Shady Hill School

Shady Hill is a coeducational Pre-K through 8th Grade day school on 11 acres in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Our unique village-style campus is a collection of child-scaled buildings set around courtyards and greens with a web of connecting pathways, play spaces, athletic fields, and wildlife areas. Originating in 1915 on the back porch of Harvard Professor Ernest Hocking and his wife, Agnes Hocking, the goal was for children to experience an education enriched by the same kind of open-mindedness, inquiry, intellectual rigor, and passion for learning that they valued in their own experiences. Today, the school continues to strike a balance between innovation and tradition. The curriculum is built around Central Subject—a year-long, in-depth study of a people, period of history, an idea or movement—and stresses the interrelationships of many disciplines and the use of original sources. Each grade's Central Subject has been purposefully designed around the developmental stage of that particular age to captivate and challenge students. Through exploration and discovery, rigorous and engaging activities, the mastery of skills, purposeful dialogue and meticulous guidance, our students develop into independent, critical thinkers and life-long learners. Our beliefs in a diverse and inclusive community, cooperation and collaboration, self reflection, and individual responsibility help students grow into confident, ethical citizens of the school and the world beyond.