Welcome to Heronfield Academy
From the inception, designed to meet the needs of middle school students.
Our Story
Heronfield Academy is an independent day school in the New Hampshire Seacoast serving grades 6 through 8. Informed by the Episcopal tradition, Heronfield Academy combines an academically challenging curriculum while simultaneously nurturing the core values of Honesty, Respect, Diligence, Celebration, and Caring. Increasingly, society and culture force our kids to specialize. At Heronfield Academy, we avoid this pressure. We value these years and the needs of our students’ natural development to expand, expose and explore.
Heronfield faculty are experts in teaching middle school students and they understand this critical turning point in youngsters’ lives. It is a unique time when children outwardly transform into young adults, and it is also a time when adolescents internalize their beliefs about learning and about school. We place great importance on all the seemingly small conversations with students, both in the classroom as well as at recess and lunch. We know hearing consistent positive messages eventually add up and create patterns of equally positive behavior in our students.
We work in alliance with our students’ families to provide an innovative, nurturing, and caring environment that inspires in our students a passion for learning, academic excellence, and creative exploration. We encourage our students to find the best in themselves, and to make a connection with and serve their community.
It’s about character education
Heronfield’s core values are woven into the fabric of our school.
Honesty
We seek truth and foster honesty as we create and maintain a safe and supportive community for all.
Respect
We actively promote a culture of social awareness and understanding where different experiences, thoughts, and opinions are respectfully expressed and thoughtfully heard.
Diligence
We work carefully and persistently to stretch our abilities, growing through thoughtful effort and habits of the mind which leads to action that will serve us well.
Celebration
We celebrate differences, risk-taking, effort and achievement. We honor our unique abilities and understand that life’s challenges help us to grow as individuals.
Caring
Members of HA community support each other, our school, and the greater community. Caring and kindness are the foundation of our culture at our school.
History of Heronfield Academy
Building on our past, moving to our future.
Founded in 2007, Heronfield Academy (formerly known as Seacoast Academy) opened its doors with twenty-four students. In the spring of 2015, we purchased the thirteen acre campus. We opened with ninety students from over 22 towns, representing 3 states and unveiled the newly installed Bridget Marley Jenkins Athletic Field that next fall. With a generous gift, in September of 2019, we opened the new iStudio which holds our new center for technology, engineering and the arts. In January of 2020, the school celebrated the opening of the Field House which allowed for the expansion of our physical education and arts programs and also provided for a large community gathering space.
In a short time, Heronfield Academy has established a reputation as one of the best independent middle schools in New England. We value the tradition of offering strong academics in an inspiring and nurturing environment and the creation of many more memories that ultimately leads to success in our graduates in high school and beyond.
It is exciting to think about what the future holds for Heronfield Academy. Our 15 year anniversary will be celebrated in 2022! As we move ahead, we thank those who came before us, for dreaming big and for believing in our future.