Young people who love to learn find teachers at TJ who know how each of them thinks, a curriculum deep enough to keep them reaching, and classmates from around the world who are just as curious as they are.
We know these students well, because they make up our school, and many of them arrive having waited years for the classroom conversations that truly spark their interest. At TJ, those conversations start on the first day and keep going for six years.
Breadth and depth
At TJ, every student is on the team and in the play.
The future belongs to people who can connect ideas across fields and master hard material. TJ builds both, so every student goes deep in numbers and words alike.
In a school of 88, the play can't go on without the soccer captain, and the team needs the student who spent the afternoon in the ceramics studio. Every student is counted on everywhere, so each one grows into more than a single label. At TJ, the team, the stage and the lab all need every student, so no one is ever just the athlete or just the artist.
“TJ has helped me figure out what I want to be in life and has shaped me into the person I am today.”
MAYA ALBANO '22
Academic Excellence
The bell rings and nobody moves.
Discussion depends on participation, so every student is engaged every day. When class ends, the conversation usually doesn’t, and students take their ideas into the hallway, dining hall, and beyond.
A shared liberal arts core
Every student studies English, math, science, history, classical and modern languages and the arts. Sharing the core means there is always a classmate to study with.
Discussion around the table
Around ten students sit together and everyone contributes. Quieter students learn to speak up because the room is small and safe enough to try.
Short, focused mornings
35-minute classes with breaks between them keep academic work concentrated, leaving afternoons open for study, help from teachers, athletics and each student’s own pursuits.
Accelerated pacing
Continuation courses, math in particular, move quickly, and by junior and senior year students are working at the AP level.
Outside Reading
Read, reflect, and write something you can be proud of.
Tuesday through Friday, by 8:30 in the morning, every TJ student hands in a short handwritten summary of what they have been reading: about forty words, with lines skipped for the teacher’s comments. The notebook goes back and forth all year, and corrections are always welcome.
Over six years, that quiet exchange shapes how students read and think, and how they speak up around the table. Graduates consistently name it as one of the most valuable parts of their TJ education.
Follow one notebook through the year
September · The Odyssey, Book 9
1 · First draft, 7th grade
In this part Odysseus and his men go to the island of the Cyclops and it is very scary because the Cyclops eats some of the men and then Odysseus tricks him by saying his name is Nobody and they escape.
September · returned✗
2 · Teacher’s notes
In this part Odysseus and his men go to the island of the Cyclops and it is very scary…
One breathless sentence, could it be two? “Go” and “is” are verbs you could replace for greater impact. What does the name “Nobody” actually accomplish for Odysseus?
The next morning✓
3 · Revision
Trapped in the Cyclops’s cave, Odysseus watches his men devoured one by one. Calling himself “Nobody,” he blinds the giant, so that when Polyphemus cries for help, his neighbors hear that Nobody is hurting him.
Now the verbs help you picture the scene. Was his boast at the end wise?
April · Frankenstein✓
4 · By spring
Victor flees the creature he has made, yet its eloquence unsettles him more than its face. Shelley lets the creature tell its own story, and the reader begins to wonder which of the two deserves the name of monster.
A real turn in that last clause, well done. Bring this question to class on Friday.
A day and boarding school
Local students, at the heart of a globally minded boarding school
Day students share the same classes, meals and traditions as classmates from across the country and around the world.
A dorm room shared with boarding classmates, a home base for breaks, books and long conversations
Stay for dinner, study hall, clubs and performances, with community events that bring the whole family into school life
Five-day boarding, for weekdays full of friendship and a taste of college life, and weekends at home with family
TJ graduates are ready for the world, from New York to Seoul, Amsterdam or Cambridge. College counseling begins in seventh grade and grows from knowing each student well, so every college list is as individual as the student who builds it.
Grade 9: December 11, 2026 · All other grades: January 12, 2027
TJ sits in a safe, family-oriented suburb of St. Louis.
For boarding students and day students alike, this campus is home.
