ACADEMICS

Total student enrollment for the 2008-09 school year is 992; 490 students in the Lower School; 234 students in the Middle School; 268 students in the Upper School. Of the 992 students, 493 are boys and 497 are girls. Fifteen percent (150 students) of the student body are minority students or students of color.

8:00 AM to 3:15 PM. Lower School students receive core academic instruction from homeroom teachers; additionally students meet with specialists for 30 to 45 minute periods in science, art, music, dance, physical education, computer lab and library; Class IV students also meet with a specialist for violin instruction and Class V students for brass/winds instruction. Middle and Upper School students meet for six class periods each day (54 minute periods with 8 minutes between classes); 1 hour lunch period. Each academic class meets 4 times per week; art, photo, music, theater, dance and all other electives meet either 3 or 4 times per week.

Nursery Threes: 18 students/3 teachers; Nursery Fours: 16 students/2 teachers; Kindergarten: 18 students/1 teacher and reading assistant; Classes I-II: 24 students/1 teacher and reading assistant; Classes III-V: 24 students/1 teacher; Middle School: 20 student per section; Upper School average class size is 16.

The faculty (not including administration or staff) consists of 137 full and part time teachers (46 men; 91 women), of whom 54 teach in the Lower Schools and 83 teach in the Middle and Upper School. Thirty-five percent of the Lower Schools faculty hold advanced degrees; 77 percent of Middle and Upper School faculty hold advanced degrees. Forty percent of faculty have more than 10 years tenure at Waterford; The average tenure of all faculty is 9 years.

In May 2008, 117 Class X-XII students sat for 214 exams, with 81 percent scoring in the qualifying range with a 3 or higher. The overall distribution is shown below:

The school offers thirteen Advanced Placement courses: AP English, AP United States History, AP Calculus AB, AP Calculus BC, AP Biology, AP Chemistry, AP Physics, AP French Language and Literature, AP Spanish, AP German, AP Computer Science, AP Photography, AP Art Portfolio.