closely across grades and across disciplines to create a rich program that teaches foundational skills while also supporting critical thinking and creativity. Fay teachers believe in making learning "serious fun" - engaging, meaningful, authentic, and appropriately challenging.
 

Fay’s traditional curriculum is balanced with an innovative focus on creativity and design in every discipline. In every grade, students participate in classes where students are challenged to identify problems, think creatively, and iterate and test solutions. Many of these classes take place in Fay School’s Center, Creativity and Design a 7,000 square-foot space with dedicated spaces for designing, fabrication, and tinkering. Over the course of their time at Fay, students create projects that incorporate a range of graphic medium and materials, including CAD / CAM, electronics, robotic control, wood, metal, plastic, paper and textiles. In Primary and Lower School, the Creativity and Design curriculum is integrated across the disciplines. In Upper School, the Creativity and Design program is formalized as a series of standalone classes

Primary School: Kindergarten - Grade 2

The Primary School program at Fay, which serves children in Kindergarten through grade two, truly stands out among private elementary schools in Southborough and the Metro-West area.

In small classes and intimate homeroom settings, students build skills in reading, writing, mathematics, and social studies. Students also meet with specialists each week for classes in science, art, music, library, and physical education.

In Kindergarten, teachers use an inquiry-based approach that incorporates the design process: Find, Define, Ideate, Make, and Evaluate. Student learning in language arts and mathematics is structured around a topic of interest that the children wish to pursue in depth. Inquiries in past years have included woodworking, pets, and musical instruments. These themes provide a foundation for student research, exploration, and hands-on projects.

In first and second grade, the structured program helps students build and solidify foundational reading, writing, and math skills as they prepare for the transition to third grade and Lower School.

Lower School: Grades 3-6

Fay’s Lower School is composed of grades three through six. These students participate in a structured and challenging curriculum within a program that is flexible enough to accommodate differences in skill sets, learning styles, and individual interests. Lower School students begin to develop study habits that will serve them throughout their lives. They improve their reading, writing, and reasoning skills while mastering age-appropriate content. Lower School children discover that learning can be fun—and they come to understand that there is a tremendous satisfaction in putting forth one’s best effort, taking on increasingly difficult challenges, becoming an independent learner, and finding the keys to personal and intellectual growth.

Lower School students are engaged in an investigative style of learning, and they learn to meet high standards and demonstrate proficiency in their studies. They are encouraged to stretch themselves and take intellectual risks, knowing they will be supported by teachers and friends in a learning environment that values academic achievement, social responsibility, and consistent effort to be one’s “best self.”

Upper School: Grades 7-9

Fay’s Upper School consists of grades seven through nine. Students from across the United States and more than 20 countries come here to participate in a learning community that is internationally respected for its excellent academics, its commitment to tradition and innovation, the high quality of its boarding program, and its strong secondary school counseling program.

From the seventh grade onward, students experience increasingly demanding academic requirements. Every student works closely with a faculty advisor who serves as a counselor and point person for the student's team of teachers.

Upper School students take courses on a six-day rotation, in an engaging program that includes mathematics, English, history, science, world language, art, Creators, and music. Students are assigned to some courses based on their grade level; students are enrolled in other courses (such as math and world language) based on their level of proficiency. Additionally, some courses are open to students as electives.

Sharing Meals, Building Community

Dining is an important and longstanding tradition at Fay. Students gather each day in one of our two dining rooms on campus for family-style meals. It is a wonderful time of day to relax, reconnect with friends, and reinforce the importance of courtesy and manners.

The lunch tables are supervised by faculty and staff, and every two weeks, students are assigned to a different table, as a way to encourage them to make new friends and build connections across the community. In grades three through nine, students take turns as waiters (in the New England boarding school tradition), helping to set the table, serve, and clear plates, and Upper School students also volunteer to help in the Primary School Dining Room during lunch periods.