Fontbonne Academy

Fontbonne Academy, an all girls Catholic high school located just south of Boston in Milton, Massachusetts, was founded in 1954 by the Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Boston. Fontbonne Academy’s academic program, co-curricular activities, and daily life seek to instill in young women qualities of leadership, intellectual openness, social connection, and spiritual strength that will support the widest range of personal and professional choices they might make. We believe our education confers as its highest attainments wisdom and grace to live fully and courageously in a challenging world.

Fontbonne Academy strives to deliver a challenging academic program in a caring atmosphere, designed so that students can mature academically, spiritually, socially, physically, and emotionally.

Accreditation and Associations
New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC)
National Catholic Education Association (NCEA)
Association of Independent Schools in New England (AISNE)

Academic Facilities
Fontbonne Academy offers laboratories for its biology, chemistry, and physics classes, which are designed to support 21^st century learning. World language students augment their mastery of listening and speaking skills in a fully equipped language laboratory.  The fine arts program has an art room and a music modular classroom for both instrumental and vocal music classes. Fontbonne Academy’s performing arts auditorium has over 500 seats and professional audio and lighting equipment. It is located next to the Sister M. Flavia Library, which houses thousands of collection materials including books, periodicals, and DVDs, as well as online resources, and is connected with Boston Public Library and other local libraries. The library is equipped with desktop computers, laptops, iPads, Chromebooks, a projector, and large viewing screen for presentations.  Our Academic Success Center has been designed to support students as they work in a rigorous college preparatory environment.

Athletics
The athletic program is designed to help young women utilize their skills and potential through various sports and guide them to develop sportsmanship qualities. Fontbonne Academy is proud to offer a unique opportunity for improved health and wellness to its students, faculty, and staff. The Ellen Sullivan Wellness Center, located in the main building, opened in May 2000 and has been used by hundreds of participants who are looking to incorporate fitness into their daily lives. Fontbonne Academy offers 13 competitive athletic teams, several of which compete at a State Championship level.

Virtual High School
Virtual High School (VHS) is a non-profit collaborative of 200+ participating high schools offering full-courses to participating schools’ students. VHS is presently offering over 120 courses. These courses include college preparatory, honors, pre-AP, and AP (Advanced Placement). Through participating in VHS, Fontbonne Academy increases course selections that typically would not be offered in a normal high school curriculum.

Students participating in VHS not only receive rigorous course content but also have the opportunity to participate with students from other states in a virtual classroom learning experience. Students who take online classes are gaining skills such as multimedia presentation, online collaboration and communication, assessment of online resources, and online team-building skills that are essential to the 21st century learner.

We offer our students more AP Selections with our Hybrid Course Options. Students will take an AP Course online through Virtual High School and they will meet with a mentor teacher at Fontbonne Academy three out of every eight days in forty minute sessions in our school schedule to go over the AP work and enhance the online course experience. This is currently offered in Chemistry, Physics, Biology and Language.

VHS students tell us they feel better prepared for college because they learned to work independently and were responsible for managing their time and learning. Fontbonne Academy has partnered with Virtual High School for over 15 years and has an on-site coordinator for additional support.

Homestay

Fontbonne Academy is a day school and does not provide homestay/housing for international students. Our students either arrange housing and temporary guardianship through Global Study Connections or through friends and family, who assume full legal guardianship in the United States. This gives them them a unique opportunity to reside with a family and to enjoy the benefits of home life. Homestay students strengthen their English language skills through immersion, gain in-depth understanding of Western culture and the American way of life, develop a life-long relationship with a family that is closely connected to the Fontbonne Academy community, and enjoy special excursions and events with Homestay families.

College Preparation

Students receive one-on-one guidance from Fontbonne Academy’s expert and experienced college preparation advisors over the course of their four years. Counselors assist students with finding colleges or universities that best meet students’ interests, while guiding them through all steps of the application process. This guidance is provided to all students and is included in the cost of tuition. In addition to individual meetings students are also enrolled in guidance classes that have a curriculum that is specialized based on grade level.

Freshman year the curriculum focuses on building confidence in our young women and helping them to learn to navigate the girl world. Sophomore year is a project-based curriculum that allows students to pick a career they are interested in after completing an interest inventory. They then research two colleges that correspond with the career they have selected. This allows our students to look ahead in the college process and helps them understand what they should be doing early in their high school career to prepare them for college. Junior year our curriculum goes over in detail all of the aspects of the college process. Finally, the Senior year curriculum allows our students to work on their college applications with direct support in the classroom. Fontbonne Academy also hosts a number of informational evenings to support and educate students and parents on the college process: a Financial Aid Night for grade 12, a College Planning Night for grade 11, and Grades Are Not Enough Informational Night for grades 9 and 10.

Fontbonne Academy also arranges college events. Every year, the school hosts a large college fair in conjunction with other local Catholic schools. More than 150 colleges and universities set up on campus and meet with students. Fontbonne Academy also hosts the Jesuit Excellence College Tour in May when over 20 Jesuit schools send college representatives to come meet with our students. Dozens of colleges also send admissions officers to Fontbonne Academy to meet with students throughout the year.

Fontbonne Academy collaborates with professional test preparation tutors to work with students on PSAT and SAT test preparation at an additional cost. Fontbonne Academy is a registered SAT test center; students are able to register and take the SAT multiple times on Fontbonne Academy’s campus throughout a year.

Dual Enrollment

Fontbonne Academy has a dual enrollment partnership with Regis College. Through this program, selected Fontbonne Academy courses have been approved by Regis College as college level courses.  They are offered to qualified students enrolled at Fontbonne Academy. Students successfully completing these courses can earn academic credit simultaneously at Regis College and Fontbonne Academy.

Courses offered through this partnership are held at Fontbonne Academy during the regular school and are taught by faculty who have been reviewed and deemed qualified to teach at the college level by Regis College. The following Fontbonne Academy courses are deemed to be college level courses by Regis College:  A.P. Calculus, AB – grade 12 – 3.0 credits each semester; A.P. English – grade 12 – 3.0 credits each semester; A.P. Spanish – grade 12 – 3.0 credits each semester; A.P. US History – grade 11 – 3.0 credits each semester; Calculus Honors – grade 12 – 3.0 credits for the academic year; and Theology 4: Social Justice – grade 12 – 3.0 credits for the academic year.