TJ sits in the southwest suburbs of St. Louis, in the kind of neighborhood where people know each other and take the time to stop and talk. That same spirit carries onto campus. Our residential life team knows students closely, including what they care about and what is happening in their lives.
Birthdays get noticed, Lunar New Year is a school holiday, and boarders spend time with local families. Students also get beyond campus for theater, concerts, community service, and life around St. Louis.
Whether you board or commute, TJ becomes your campus, and the people you meet here become part of your life well beyond the school day.
Every thread you pull here leads somewhere unexpected.
The more you look, the more you find.
TJ is a school where the arts, athletics, student leadership, and personal support are not add-ons to the academic program. They are woven into the fabric of daily life. You might be debating ideas in the morning, performing on stage in the evening, and competing on a weekend, all while being looked after by adults who actually know you. Here is a closer look at each part of that life.
At TJ, cultural diversity is not a value statement. It’s Tuesday night in the kitchen.
Once a month, a faculty member and a group of students take over the kitchen. The music goes on, the recipes come out. One month it is fresh tortillas and roasted chiles. Another, crepes with every topping imaginable. When the cooking is done, everyone sits down to eat.
That mix of cultures shows up across school life. Lunar New Year is a school holiday. Diwali gets its own assembly. The calendar reflects the people who are here.
More often, it happens in ordinary moments. A student from Kenya sits down to dinner with someone from St. Louis who has never left Missouri. A classmate from Turkey hosts a New Year’s party where half the school ends up playing board games until midnight. People who grew up thousands of miles apart become the people you learn with and spend your weekends around.
And students have a hand in making much of it happen.
Some things are part of the calendar every year: performances, games, trips into St. Louis, and traditions the whole school looks forward to. Others begin because a group of students has an idea and decides to make something happen.
In a school this small, it is easy to move from watching to participating. You might play on a team, help plan an event, join a trip into the city, or start something that was not on the calendar at all.
Then there are the things nobody gets to plan. Once a year, every student boards a bus without knowing where it is going. Showing up is the only requirement. The rest is Surprise Day.
ST. LOUIS
Trips, performances, service, and events take students beyond campus throughout the year.
STUDENT-LED
Clubs, activities, and traditions change as students bring their own interests to school.
SURPRISE DAY
One day each year, the whole school boards a bus without knowing where it is going.
A place to belong, and a reason to look beyond yourself.
The clubs you join, the traditions you become part of, and the people you get to know all change the way you understand community. Over time, you begin to see that belonging to one also means having some responsibility for it.
You arrive with your own goals and ideas about who you are. You leave with a wider sense of the world around you, and the confidence that comes from having been taken seriously by people who really knew you.
RISING TO RESPONSIBILITY
BY BECCA
Joining the yearbook staff in 9th grade as a total beginner and eventually rising to Editor-in-Chief in 12th grade has been the most defining part of my time at TJ. As I moved from learning the basics of design to leading our Netflix-themed production, I realized I wasn't just making a book; I was responsible for preserving the legacy of the entire student body. Creating a memory piece that everyone will keep for a lifetime made me feel responsible for something much bigger than myself, ensuring every student’s story was captured. It’s a huge weight to carry, but seeing our year transformed into a permanent 'main character' moment for the whole school made every late night worth it.
FINAL CUT COMMITMENT
BY TIMA
For the final project in the Filmmaking class, my role was editor, and even though that meant I had the final say on how the film would look, I needed to work extra hard to finish production in time for the premiere. The result looked great, and I was so glad not to let the team down!
TJ FEELS LIKE HOME
BY LUCY
Before I arrived at TJ, I expected to become part of a big family. However, when I actually came here, it felt like even more than that. All the students and teachers at TJ welcomed me warmly, and I felt very thankful. Now, because I feel so welcomed and comfortable, it feels like home, like I have been here forever.
![[Describe the photo, for example: TJ seniors celebrating their college acceptances]](https://thomasjeffersonschool.static.amais.com/03_Prepared_for_leading_universities_worldwide-944-optimized.webp?version=639270262118730000)
