Coordinates: 42°44′28″N 71°56′24″W / 42.74111°N 71.94°W / 42.74111; -71.94 Hampshire Country School is a private boarding school for gifted children in Rindge, New Hampshire, started by Henry Curtis Patey and Adelaide Walker Patey in 1948. Formerly a co-educational school, it is designed now as a boarding school for boys between 8 and 17 years with high ability who have difficulty in other settings. The majority of the students are enrolled in grades 6 and 9. Populations served include students with Asperger syndrome, nonverbal learning disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Hampshire Country School is a place for boys with high intellectual ability that has not been realized and with idiosyncrasies that may have become major problems for them adjusting to more traditional settings. The school provides an unusual environment in which those problems are no longer as significant—not because they have been “fixed,” but because the school's focus is on the bright, active, engaged, and engaging side of each child rather than on his quirks or limitations.
For over 60 years, Hampshire Country School has been educating children of high intellectual ability who need a friendly environment and an unusual amount of adult attention. It is a family-style boarding school for 25 boys, mostly of middle school age, from all parts of the country. Classes are traditional but small (3 to 6 students). The 1,700-acre (6.9 km2) campus includes modest buildings, three lakes, and a small mountain. Daily life is very structured, with after-school and weekend activities plus time for organized outdoor and indoor play. It is here that many students find their first real friends and playmates.
In August 2009, Bernd Foecking became the school's fifth headmaster, following founders Henry and Adelaide Patey (1948-1981), Peter Ray (1981-1996), and William Dickerman (1996-2009). With the appointment of Mr. Foecking, the school continues its tradition of selecting headmasters with years of experience at the school and a full understanding of the school's mission and students. Mr. Dickerman continues at the school as admissions director and a faculty member.
The school has a five week summer program for boys between 8 and 14 years of age.
The school operates a small farm as part of the academic and residential program.
The school has entered into an agreement with the Northeast Wilderness Trust to protect the grounds in perpetuity. These grounds were originally a farm. The Wapack Trail runs through the Stony Top mountain ridge on one portion of the grounds.
Read more about Hampshire Country School: History
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“A sturdy lad from New Hampshire or Vermont who in turn tries all the professions, who teams it, farms it, peddles, keeps a school, preaches, edits a newspaper, goes to Congress, buys a township, and so forth, in successive years, and always like a cat falls on his feet, is worth a hundred of these city dolls. He walks abreast with his days and feels no shame in not “studying a profession,” for he does not postpone his life, but lives already.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
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—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)
“The first rule of education for me was discipline. Discipline is the keynote to learning. Discipline has been the great factor in my life. I discipline myself to do everything—getting up in the morning, walking, dancing, exercise. If you won’t have discipline, you won’t have a nation. We can’t have permissiveness. When someone comes in and says, “Oh, your room is so quiet,” I know I’ve been successful.”
—Rose Hoffman, U.S. public school third-grade teacher. As quoted in Working, book 8, by Studs Terkel (1973)