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  THE GUNNERY
  99 Green Hill Road
  Washington, CT  06793
  (860)-868-7334
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The Academic Day
Gunnery students lead a structured life. Classes begin at 8:15 a.m. and end at 3:00 p.m. Course selection is reflective of students' aptitude, abilities, and ambition. In addition to their academic work, students must attend meals, school meetings, interscholastic, athletic or arts/community service commitments every day. An arts option or a community service option may be elected one term per year in place of the athletic commitment. The demands and structure of The Gunnery are intended to teach students the importance of academic challenge, self-discipline, and organization.
Exam Dates
Final exams are administered each year at the end of the Fall and Spring Terms. There are no final exams in the Winter Term. For exact dates, please refer to the School Calendar.
Diploma Requirements
For all students enrolled at The Gunnery, seventeen and two/thirds credits are required for a diploma. The diploma requirements include:
  • 4 English (required every year)
  • 3 History (History I, History II, and U.S. History)
  • 3 Lab Science (selected from Explorations in Science, Biology, Chemistry, Environmental Science, Human Anatomy & Physiology, Math & Physics, and Physics)
  • 3 Foreign Language (through Level III)
  • 3 Mathematics (through Algebra II)
  • 2/3 Visual and/or Performing Art (1/3 each, two terms)
In addition, successful completion of or adherence to:
  • 1 term of Public Speaking (as a junior)
  • 1 term of Ethics and Responsibility (as a sophomore
  • Good Citizenship (civility and law abiding behavior)
Seniors must carry at least four academic courses (excluding Art) each term and must earn four credits for the senior year. When courses are dropped as part of a Senior Independent Study Project, the credit value of those courses is automatically transferred to the project itself.

Seniors must earn a final average of 2 or above and pass all cumulative final exams in diploma requirement courses to meet diploma requirements. Seniors on Academic Warning at year’s end do not receive an official diploma. The school reserves the right to withhold a diploma from students with poor citizenship. In such cases, a student receives a Certificate of Attendance and may petition the Head of School in writing for a diploma upon successful, documented completion of one year of college.

A student who has completed the necessary academic requirements to receive a diploma must also be considered a student in good standing in order to receive the diploma. This also recognizes the right of the Head of School to deny a diploma to a student based on recent disciplinary misconduct occurring just prior to the completion of the school year or a sustained pattern of unacceptable and uncorrected citizenship that concludes with the graduation ceremony.
Class Rank
The Gunnery does not rank its students.
Grading System
The Gunnery changed to a new grading system for the 2008-2009 academic year. The new system is comprised of two added grade levels and a strict number designation, as students are awarded grades from 0 to 8 (0 being lowest and 8 being the highest). Each level is worth five percentage points, except the range of 0 to 1 which covers 59 percentage points. This information also appears in the chart below. As a point a reference the old grading scale equivalents are also included below. An even more detailed equivalency table will be provided to colleges for translation purposes. The grading system is as follows:

New Grade Scale Percentage Equivalents Old Grade Scale
8 95 to 100 DIST
7 90 to 94 HH
6 85 to 89 HON
5 80 to 84 HON
4 75 to 79 HP
3 70 to 74 HP
2 65 to 69 PASS
1 60 to 64 LP
0 0 to 59 NC


Any grade above 0 is considered a passing grade. Note, however, that students failing a cumulative examination – despite earlier passing grades – in a sequential course (Spanish and French I and II, Algebra I, Geometry, and Algebra II) will be required to repeat the course either at an accredited summer school, during the following year, or per a Gunnery approved tutoring/examination format. Seniors who fail any of these cumulative finals will receive a Certificate of Attendance, not a Diploma.

Incompletes may only be granted by the Academic Dean. They will be allowed in cases of illness or similarly extenuating circumstances.

Honor Roll
Honor Roll, High Honor Roll and Dean’s List are the three levels of honors status, from lowest to highest, and are defined in the chart below. All graded courses factor into the Honor Roll calculation, including Public Speaking. Student achievement of Honor Roll status is posted in Admissions at the end of each term.

Honors Status Definition
Dean's List All grades of 7 or above
High Honor Roll All grades of 6 or above
Honor Roll All grades of 5 or above


Academic Warning
A student on Academic Warning three consecutive terms is required to confer with the Academic Dean to discuss his/her future at The Gunnery. Academic Warning status is assigned to a student earning 0 in a term or earning a grade of 1 in each of two courses.

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