A strong and positive student community sets the Oakley School apart from other places of learning. The Oakley School is committed to academic excellence, yet maintains a parallel concern for habits of being that yield moral stature. Each student is part of a "house" -- a kind of family group that shares home base. Full-time house coaches provide continual support, guidance, role-modeling and safety for the students. This arrangement allows students to exercise interpersonal skills and domestic responsibility.
At Oakley School, students adopt the basic structures of the democratic process by electing a house council every six weeks. From determining policies that govern daily life to hosting weekly gatherings and even planning major community events, the house council experience allows students to take part in building their immediate community.
Students agree to live by an honor code, and they demonstrate a commitment to developing and integrity based community by holding their peers accountable to this honor code. In every facet of Oakley school life, students learn the rewards of positive conduct and personal responsibility.
Oakley holds our students and faculty to an integrity based value system. Oakley believes that what ultimately makes the boarding school experience a superior one is not only a challenging, rich and diversified curriculum -- a truly critical building block of a great campus culture -- but also an exciting, captivating and enriching student life outside of the formal classroom. Such a positive student life builds character, self-esteem and competence in all members of the student body.
To assist students in the achievement of overall goals and objectives, the faculty of the Oakley School has developed the following elements that contribute to a positive student environment.
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Honor Code -- provides students with basic guidelines and expectations of the behavior necessary for a safe, supportive, predictable environment. Click here for the Oakley Honor Code >>
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Code of Conduct -- delineates basic behavioral expectations and accompanying consequences for violations.
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Form System -- provides students with the guidelines for good citizenship and rewards their adherence to those guidelines. There are five Forms: Lower, Entry, Middle, and Upper, and Advanced Form.
Click here for form definitions >> -
“House” and School-Wide Meetings -- foster a sense of community; provide leadership opportunities; promote cooperative group interaction, negotiation skills, organization skills and accountability; and give students a forum for individual and/or group recognition.
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Student Government -- provides the opportunity for student participation in such areas as: administration, curriculum development, disciplinary action, and extracurricular activity planning and implementation.
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Job Assignment -- creates an opportunity for each member of the student body to participate in the day-to-day operation of the campus. Students take pride in the school, and at the same time develop the self-esteem that comes from making a meaningful contribution.
Dorm Life
Oakley has a separate girls building and a boys building dorms across the pond from each other, with the capacity of 64 students per building. The dorms are divided into wings of 16 students – individually defined as houses. Each house has a Head House Coach and two assistant House Coaches who oversee the progress of these 16 students and communicate with their parents.
Each Oakley student will share a large room with three other students: there is a bathroom in each room, each student will have a bunk, a desk, storage shelves for clothing and books, and a lockable cabinet for valuables.
Click here for School Supply list >>
Dress/Grooming Standard
The way a person dresses is often a non-verbal self-expression of who he thinks he is or who he would like to be. How a person appears on the outside is often a reflection of what an individual may be experiencing on the inside. In fact, emotional health, personal hygiene, grooming and dress are often interrelated. Oakley students are expected to present themselves in accordance with the school dress code and grooming standards.
Furthermore, Oakley is 100% committed to maintaining a drug, alcohol and smoke free campus. Some Oakley students may have had a drug or alcohol problem in the past. They have invested great time, effort and commitment to their sobriety before choosing to enroll at Oakley. For all of the above reasons, Oakley takes the dress and grooming standard very seriously. In no way will the dress and grooming habits of Oakley students be reflective of a negative lifestyle or a questionable sub culture.
Click here for School Dress Requirements and Grooming Standards >>
