Accepting applications on a rolling basis in Grades K-9. Expanding to Grade 12 over time.>

Frequently Asked Questions

Please Contact Us if you cannot find an answer to your question. The Charter has further information.

Seacoast Classical Academy is a no-tuition New Hampshire public school chartered by the State Board of Education. The 2024-2025 calendar can be found on our Calendar page.

We believe that families want academic excellence and family rights. Those are our foremost priorities.

The school day is from 8:20am to 2:45pm for all scholars, including the middle schoolers. Having the same start and dismissal times for all scholars optimizes accessibility for our families. Before and after care are available on site. Contact us to inquire about it.

Yes. Understanding that these activities are conducted at home district locations soon aft er the conclusion of the home districts’ school day, Seacoast Classical Academy accommodates participation for scholars in grade six and above by scheduling a study hall, or its equivalent, in the final academic block of its school day on at least four of the five days in a typical school week. This accommodation will allow scholars the opportunity to be dismissed early so that they can participate in their home district co-curricular activities.

We have leased an 18,000 square-foot schoolhouse with outdoor play spaces amid woods in a residential neighborhood close to Route 125 in Newton NH. The address is 53 Carlton E Sockwell Way in Newton NH. It was formerly the middle school addition of the Sanborn Regional School District. The location will host three independent educational institutions: Memorial Elementary School (grades 3-5), Seacoast Learning Collaborative (special-education), and Seacoast Classical Academy. All three schools have their own separately secure buildings. Visit our Location page to see the schoolhouse and a map of the location.

For K-5 scholars who reside in the Sanborn Regional School District (Kingston and Newton), the district will provide bus transportation utilizing the same regular bus schedules and routes that are provided to scholars attending the district’s Memorial Elementary School. There is no bus transportation available outside of Sanborn Regional School District.

Yes. The Academy offers enrolled families the option to share limited information for the purpose of forming carpools. The Academy distributes this information among families who opt in.

To find driving routes from home to the academy, use the address 53 Carlton E Sockwell Way, Newton NH 03858. Here’s a list of towns within 30 minutes, in order of proximity, with estimated drive times in minutes:

  • Plaistow — 7 minutes
  • Danville — 11 minutes
  • East Kingston — 12 minutes
  • East Hampstead — 12 minutes
  • Atkinson — 13 minutes
  • South Hampton — 13 minutes
  • Brentwood — 14 minutes
  • Hampstead — 15 minutes
  • Sandown — 16 minutes
  • Kensington — 19 minutes
  •  Fremont — 20 minutes
  • Exeter — 22 minutes
  • Hampton Falls — 23 minutes
  • Epping — 23 minutes
  • Salem — 23 minutes
  • Seabrook — 24 minutes
  • Chester — 24 minutes
  • Raymond — 26 minutes
  • Hampton — 27 minutes
  • Windham — 28 minutes
  • Newfields — 29 minutes
  • Stratham — 30 minutes
  • Derry — 30 minutes
A police officer of the Newton Police Department is assigned full-time to the campus where we are located with the neighbors, Memorial Elementary School and Seacoast Learning Collaborative. This officer is available to respond to an emergency at Seacoast Classical Academy. All three schools have their own separately secure buildings.
It is a tenant-landlord relationship. Seacoast Classical Academy has its own charter and will be governed by its own Board of Trustees. The Academy’s Executive Director is its chief executive officer who leads its own administration. It will have its own teachers. The Academy will be governed, managed, and operated independently, under the supervision of the NH Board of Education, which issued its charter.

For New Hampshire residents there is no tuition. For those residing outside New Hampshire, the tuition is $9,500.

The three central elements of classical education are Knowledge, Understanding, and Critical Thinking (Grammatica, Dialectica, et Rhetorica in medieval Latin). For young scholars, the progression from Knowledge to Understanding to Critical Thinking is both developmentally harmonious and pedagogically sound. See our Home Page.

No. Classical Education is a time-tested approach imparting knowledge, understanding, and critical thinking for thousands of years. In public education, experimental methods can be found readily, and curriculum changes are common. Not so in Classical Education, which is firmly established and stable. A great example is its sound phonics-based approach to reading. And our curriculum is a traditional well-rounded content-rich liberal-arts curriculum. Classical Education is the gold standard of academic excellence. See our Academics page.

Classical Education—the central elements of which are Knowledge, Understanding, and Critical Thinking—offers a clear choice differing from the currently prevalent conventional emphasis on Narratives, Skills, and Dispositions.

Conventional education often de-emphasizes objective knowledge in favor of subjective Narratives as frameworks in which to select and organize knowledge, whereas in classical education, objective Knowledge is the raw material of learning in a content-rich curriculum.

Conventional education provides training in Skills of prospective value to employers and others, whereas in classical education, we impart not only skills, but also a broad Understanding of humanity and nature through examination and synthesis of knowledge.

Conventional education inculcates favored social and intellectual Dispositions, whereas in classical education, we develop Critical Thinking strengthening the intellectual and moral autonomy of young scholars.

