THOMAS JEFFERSON SCHOOL
Our Mission
Thomas Jefferson School (TJ) gives its students the strongest possible academic background through a classical education. Within a nurturing community, students develop a responsibility for their own learning and a desire to lift up the world with beauty and intellect.
School Facts
Founded in 1946, TJ offers an exceptionally strong, broad-based academic program for boys and girls, grades 7 to 12. Our classical core curriculum, combined with a daily schedule that fosters personal growth and responsibility, gives students unparalleled preparation for college and for life in the 21st century.
Our 88 students include full-time boarding students from a number of states and countries; five-day boarders from nearby Missouri and Illinois; and day students from all parts of the St. Louis metro area. They all buy into the idea of getting the best possible education, and they are glad to be part of a school in which other students from diverse backgrounds share this goal. As seniors, their average SAT scores over the past decade have been critical reading 710, math 670, and writing 690. Visit BoardingSchoolReview.com for details on our score standing among the top boarding schools in America.
With an average class size of 14, a faculty of 13 (four of them alumni of Thomas Jefferson), and an overall 6-to-1 student-teacher ratio, every student receives plenty of individual attention, and nobody falls through the cracks. Since our day students share dormitory space with boarders, they also gain a significant part of the boarding experience. Everybody knows everybody; students make friends all across grade levels, and older students help mentor the younger ones.
As a TJ student, you work hard, but you also enjoy more freedom than students in most schools. In addition, you get very generous vacations: four weeks in the winter and three in the spring – besides the usual 13 or so in the summer.