The Waterford School

Waterford School provides liberal arts college-preparatory education for students in Preschool through Grade 12, serving students from Salt Lake City, Holladay, Sandy, Draper, Park City, Utah County, and throughout the Wasatch front. Founded in 1981, the school instills independent thought, responsibility, and service as it helps students lay a solid foundation for college and prepares them to lead purposeful and honorable lives. Parents trust Waterford to deliver adequate education based on the richness of its curriculum, the quality of its faculty, its students' commitment, and the safety of its environment. Using classical ideals for learning and life, Waterford teachers measure their effectiveness by each student's growth and development.
At Waterford, students are asked to think critically, take risks, and pursue their passions in a safe and supportive environment. Our students take full advantage of the breadth of programs offered at Waterford; it is not uncommon to see a student toting a cello and lacrosse stick across the main quad or the captain of the robotics team performing in the spring ballet.
From the first day of Preschool to Commencement, Waterford's well-crafted vertical curriculum weaves diverse subjects into a meaningful educational journey that prepares students for higher education and an increasingly interconnected and interdependent world. Academics, fine arts, and athletics, however, are only part of the Waterford experience. Waterford is committed to the social and ethical development of its students to developing habits of the mind and the heart. At Waterford, learning is accompanied by the responsibility to live a life dedicated to improving oneself and others.
Waterford is a community of students, faculty, and parents. Here, learning occurs in others' contexts, where ideas, thoughts, and voices are shared and exchanged. Every member of our community is valued as an independent thinker. Our extraordinary faculty are instrumental in guiding student learning and empowering students to become their own best teachers. The dynamic partnership between faculty and students enables our students to achieve academic excellence and develop a lifelong passion for knowledge.
The Waterford School provides every student with a rich educational experience in Preschool and culminates at Commencement. Throughout their Waterford journey, our students discover the joys of learning and the importance of service to others. They develop into poised and passionate young adults equipped to lead meaningful lives.
Through every stage of development, the Waterford experience affects a child's life. Bold, insightful teachers with impeccable credentials teach students to think clearly and critically about themselves and the world around them. Diverse subjects and a rigorous curriculum are integrated into a meaningful tapestry of knowledge. And a range of broad and deep programs – from music, theater, and dance to international travel and competitive sports – enables students to explore their interests, form lifelong friendships, and discover new opportunities.
At Waterford, these elements combine to create an environment where learning becomes an adventure. Where academic excellence becomes a natural byproduct of a deep passion for knowledge and understanding. And where academics, fine arts, sports, and social development become parts of a unified and meaningful educational experience.
LEARNING is its reason for being, its passion, its whole point. At Waterford, students learn to learn. They are taught and encouraged to be self-reflective in their learning, acquire a repertory of learning methods, and deploy them across subject matter that ranges widely and is freshly challenging. In the process, students gain a self-competence that will sustain a lifetime of learning.
The recognition of responsibility enhances LEARNING. Students value strong expectations that emphasize work, self-discipline, and dependability. Accountability for one's learning further encourages the realization that learning is inherently communal and connected: students and faculty are in it together. Though one can become accomplished as one's teacher, learning necessarily occurs in the context of other persons, their ideas and voices, historical and contemporary. Learning is, therefore, invariably indebted.
LEARNING is inescapably moral. All learning bears on living and ultimately on how best to live. Aside from the natural imperative to learn, there is also the profound responsibility to share one's learning with others hoping that they will be lifted; thereby, making their lives more prosperous and more fulfilled. There is no end to learning, nor is it an end. Instead, learning is how humanity acquires the nobility of a well-lived life.
To pursue this affirmation, continually engage and refine it first on its campus with its students, faculty, and curriculum. In the world at large, is the mission of The Waterford School.