Seacoast Classical licenses the Hillsdale College K-12 Curriculum, a well-rounded classical curriculum designed for use in chartered public schools. It includes Mathematics, English & Language Arts, Science, History & Geography, Foreign Languages, Art & Music, and Physical Education. The Mathematics component is the world-class Singapore Math curriculum, in which scholars think through concepts and apply them in new ways from the very start. The literacy curriculum, Literacy Essentials, is a phonics-based multi-sensory approach to teach beginning reading. The English & Language Arts curriculum includes children’s literature, reading, spelling, writing, classical literature, poetry, grammar, composition, and speaking. See our Academics page.

Yes. The Hillsdale College K-12 Curriculum has been approved for use in dozens of public charter schools in 18 states. They are: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. Here in New Hampshire, the Hillsdale Curriculum is approved for use in 4 schools, including Seacoast Classical Academy. We obtained approval after a year-long process including legal review, peer review, review by the NH Department of Education, and review by the NH State Board of Education.

Yes. Our curriculum includes study of Spanish starting in Kindergarten. In 4th and 5th Grades, scholars will study Greek and Latin roots of English words. In Grades 6 through 8, scholars will study Latin. Multiple compelling reasons recommend the study of Latin.

  1. Study of Latin promotes mastery of English, because English vocabulary is heavily influenced by Latin.
  2. Study of Latin expands scholars’ minds because its grammar differs markedly from English grammar.
  3. Study of Latin strengthens scholars’ grasp of concepts in medicine, science, law, and other professional fields, because these fields derive many of their ideas, and the words and phrases conveying them, from Latin.
  4. Study of Latin is an excellent foundation for the learning of Spanish, French, Italian, and other Latin languages, because it is the progenitor of all of them.
  5. Study of Latin deepens understanding of Western civilization, because Latin is a continuous cultural thread in it from ancient to modern times.

In our state-authorized charter, our policies, and our practices, we recognize and reinforce the role of the parent as the primary decision maker and moral authority in the life of the child. See our Families page. Seacoast Classical Academy has a comprehensive Family Rights Policy, Policy AFR, posted on our Policies page.

We ask families to contribute to an Academy community characterized by collaborative volunteerism. This involvement will strengthen the Academy and enrich its offerings to scholars. The Board of Trustees has set up a Parent Council.

Seacoast Classical Academy promotes a positive school culture for all scholars. We help families develop their children as individual persons. We endeavor to limit peer pressures, and discourage the overconsumption of social media and popular culture, which crowds out meaningful conversation, constructs shallow or even harmful self-images, and reinforces cliques. Seacoast Classical Academy is a haven, a place where children from diverse backgrounds can focus on learning, form constructive relationships, have fun, and grow up when they are ready.

With family rights come family responsibilities. We expect parents to exercise their rights and to oversee their child’s education, especially their moral and civic education.

Our educational philosophy promotes learning and thought, in contrast to activism. The opposite of activism is not inaction or apathy; it is contemplation, questioning, and study. We view knowledge, understanding, and introspective critical thinking as prerequisites for activism.

With study and maturity, classical education imparts prerequisites of activism. Yet that is not enough. Genuine activism requires free will. Activism in schools is too often the activism of the school imposed on children. At Seacoast Classical Academy, we focus on developing the knowledge, understanding, and critical thinking of our scholars. Activism and promoting activism are outside our vision and mission.

Instead of activism, the Academy subscribes to the Enlightenment ideals of freedom of speech and free inquiry. Exercising these human rights is a time-tested means of seeking the truth. We profess that there is objective truth. However, in any deep question there are various viewpoints, uncounted unknowns, alternative interpretations, and complex conundra. Though it may be impossible to know objective truth with certainty, we come closest to finding it through liberated speech and vigorous inquiry. Because each scholar has a unique nature, we expect that their thoughts will tend to follow their own course. The job of our educators is to develop the scholar’s intellect, not to direct the course of thought.

Yes. We believe it’s best for scholars to express their individuality through their creativity, interactions, and independent thought, instead of through consumer goods like clothes. Our dress code relieves scholars of clothing decisions, mitigates peer pressures, and promotes a shared culture. To prevent the dress code from becoming a barrier to enrollment, the Academy will maintain a uniform-swap collection of garments, and will offer to provide a uniform package to each scholar of families who demonstrate Title-funding eligibility.

First and foremost, teachers are attracted to our institutional vision and educational mission, and want to advance them for the scholars. In return for this dedication, we focus the role of the teacher on academics. Our classical curriculum is one of enduring value, and will not shift frequently. Our pedagogy is of known soundness, and will not follow trends. We will maintain academic focus, and will not impose extraneous mandates on teachers. Academic focus—combined with curricular and pedagogical excellence and stability—simplifies the job of our teachers and thereby increases their effectiveness.

The home school district of the scholar is responsible for provision of special-education services. The parents retain all of their rights regarding special-education plans. The Academy’s role is to cooperate with the special-education decisions of the parents and the home school district.