Girls Boarding High School in New Jersey

Purnell School, New Jersey:
The Purnell School is a private, all-girls boarding high school in Pottersville, Somerset County NJ, an hour west of New York City and two hours north of Philadelphia. Because some girls need to discover success in a different way than those provided by traditional, competitive and large high schools, we offer a girl a chance to discover what she does best and to become the best she can at it. At Purnell, every girl "sits in the front row." Teachers practice what works best for girls and teach their classes in interesting, interactive ways.

Academicsat Purnell - High School Program for Girls in Grades 9-12:
For the past forty years, it has been our mission to nurture and support girls' learning and desire to grow. In the past five years, Purnell has adopted Dr. Mel Levine's All Kinds of Minds program. The program touches all aspects of our school. Additionally, we have created an enrichment program called the Affinities Program.

This program has a distinct curriculum for each girl to discover her interests and strengths. Purnell emphasizes that all students are capable of learning. Our instructional methods allow students to discover their own learning styles and to become proactive in their learning process.

Classroom requirements and activities are supportive of the development of effective study habits. Instruction is thoughtfully designed to help girls find their passions, and explore paths to learning that will lead to success in college and beyond.

Our English and history courses encourage students to develop critical reading, writing and thinking skills. A strong emphasis is placed on gaining a deeper understanding of the variety of human experience and communicating that understanding clearly. 

Math and science follow a college preparatory sequence, but are taught with hand-on, collaborative approaches. Girls are encouraged not only to find solutions, but also to understand all the facets of the problems themselves.

The Affinities Program / Discovering Strengths in Girls:
Purnell's award-winning Affinities Program grows out of a belief that building on a student's strengths is the best way to help her grow into the person she was meant to become. At Purnell School, girls discover their strengths and use them to carve out a path toward a meaningful future.

Some students come to Purnell with specific challenges to overcome and one of the important things we do is provide a framework for each girl to discover how she can address those challenges in healthy and productive ways. But addressing challenge by understanding how one learns is only half of a Purnell education. The other half includes helping each student discover her strengths.

Self-Discovery:
The Affinities Program is really about self-discovery. Self-discovery is the key to helping our students find and create meaning in their lives.

At Purnell, we begin by helping girls understand which activities make them feel strong and then we engage them in those activities over and over again.

The Affinities Program is a four-year program with curriculum that is designed to develop girls' strengths and to help them understand relationships at each grade level. This program is implemented by a fulltime Affinities Coordinator, a role that has been evolving in the school since 2003.

Arts:
Artistic expression is how we communicate meaning, history, passion, pain and the culture of our civilization. Creative expression is a hallmark of a Purnell education and our Performing and Studio Arts Departments offer a variety of experiences and opportunities for the experienced and the developing artist as well as those who simply want to explore. Many of our graduates have attended top art colleges after Purnell.

Several Purnell graduates and some Purnell faculty are professional artists working in their fields. Purnell has extensive course offerings in both the studio and the performing arts as well as a full array of activities, performance opportunities and open studio times.

Athletics:
The overarching mission of the Purnell Athletic Department, guided by the aforementioned goals, is for each individual student to experience the benefits of physical fitness, healthy living, and the camaraderie that comes from being a part of a team.

A variety of athletic activities, from non-competitive offerings to competitive team sports affords Purnell students of every athletic ability and interest the opportunity to find a sport that suits them best.

Purnell's athletic facilities include five outdoor tennis courts, two sport fields, the Sessions softball field and outdoor batting cage, a ropes course and an indoor athletic center.