Adventurous Minds: Teaching & Learning at Thacher
Where a student’s authentic interests and deep curiosity meet uniquely supportive, engaged educators, meaningful learning follows.
Small class sizes, students who live and learn alongside their classmates, teachers, and advisors, and a curriculum where every student is seen and heard enhance learning, create opportunities for strong and authentic connections, and enable students to encounter diverse perspectives through exposure to different authors, voices, and points of view, ensuring that every student is able to reach their fullest potential.
“Living together at Thacher helps students get comfortable using the target language outside of the classroom in everyday settings— putting their new vocabulary in context, developing the comfort to make mistakes, and having empathy and compassion for your fellow community members.”
Juan Sanchez Spanish Teacher and Sustainability CoordinatorLearning is applied and authentic.
From veterinary medicine and student-designed xBlock electives, to astronomy research and senior exhibitions, the academic program at Thacher is rooted in the principle that high-impact learning happens at the intersection of student-centered instruction, critical thinking, and reflection. By engaging students in real, practical challenges facing our world—and offering them just the right level of support, we inspire kids to accomplish goals and master challenging material that initially felt beyond reach.
Students are known, supported, stretched, and challenged.
At Thacher, we believe the best learning happens when:
Set on an expansive and inspiring campus landscape with proximity to the California coast, Thacher’s academic facilities—both traditional classrooms and innovative maker spaces, including the School’s professional grade woodshop—are designed for and equipped with tools, both literal and figurative, that inspire creativity, collaboration, and hands-on engagement with the material, whether that be chemical compounds, classical literature, or charcoals. Our