Northfield

Founded in 1993 by Bob and Nancy Love, and continued since 2003 by Philip and Becky Elder, Northfield School of the Liberal Arts is a middle and high school rooted in the classical tradition.

By working with parents, we seek to help to guide and educate young people as they move into adulthood. We strive to inspire a love for learning and to cultivate the skills and desire necessary for students to lead lives of action rooted in contemplation. 

We believe that a school should be a small, welcoming place and thus limit our total enrollment to eighty students and our maximum class size to twelve.

Tradition

A Northfield education is built upon the classical tradition. Our curriculum utilizes the trivium, which comprises the tools of grammar, logic and rhetoric, as expressed and developed by the quadrivium, which consists of arithmetic, music, geometry, and astronomy. Together, they form the cornerstones of knowledge known as the seven liberal arts. These "freeing" arts, as they were once called, are intended to produce disciplined minds that can grapple with the issues and questions that living in the world presents.

One of the fundamental ways in which Northfield pursues the truth is through the Great Books series, which consists of the best literature of Western civilization—from philosophy to science, poetry to history—that illuminates and confronts the important questions facing humanity.

Community

The small must reach, the tall must bend, and each of us has something to teach others. A Northfield education is personal. Every student receives the individual attention that a young scholar deserves. That time and attention extends to opportunities to play sports and other competitive games. We pray together, eat together, learn together, play together, and grow together—that is the substance and strength of the Northfield community.

We also provide students with the chance to work for others. Our school year begins and ends with week-long community service projects, and throughout the year, our students participate in Work Wednesday, a day in which younger students put aside their formal studies to perform tasks that benefit the school, while the older students engage in internships and service projects for charitable community organizations.