Holderness School

The Holderness School is a private, coeducational college-preparatory school in Holderness, near Plymouth, New Hampshire in the United States. The student body of 300 is drawn from 22 U.S. states and 14 foreign countries. While Holderness operates primarily as a boarding school, it also enrolls 25 day students. John McVeigh is currently Holderness School's 10th Head of School (headmaster). McVeigh's predecessor was R. Phillip Peck, M.Ed. In the summer the campus is used as a site for various Gordon Research Conferences. History The town of Holderness had a unique background historically. Granted in 1765 to John Wentworth, and 67 other Episcopalians, Holderness was "a company of English immigrants ardently devoted to the creed and worship of the Church of England, and with glowing anticipation for the future of the colony". Founded in 1879, still under the auspices of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire, the school retains some links with the denomination, but now conducts ecumenical chapel services and welcomes applicants of all faiths. The school has an exceptional sports program. Competitive with the highest rated college preparatory schools, a few of the school's headmasters had attended boarding schools, and ivy league colleges. Don Hagerman, who was appointed in 1951, had been on the faculty of Deerfield Academy, and served as a headmaster at Tabor Academy, now a highly rated boarding school in Marion, Massachusetts. Hagerman graduated from Dartmouth in 1935.