At a Glance

• Philosophy: At Shady Hill, we honor the character and spirit of each child and encourage independent thinking in our students. Our program respects the pace of childhood, and our School creates a culture in which children feel free to take risks.

• Curriculum: Advocating depth over breadth, we stress the relationships among many areas of learning and use original source materials, rather than textbooks. Central Subject, a distinctive method of teaching at Shady Hill, is an integrated approach to a people via their history, literature, geography, and arts. 

• World Languages: French, Mandarin, and Spanish offered beginning in Grade 7. 

• Sports: The program includes movement education and physical education, as well as a broad variety of intramural and interscholastic team sports. 

• Afterschool Program: Available daily until 6:00 PM. 

• Teacher Training Center: An on-site, certifying program in which SHS master teachers mentor graduate-level "apprentices" who are preparing for a career in education. 

The School admits qualified students of any race, color, national or ethnic origin, sex, religion, disability, gender identity or sexual orientation to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the School. The School does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national or ethnic origin, sex, religion, disability, gender identity or sexual orientation, or any other status protected by applicable law in the administration of its educational, admissions, financial aid, athletic and other policies and programs.

In 1915, The Cooperative Open Air School opened at 16 Quincy Street in Cambridge, on the back porch of a home owned by Ernest and Agnes Hocking. The school was started by Harvard-affiliated parents whose children had attended the Agassiz School, a public school in Cambridge that was slated for renovation. The parents, joined by two or three "professional" teachers, instructed the children in arithmetic, history, geography, poetry, music, French, biology, carpentry and drawing. It was the first independent, coeducational elementary school in the Boston area.

By 1917, the enrollment had grown too large for the back porch; the school purchased a portion of the Charles Eliot Norton estate at the corner of Scott and Holden Streets in Cambridge. In this location — Shady Hill Square — the enrollment grew even further. In 1924, the parents purchased the school's present location on Coolidge Hill in Cambridge. The Cooperative Open Air School officially became Shady Hill School in 1925.

The school's progressive roots came from the founding families' enthusiasm for the writings of John Dewey and other leading educators of the time. The founders were committed to the use of original source materials, a "spirit of simplicity and devotion to learning," and the idea of freedom coupled with responsibility. The school's progressive teaching philosophy has attracted a succession of master-teachers to its faculty and generations of devoted parents to its constituency.

In 2015-2016, we celebrated Shady Hill's 100th birthday with a series of events that combined tradition and a look back at our past with a look ahead to our future.