Purnell School

President: Ayanna Hill-Gill

School Type: All-girls day and boarding high school

Founded: 1963

Ages/Grades: Grades 9-12

School Setting: Purnell School is located in Pottersville, New Jersey an hour west of New York City and two hours north of Philadelphia. The school is right down the road from the headquarters of the United States Equestrian Team. The countryside around Purnell is horse and farm country, with picturesque rolling hills and deciduous forests. Rivers and streams meander across the landscape and even across our beautiful 83-acre campus. Purnell is safely nestled away from the distractions of the city yet close enough to take advantage of the cultural attractions on weekends. The location is truly remarkable: close to the excitement and intellectual vibrancy of metropolitan areas yet removed enough to create a safe, reflective and inspirational atmosphere where growing girls thrive.

School Size: 125

Classroom Size: 10-12

Student/Teacher Ratio: 6:1

Tuition: 48,000

Financial Aid: Yes

Curriculum:

Purnell emphasizes that all students are capable of learning. Our instructional methods allow students to discover their own learning styles and to become proactive in their learning process. Classroom requirements and activities are supportive of the development of effective study habits. Instruction is thoughtfully designed to help girls find their passions, and explore paths to learning that will lead to success in college and beyond.

Our English and history courses encourage students to develop critical reading, writing and thinking skills. A strong emphasis is placed on gaining a deeper understanding of the variety of human experience and communicating that understanding clearly.

Math and science follow a college preparatory sequence, but are taught with hands-on, collaborative approaches. Girls are encouraged not only to find solutions, but also to understand all the facets of the problems themselves.

The arts are not add-ons to the curriculum. Instead they are both integrated into other coursework and explored fully in outstanding studio and performing arts programs.

Percentage of Graduating Class: 99%

Support Services: At Purnell, our Learning Center approach differentiates us from other schools. Our mission at the LEC is to discover the different learning style of each student and to demystify the learning process for her so that her full potential can be reached. Our Center combines innovative programs and state of the art resources to promote an optimal learning experience for each student. Using Dr. Mel Levine's All Kinds of Minds® program, the LEC is committed to discovering all students' strengths and styles of learning. We then use this information to address challenges students may be experiencing and help them to develop a higher cognitive thinking process. Concurrently, the LEC is dedicated to enriching the curriculum for those students who are working above and beyond their class.

School Clubs:

Art, Dance, Roots and Shoots Community Service Club, Greens Environmental Club, Kntting, Peer Leaders, Doorknocker Student Tour Guides, Big Sisters, Steppers, Technical Theater

Uniform Guidelines: Navy blue Purnell sweater, white oxford, blue blazer and dark denim jeans, kilt or jumper

Admissions Requirements:

Purnell accepts applicants who are eager to fully engage in all that the school has to offer. We accept girls on a rolling admissions basis throughout the year. An application is suggested before visiting the school. Inquiries are welcome and candidates should telephone for an appointment with the admissions office.

Mission Statement:

Purnell School's mission is to educate young women in grades nine through twelve whose potential has not previously been realized and to prepare them for college. Students learn to be ethical, independent, self-confident young women with a greater appreciation of the world around them. They understand how to be successful in a creative, supportive, and reflective environment that encompasses not only their lives in the classroom, but also their pride as participants in a vibrant residential community. Dedicated faculty act as mentors who understand how all types of minds learn. They teach and model the School's three founding guidelines:

Consideration of Others
Truthfulness in All Relations
Use of Common Sense

Philosophy/Belief Statement:

Because some girls need to discover success in a different way than those provided by traditional, competitive and large high schools. At Purnell, we offer a girl a chance to discover what she does best and to become the best she can at it. At Purnell, every girl "sits in the front row." Teachers practice what works best for girls and teach their classes in interesting, interactive ways. As a result, girls are engaged in learning and they feel successful in the classroom.

At Purnell, girls are encouraged to try new things and when they do they feel the support of their peers and teachers. Purnell is a place where one can grow into the woman she is meant to be, find a college that is right for her and learn important values to help her live a meaningful life. Be yourself, explore your strengths, find success, discover Purnell.

School History: More than 40 years ago, the Headmaster of Far Hills Country Day School, Lytt Gould, and his wife, Sis, traveled to various independent secondary schools in the mid-Atlantic and New England states, looking for a place which, in Lytt's words, was intended for the "salt of the earth girls." Not finding a school which supplied the answer to their search, the Goulds' dream of Purnell began taking shape in the summer of 1962 through a series of fortuitous events. It was in December of 1963 that a not-for-profit corporation, Purnell, was established; and its founders were named. In September of 1965, Headmaster Lytt Gould and Associate Head Sis Gould greeted the first entering class of 18 students. The following year, a second class was added, and again a third, so that in June, 1968, Purnell celebrated its first graduation. With a strong, carefully researched foundation, and an educational niche to fill, Purnell has developed from its inauspicious start to an unequalled independent girls' school, respected and admired from a distance, and loved from within.