Boarding High School in California

The Thacher School, Ventura County:
The Thacher School is a coeducational boarding high school for grades 9-12 located in Ojai, 85 miles northwest of Los Angeles in Ventura County, CA. The school serves academically talented students who will benefit from a rigorous college preparatory experience with ACT, SAT and AP courses.

College Preparatory Grades 9-12 Curriculum:
Deeply committed to the intellectual life and the development of its students, Thacher offers an academic program with English, math, science, history, fine arts and modern languages that is both rigorous and flexible. At its core, the program is designed to encourage the best mix of broad, general background and specialized study for each student.

While our basic diploma requirements prepare our students for college-level study, all Thacher students move well beyond this minimum to pursue areas of special interest.

Full engagement with a Thacher education means developing critical thinking skills and learning to communicate effectively, by listening, speaking, and writing well. In all disciplines the classroom experience is intimate—Thacher’s average class size is eleven—and largely discussion based, with students often collaborating on projects.

Still, academic learning at Thacher isn’t confined to the four walls of a traditional classroom. Students and faculty often tackle their subjects elsewhere—exploring a creek to learn about its ecosystem, reading poetry on a grassy lawn, or trekking to the horse barns to practice hands-on veterinary medicine.

Advanced Placement Courses:
Thacher offers a broad and rich array of Advanced Placement (AP) courses, as well as several courses beyond the AP level.

College Preparation Courses:
We offer college prep courses in ACT and SAT.

Study Abroad Program:
Students at Thacher have opportunities to study abroad or at other programs in the U.S. The School Year Abroad (SYA) Program, conducted under the aegis of Phillips Academy (Andover), allows students to live and study abroad for a year in France, China, Italy, or Spain.

Extra-Curricular Activities:
Horseriding:
The Horse Program welcomes all students who are interested in riding—and some who don’t necessarily feel that way at the start. During their first year at Thacher, all freshmen learn the basics of horsemanship by caring for a horse: mucking his corral, feeding him morning and evening, and exercising him in the afternoon. The program aims to make horse and rider a team.

Outdoor Program:
In the spring and the fall sports terms, we provide instruction in outdoor sports such as rock- and ice-climbing, winter camping, and sea- and river-kayaking. Students spend their afternoons learning climbing techniques on the rocks on our own campus or practicing kayak rolls and maneuvers in our outdoor pool.

Regular weekend camping trips are the mainstay of the program, as students and faculty travel to places like Joshua Tree National Park, the Sierra, and the Kern River to put their new skills into practice.

Athletics:
Thacher’s athletic facilities include a gymnasium with a state-of-the-art climbing wall, a fitness center featuring an impressive array of strength and cardiovascular equipment, an outdoor pool, ten tennis courts, three athletic fields for track athletics and running, an all-weather track and a baseball field.