Is Greenwood School a Boarding School?
Yes. The Greenwood School in Putney, Vermont, is a boarding school for boys in grades 6–12, although it also offers a day-student option. Founded in 1978, Greenwood is a specialized independent school designed specifically for boys with diagnosed learning differences, including dyslexia, ADHD, dyscalculia, dysgraphia, language-based learning differences, and challenges involving executive functioning, processing speed, and working memory.
Unlike a traditional boarding school where residential life is primarily an extension of a college-preparatory academic program, Greenwood incorporates its boarding program directly into its educational mission. The school is intentionally small, with approximately 55 students and an exceptionally low student-to-faculty ratio of about 2:1. Average classes have approximately four students.
What Kind of Boarding School Is Greenwood?
Greenwood is an all-boys boarding and day school serving students in grades 6 through 12. Its boarding program is particularly focused on students who have not necessarily succeeded in traditional public or independent-school environments.
The school describes its approach as individualized and student-centered. Academic instruction, residential life, social-emotional development, and executive-function coaching are all interconnected.
This means that boarding students are not simply receiving specialized instruction during the school day and then returning to a conventional dormitory environment. Skills such as organization, time management, self-advocacy, independence, and interpersonal communication are practiced throughout the school day and during residential life.
For many families, this is one of the principal reasons to consider Greenwood as a boarding school.
Where Is Greenwood School Located?
The Greenwood School is located on approximately 100 acres in Putney, Vermont, in the southeastern part of the state. The rural campus provides an environment quite different from a large urban or suburban school.
The campus includes wooded trails, a pond, athletic and recreational facilities, and spaces for activities including woodshop, pottery, art, and STEM projects. Outdoor activities such as hiking, mountain biking, skiing, snowboarding, canoeing, fishing, and climbing are incorporated into student life.
The setting also supports Greenwood’s emphasis on experiential education. Students have opportunities to learn outside the traditional classroom and develop independence through activities that require planning, teamwork, communication, and problem-solving.
What Is Boarding Life Like at Greenwood?
Because Greenwood enrolls only about 55 students, its residential community is substantially smaller than that of many well-known college-preparatory boarding schools.
The school describes its residential environment as highly supportive, with faculty and staff closely involved in students’ daily lives. Dormitory life provides another setting in which students can practice the organizational and social skills that Greenwood emphasizes academically.
For a student who has struggled with executive functioning, for example, boarding school can provide opportunities to practice routines such as preparing for the next day, managing belongings, organizing assignments, maintaining a schedule, and communicating effectively with adults and peers.
This makes the residential component an important part of the school’s educational philosophy rather than simply a housing arrangement.
Does Greenwood Have Day Students?
Yes. Greenwood is not exclusively a boarding school. Families who live within commuting distance can enroll their sons as day students.
For the 2025–26 academic year, Greenwood lists tuition of approximately $88,500 for day students and $103,480 for boarding students, with the boarding figure including room and board.
The difference in tuition reflects the additional residential component provided to boarding students.
What Learning Differences Does Greenwood Support?
Greenwood specializes in boys with diagnosed learning differences. Students may have dyslexia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia, ADHD, autism, language-based learning differences, or difficulties involving working memory, processing speed, and executive functioning.
Academic classes are deliberately small. Reading and language instruction can include structured approaches such as Orton-Gillingham and Wilson, while mathematics is taught at multiple instructional levels.
Students can also receive services such as occupational therapy, speech-language support, counseling, and social-emotional learning depending on their individual needs.
The objective is not simply to help students pass their classes. Greenwood emphasizes teaching students how they learn so that they can eventually become more independent learners and advocates for themselves.
Is Greenwood a College-Preparatory Boarding School?
Greenwood does offer a college-preparatory high-school program, but its mission is more specialized than that of a conventional college-preparatory boarding school.
High-school students take academic courses while continuing to receive specialized learning support. The school also provides college and career counseling, internships, job-shadowing opportunities, and transition planning.
The result is a boarding-school experience designed around students whose academic profiles may require substantially more individualized attention than is typically available at a conventional independent school.
The Greenwood Boarding School Experience
One of Greenwood’s most recognizable traditions is its annual recitation of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. Students memorize and publicly deliver the historic speech, an exercise intended to develop persistence, confidence, memory, and public-speaking skills. The tradition was featured in Ken Burns’s documentary film The Address.
Greenwood also operates its CONNECT Travel Program, which has taken students to destinations including Ecuador, Japan, Rwanda, Iceland, and Costa Rica. These programs combine travel, cultural experiences, outdoor adventure, and service learning.
Together, these programs demonstrate that Greenwood’s boarding experience extends well beyond academics.
The Bottom Line
Greenwood School is a boarding school—and specifically an all-boys boarding and day school for students in grades 6–12 with learning differences.
Its small enrollment, approximately 2:1 student-to-faculty ratio, four-student average class size, specialized academic instruction, residential support, outdoor education, and college and career counseling make it quite different from a traditional boarding school.
For families looking for a residential school specifically designed around learning differences, Greenwood offers an unusually integrated model in which academics, residential life, social development, and independence are treated as parts of the same educational experience.
