Est. 1987
Small enough to know you. Serious enough to stretch you.
An independent kindergarten through grade 12 school of about 640 students on a wooded campus above the Ridge. Three divisions, one faculty culture, and a habit of telling parents what is happening before they have to ask.
- About 640 students
- Kindergarten to grade 12
- 9:1 student to teacher ratio
- Three divisions, one campus
About Asterfield
A school built around the question, not the answer key.
Asterfield opened in 1987 with 48 students and four teachers in a converted farmhouse. The farmhouse still holds the kindergarten, and the founding idea still holds too: children learn best when adults know them well, expect a great deal of them, and give them room to try things that might not work.
Today the school spans kindergarten through grade 12 in three divisions on one campus, with classes small enough for every teacher to know every student by name.
- 640
- students, kindergarten to grade 12
- 9:1
- student to teacher ratio
- 3
- divisions on one campus
Academics
Three divisions, one arc.
Each division has its own head, building and daily rhythm, but the faculty plan the curriculum together so that what a child learns in grade 4 still pays off in grade 11.
- Ages 5 to 11
Lower School
Kindergarten to grade 5. Two teachers in every homeroom, daily reading aloud, a science garden, and Spanish from the first week. Recess twice a day, by design.
- Ages 11 to 14
Middle School
Grades 6 to 8. An advisory group of nine meets every morning. Students rotate through eight subjects, run their own newspaper, and take their first overnight research trip in grade 7.
- Ages 14 to 18
Upper School
Grades 9 to 12. Seminar classes of 12 to 16, two elective blocks per term, and a senior capstone that takes a full year and is presented to the whole division in May.
Athletics and arts
Every student plays something and makes something.
Middle and Upper School students commit to at least one team and one arts discipline every year, and the school day is scheduled so that neither has to compete with the other.
Team sports
Fourteen interscholastic teams across three seasons from grade 6 up: soccer, cross country, basketball, swimming, lacrosse, tennis and track. No cuts through grade 8.
Lower School movement
Daily physical education, a spring field day that closes the whole campus, and a Friday intramural league for grades 4 and 5.
Music
Two choirs, a string orchestra, a jazz ensemble and a fall concert that fills Ridge Hall every November.
Theater
A fall play, a spring musical open to grades 5 to 12, and a Middle School one-act festival written and directed by students.
Visual arts
Drawing, ceramics, printmaking and photography studios in the converted barn, with a juried student show each April.
Clubs
Twenty-six student-led clubs, from robotics and debate to the beekeeping collective that keeps three hives behind the science garden.
Parents
How parents stay in the loop
Each division head writes a short weekly note on Friday. Advisors and homeroom teachers reach out before a concern becomes a conversation. Coaches, directors and club advisors send their own updates to the families they actually serve.
The practical side matters just as much. A late bus, a missing field trip form, a rehearsal moved from the Hall to the barn: those messages go straight to the parents who need them and to nobody else.
- Weekly division notes every Friday
- Grade-level and team-level updates, not one giant list
- Parent conferences in October and March, plus any time by request
School calendar
The year at a glance
The full calendar runs to about 90 dated entries. These are the ones families ask about most.
- Aug 26First day of classes, all divisionsCampus wideWhole school
- Sep 10Curriculum evenings begin (Lower School first)Division buildingsParents
- Oct 17Fall play opensRidge HallArts
- Nov 14Fall concert: choirs, orchestra and jazz ensembleRidge HallArts
- Dec 19Winter break begins at noonCampus wideWhole school
- Mar 6Spring musical opensRidge HallArts
When the bus route changed last winter I knew before my daughter did, and only the families on that route heard about it. That is what a school that knows its families looks like.
Stay connected
When something changes, we tell the families it changes things for.
A snow day, a bus route that shifts, a trip running late, a rehearsal that moved: somebody here knows first, and this is how they tell the parents and guardians it affects. Not everyone, every time.
