Thacher School
5025 Thacher Road, Ojai, California, 93023
(805) 646-4377
Thacher trains young people in the art of living for their own greatest good and for the greatest good of their fellow citizens in a diverse and changing world. To that end, the School augments its highly challenging academic program with profound lessons learned from the care of a horse, regular chores around the School, teamwork on playing fields, outstanding instruction in the arts, the give and take of everyday life with schoolmates and teachers, and adventures shared in the wilderness. The aim is to inspire and encourage hard work, integrity, self-reliance, a lifelong love of learning and truth, self-knowledge, and a deep concern for the world in which we live.
A college preparatory boarding school for grades 9-12. It is a place where we hold one another to high standards in the classroom and as community members. It is a place surrounded by the stunning natural beauty of the Ojai Valley. It is a place where positive risk taking in and out of the classroom helps all students develop character and well-being. It is a place where we ask hard questions and do not shy away from the truth.
FAST FACTS
Head of School:
Jeff Hooper
Director of Admissions:
Yung Roman
Gender:
Co-ed
Religious Affiliation:
Nondenominational
Total Enrollment:
255
Percent Boarders:
93%
Percent International:
12%
Application Platorm(s):
Gateway and SAO
Testing Plan:
Required
Curriculum
Thacher’s academic program seeks to inspire students’ intellectual curiosity, risk taking, creativity, and growth. As the main focus of life at the School, the academic program requires rigorous application, great commitment, and love of learning. The courses invite students to engage fully, to bring an open mind and spirit of inquiry to their studies, to work hard, to seek support, to cultivate their current interests and discover new ones. Learning at Thacher should be filled with moments of discovery, growth, risk and potential, and the opportunities below represent an invitation for the adventures to come.
Programming
Some might call them “extracurriculars,” but to us they’re at the core of the Thacher experience, not at the periphery. It’s where individual growth happens—determination, resilience, self-awareness, confidence, skills—and where collective growth happens, too—teamwork, collaboration, humility, selflessness. We highly encourage students to engage broadly across a variety of disciplines and to try new activities that might be challenging or uncomfortable for them at first. Whether it’s in our Horse, Outdoor, Athletics, Arts, or Off-Campus Study Programs (or all of them at different times), there’s something for every student.
Activity/Sports Requirements
Every student is required to play on one third, JV, or varsity team before they graduate, but you’ll also see students joining activities you won’t find at other schools.
Dress Code
Students must be neat, clean, and in good repair, with specific requirements for different situations, including formal attire for formal dinners and casual athletic wear for sports.
Seated Meals
Several nights per week, faculty and students come together for Community Dinner in the Dining Hall, sharing a meal, good conversation, and sometimes even a joke of the day. Groups rotate periodically, facilitating new friendships and perspectives.
Study Hall
The Office of Academic Support coordinates a supervised study hall Sunday-Thursday evenings which provides a structured environment for students. Students can work with the Director of Academic Support to opt-in to the study hall; the school will also sometimes assign students who might benefit from more structure and oversight to this environment.
Saturday Programming
Students and faculty on Thacher’s Indoor Committee plan regular weekend events throughout the year. On any given weekend students may be heading to an all-school dance, enjoying a classic movie in the outdoor amphitheater, performing in a coffeehouse, leading a pickup team in a four-square tournament, or hearing a leading scholar talk about their newest research. And every Saturday night the Head of School and her family open up their home to the whole community, inviting students to play ping-pong and foosball, watch a movie, hang out, and enjoy chocolate chip cookies warm from the oven.
Residential Life
We know that each student has a critical role to play in cultivating and sustaining the kind of positive, uplifting, inclusive school culture that inspires students to rise to challenges, stretch themselves emotionally and intellectually, and extend their capacity for kindness and compassion—in other words, to find out what it means to become their best selves.