ST. GROTTLESEX: AMERICA’S ANSWER TO ENGLAND’S TRADITIONAL “PUBLIC SCHOOLS”

“St. Grottlesex” is a moniker used to describe and elite grouping of quintessential New England boarding schools that were established to emulate the great British schools in the English Public School tradition. Most of the schools were or remain aligned with the Episcopal faith and espoused the muscular Christianity approach of their English counterparts.

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The term is a portmanteau derived from the names of a select group of the most prestigious schools in the United States with international reputations and who are amongst the global top-tier both in terms of academic excellence and in terms of the facilities and opportunities offered. The term is often used by schools admissions advisors and aspiring pupils. The term is often used alongside similar portmanteaus and acronyms for the leading American preparatory schools, including “HADES” and “GLADCHEMMS“. They are distinguished from the Group of Seven boarding schools which have a reputation as academic powerhouses in the Puritan scientific tradition as opposed to the socially-exclusive Episcopal schools that make up the St. Grottlesex group. The Group of Seven were generally viewed as more academically selective, however in recent decades, the St. Grottlesex schools have become just as challenging from an admissions perspective and for their educational program.

The member schools are generally considered to include: St. George’s, St. Mark’s, and St. Paul’s (the “St.” part of the moniker) and Groton and Middlesex (the “Grottlesex” part of the moniker). Owing to its equally prestigious reputation, geography and Episcopal foundation, Kent is sometimes also included in the grouping.

With the exception of Middlesex School, all of the schools were founded in the Episcopal (Anglican) faith as the descendants of America’s great families increasingly followed the Episcopal Church unlike their Puritan forefathers for whom the famous Academies of New England and the Mid-Atlantic States were founded. Each of the schools borrows heavily from the English Public School model popular in the latter part of the 19^th Century and spearheaded by Thomas Arnold of Rugby and which has come to define the upper tier of British private schools (such as those schools of the Eton Group and Rugby Group). These schools would consider each other to be peer schools and often have a close relationship with one another.

All of these schools are regarded as being amongst the most prestigious in the United States and are included in our Great Schools group. All schools are members of the Independent School League and were included in E. Digby Baltzell’s Select 16 schools as being the preferred destinations for aspiring Philadelphia gentleman (“Philadelphia Getleman: The Making of a National Upper Class” [1958]). The St. Grottlesex schools, particularly, are the preferred schools for the blue-blooded dynastic families of North America and further afield with many overseas aristocrats having also studied at one of these schools.

The Saint Grottlesex schools have long-been traditional feeder schools to the Ivy League and New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) colleges, turning future leaders and captains of industry. The schools share a long and illustrious heritage having been associated with the upper crust of the White Anglo-Saxon Protestant elite that had come to dominate American society. In turn, prestigious junior boarding schools such as those members of the Junior Boarding School Association (JBSA), have been the traditional feeders to the St. Grottlesex schools.

Whilst no formal association exists between the member schools, they cooperate extensively through a variety of other associations and networking consortiums, both regionally and nationally. All of the member schools are accredited with the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) and The Association of Boarding Schools (TABS), and are associated with the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), the Association of Independent Schools in New England (AISNE), the Global Education Benchmark Group (GEBG), the Headmasters Association (HMA) and the Parents League of New York (PLNY). Some of the schools are also members of other national bodies including The Heads’ Network, the 1911 Group (FKA Head Mistresses Association of the East) (HMAE) and the National Network of Schools in Partnership (NNSP). The schools share a friendly rivalry with a number of other schools of similar social standing, particularly those that comprise the Group of Seven, Eight Schools Association (ESA), Ten Schools Admission Organization (TSAO), the Mid-Atlantic Boarding School Group (MABS), The Boarding School Consortium (BSC) and the Great Boarding Schools (GBS) coalition. The schools also share close relationships with a an exclusive cohort of top-tier schools around the world through organisations like the Global Connections Foundation, the G30 Schools, the Leading Schools of the World (LSW) and the World Leading Schools Association (WLSA). Many of these schools are members of the Gateway to Prep Schools consortium which affords prospective applicants with a single admissions portal from which they can apply to many of the schools with a single candidate profile. Whilst only St. Paul’s School is a member of the Independent School Innovation Consortium (ISIC), some of the other St. Grottlesex schools have participated in ISIC-commissioned studies and projects.

For more information about the St. Grottlesex schools, why not get in touch with your preferred school, as listed below.

Did you attend, or are you currently attending one of these schools? Our readers would certainly be keen to hear about your experience and any unique anecdotes you might be able to share.