It starts with an email address. Every parent and guardian on our list hears from us by email from the first day, with nothing to install. Anyone who uses Blasts can connect with the school instead, and from then on our messages arrive on their phone or desktop screen rather than in an inbox.
Who gets what is our decision, made by people here. The office builds the audiences the school actually runs on, Lower, Middle and Upper School, grade by grade, the bus routes, the teams and the ensembles, and puts the right adults in each. Alongside those, families choose the school news they want to follow. A closure reaches everyone. A route change reaches that route. A Grade 5 trip reaches Grade 5.
Parents and guardians stay in charge throughout: pick the school news you follow on your preferences page, reply to any message and a person here answers, and stop hearing from us whenever you choose. On Blasts you can also mute us or disconnect.
- All Parents & Guardians
- Lower School
- Middle School
- Upper School
- Grade 5
- Bus Route 4
- Varsity Soccer
- Athletics News
- Arts & Activities News
All Parents & Guardians reaches everyone. The next six are ours to build and keep current, because only the school knows who belongs in them. The last two are open: a parent or guardian picks them for themselves. Each message goes to exactly one of these.
Asterfield runs this on DirectToParents, the school front door to the Blasts Hub: audiences the school builds by division, grade, route and activity, and interests families choose for themselves.
We use Blasts to stay connected. Blasts credits are available through BlastCredits.com.
Blasts is the direct communication platform at Blasts.app. Parents and guardians receive Blasts on their phone or in their browser, approve who can reach them, and can leave at any time.
Nothing here is automatic. A person at Asterfield learns the fact, writes the message and chooses who it goes to. DirectToParents holds no student records, knows no child, and is not connected to the systems that keep our enrolment, attendance, timetables or grades. It does not replace the emergency procedures in the family handbook.
- Campus closed today: snow
All three divisions are closed today for snow and ice on the Ridge road. There are no remote classes and all activities are cancelled. We will send tomorrow's plan by four this afternoon.
From: Dr. Eleanor Vance, Head of SchoolTo: All Parents & Guardians - Route 4: new afternoon stop order
Starting Monday, Route 4 runs Elmgrove before Quarry Lane in the afternoon. Expect pickup about eight minutes earlier at the Quarry Lane stops. Everything else on the route is unchanged.
From: Transportation officeTo: Bus Route 4 - Grade 5 river trip: forms due Wednesday
The river ecology trip leaves at 8:30 on Friday and is back for dismissal. Permission forms are due Wednesday, and everyone needs a packed lunch and shoes that can get wet. Reply here if you need a little longer with the form.
From: Marcus Bell, Head of Lower SchoolTo: Grade 5 - Fall concert: doors at 6:30
Choirs, orchestra and jazz ensemble in Ridge Hall. Doors open at 6:30 and the programme starts at 7:00. Performers arrive by 6:00 in concert dress, and seating is open.
From: Music departmentTo: Arts & Activities News
Leadership
The people who know your child's name.
Dr. Eleanor Vance
Head of School
Upper School head from 2011, Head of School since 2019. Still teaches senior seminar on Thursday mornings.
Marcus Bell
Head of Lower School
Twenty-two years in elementary classrooms. Runs the morning drop-off line himself, rain or shine.
Sunita Rao
Head of Middle School
Built the grade 7 research trip and the student newspaper. Teaches grade 8 civics.
Thomas Kirkland
Head of Upper School
A physics teacher who still coaches cross country. Oversees the senior capstone.
Visiting
Come walk the campus with us.
Admissions visits run October through February: a tour with a current student, a class to sit in on, and coffee with the division head.
Contact
Reach the school
The main office and admissions office are in Founders Hall, just past the farmhouse.
- School day 8:05 AM to 3:20 PM, Lower School dismissal 3:00 PM
- Admissions visits October to February
- Monday to Friday
- 7:30 AM to 4:30 PM
- School holidays
- Closed