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Starting to think about finding the right school for your son or daughter? Join us for an Open House! You'll meet our staff, tour our beautiful campus, and learn about our programs. The academic program at Dexter Southfield emphasizes continual growth through active inquiry, critical thinking, and connections. Students explore, create, and collaborate while they gain essential skills for the 21st century. With a strong base of subjects – English, math, science, social studies, Latin, modern languages, and arts – students grow into independent learners who draw on perspectives from around the world. Also, through ongoing practice in public speaking, they gain the ability to take what they believe and lead with confidence. By processing information, communicating effectively, and innovating, they eagerly meet new challenges and find solutions that work. As a result, students at Dexter Southfield enjoy both the process of continuous learning and the achievements of their creativity. Throughout the school, there is a steady progression of skills and content that develops versatility and depth. Students experiment and play while they understand new information and recognize patterns. They apply new expertise, master logical organization, and uncover the answers to "why?" As they move through Dexter Southfield, they analyze material, consider different points of view, ask their new questions, and evaluate their findings. Continually, they inquire, explore, draw conclusions, and keep inventing. At Dexter Southfield, boys and girls enjoy the best of both worlds. In the lower and middle schools, they thrive in single-sex classes, which play to their particular strengths and learning styles while reducing distractions and stereotypes. In the upper school, students progress to co-ed classes. More than 76 percent of upper school classes are co-ed, as are leadership opportunities and activities in the performing arts, community service, student council, yearbook, and other student publications. The co-educational model allows us to expand the program in the upper school to offer more Honors and AP courses, electives, and off-campus opportunities. Our co-ed upper school is made stronger by single-sex features like athletics, public speaking, assemblies, advisory, and health and wellness classes. In every grade, the academic and co-curricular expectations are just as vital for both boys and girls, even as they take different journeys to reach their goals, with learning experiences tailored to each group's needs. Students develop a sense of leadership early in their time at Dexter Southfield by seeing the value of stepping forward for good reasons, large and small. In addition to knowing the right thing to do, Dexter Southfield students learn to use judgment and take the initiative. Leadership development is tailored for boys and girls, and in the middle and upper schools, the two groups of class officers meet both separately and together. Our unique educational model progresses from single-sex education in Pre-Kindergarten through grade 5 to coordinate single-sex programs in the middle school. Finally, a co-educational upper school that also benefits from single-sex program features. And, yet, a Dexter Southfield education does not end there. We place a high value on developing character, compassion, and communication – skills that last a lifetime. This is a School where tradition meets innovation. Here, an engineering enthusiast can discover a love of Latin while exploring new interests in the arts and practicing a new sport. We provide our students with endless possibilities and let them do the rest. It is quite amazing to watch – and we invite you to do so. View full school