Wooster School


Wooster School is a private, co-educational, college-preparatory grade 4 through grade 12 school in Danbury, Connecticut, in the United States. The school was founded in 1926 by Aaron Coburn. It is named for General David Wooster, who fought at the Battle of Ridgefield for the Colonial side in the American Revolution. Girls were first admitted to the school in the fall of 1970. In 1990, Wooster School phased out from being a boarding school, as it had been since its inception.
Its motto is Ex Quoque Potestate, Cuique Pro Necessitate, roughly, "From each according to ability, to each according to need".
Notable alumni include award-winning folk singer and guitarist Tracy Chapman; the painter Andrew Stevovich; trial attorney Cyrus Mehri; developer Marc Vandenhoeck;, songwriter Griffin Anthony, Zachary Cole Smith, singer and frontman of DIIV; and Neil Rudenstine, president of Harvard University for a decade in the 1990s.
The school has earned 5 stars on the "Great Schools" web site. It is a member of the Connecticut Association of Independent Schools, and other prep school groups.
The school was the first prep school to actively recruit minority candidates as a "feeder system" for elite Ivy League colleges, such as Harvard University.

General information

Date Founded: 1926 – Rev. Aaron C. Coburn
Headmaster: Matt Byrnes, the tenth head of the school
Religious affiliation: Episcopal heritage, although Wooster serves students from many faiths and religious traditions
Accreditation: New England Association of Schools and Colleges
Memberships:
• Connecticut Association of Independent Schools
• National Association of Independent Schools
• Independent Curriculum Group
• Positive Coaching Alliance
• The Mastery Transcript Consortium
Size of campus:
Number of school buildings: 15
School song: The hymn O God, Our Help in Ages Past

Enrollment information

Enrollment: 366 boys and girls in grades 4 - 12

Faculty

Number of full-time faculty: about 55

Recent notice

From 2001 to 2004, Wooster School made some improvements to its physical plant, notably the addition of a new gymnasium and a middle school.
One of the National Association of Episcopal Schools' top two educator awards is named for former School Head John D. Verdery.
The school's library received a grant of over $6,000 from U.S. Senator Chris Dodd's office to improve its Internet access through the E-rate grants.
Wooster School students co-founded, and are hosts to, YRTA, the first teen-run organization to increase awareness of AIDS and to assist persons living with AIDS.