The MacDuffie School

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The MacDuffie School is a co-educational college preparatory school for grades 6 – 12 offering a challenging academic curriculum as well as leadership opportunities and a wide range of extracurricular programs in the arts, athletics, and community service.

MacDuffie students hail from as far away as Thailand and Mainland China and as near as Amherst and Belchertown in the Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts. Our graduates attend some of the country’s most selective colleges and universities and continue on to successful, rewarding careers. Today the School upholds the MacDuffies’ original college preparatory vision by making intellectual habits, ethics, and diversity integral to the educational experience of each student.

The MacDuffie School is a special place, and it all begins with our mission: To foster in all students the intellectual habits of mind, high ethical standards, and respect for diversity required for becoming effective individuals in their personal and work lives, and moral and responsible participants in the world beyond.

Our mission speaks to more than just academics it speaks to the foundation of a well-rounded global citizen. Sound intellectual habits, a sense of ethics, and respect for the diverse world in which we live are pillars of enrichment. We build on those pillars through our school values of CIRCLE (Community, Integrity, Respect, Creativity, Leadership, and Excellence). Each course, activity, and tradition at MacDuffie promotes the CIRCLE values in some fashion, from the leadership component of our curriculum to student-produced events in the Arts department to our annual Heart Week community-bonding tradition.

We balance a rigorous academic program with a warm and caring community. Our students come to us from the Pioneer Valley and across the globe. MacDuffie embraces the uniqueness of each student to create an inclusive environment both our small class sizes (an average of 11 students) and our small school size (approximately 300) allows every student to be known by every adult. The result is meaningful connections that have a great impact on each student’s educational experience.

Although our academic standards are demanding, students are nurtured by their community every step of the way. Our Path to Excellence Advisor Program helps students understand and adopt our CIRCLE values and provides each student with faculty and peer support during their time at MacDuffie.

MacDuffie is a small school community with big school opportunities. Our students are welcome to participate in a broad range of activities (Model UN, Film Club, and Chess Club, to name a few) this helps our students discover their own passions and provides them with hands-on leadership experience. A sense of community and a wealth of choices exist side by side at MacDuffie.

The MacDuffie School has a long tradition of providing a rigorous academic college preparatory program. Our curriculum is designed around the liberal arts tradition where students are educated in many subjects and have opportunities for integrated learning experiences. We facilitate this through small class sizes and student groups created according to abilities and interest.

Students at The MacDuffie School will find a curriculum that includes a focus on leadership development, global stewardship, and appreciation for diversity. The curricular emphasis on critical thinking and writing skills prepare students for the next step in their academic career extracurricular and co-curricular programs nurture talents and interests to ensure that students have a well-rounded educational experience. In particular, students have the opportunity to work both collaboratively and independently in their coursework as well as in community and service learning programs, as the skills they learn in these settings translate well to postgraduate life.

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