Home
Commonwealth is a co-ed independent day school welcoming curious, highly motivated students in grades 9–12. Our close-knit community thrives on making meaningful intellectual and personal connections, while tapping into the opportunities surrounding our home in Boston’s Back Bay.
Meet Faculty and Students
I've never seen a school like it before, from the building to the close-knit community. I look forward to going to school everyday, as I never know what will happen next.
Hanna '25
It is humbling and exhilarating to come to work every day to a place where people are working for a common goal with such a mix of competence and humanity.
César Pérez, History, Languages
I was first interested in Commonwealth by the small class sizes and the very rigorous environment. Visiting and having a virtual class was what drew me in. I'm very happy about making the choice to come here. The classes are intriguing, to say the least. There is difficulty but nothing I can’t handle. And the opportunities, such as Project Week, are unique, and they allow us to develop our own interests.
Aritra ’25
The notion of shared stewardship very aptly describes the sort of investment that all of our colleagues feel in Commonwealth. There's a desire to make sure that everything we do improves the place—and an appreciation for how complex the system is and the breadth of potential consequences. If you change one thing over here, how will it shift things over there?
Rebecca Jackman, Chemistry Teacher and Assistant Head of School
I get a real burst of energy when I’m able to help students navigate the complexities of the research process. I feel so lucky to have such an incredible patron base of high-level readers and thinkers in our students.
Jake MacDonnell, Librarian and Registrar
You know, I was hearing about all these other schools, and they definitely had a lot to offer, but Commonwealth spoke more to me because I know they take academics seriously here, but they also care about you as a person and finding yourself.
Sumaya ’26
Before I visited Commonwealth, I hadn’t thought about how going to a very small school would compare, coming from a bigger school. But now that I'm here, the small-school setting makes everyone a lot closer. You really know everyone in your grade and even a bunch of people outside it. It's been a lot of fun and a really big change from what I thought high school would be. It’s very freeing.
Ethan ’26
By the Numbers
154
students in grades 9–12
56%
self-identified students of color
$1.4 million
financial aid granted for 2023–2024
83%
teachers holding advanced degree
5:1
student-to-faculty ratio
2
all-school getaways each year
1520
average SAT composite score (Class of 2024)
Happening Now
Tien ’24 has a hearty appetite—for bagels and pesto pasta and our epic Thanksgiving lunches at Commonwealth, of course. But also for chances to flex his Spanish skills, for physics problem sets, and for exploring good ol’ fashioned teenage angst.
For years, we’ve asked Commonwealth students to share their advice for the next generation of Mermaids. Some offer savvy tips for tackling tough classes; others, insider intel for making new friends. So take two minutes to read their top tips, because you’re bound to find a nugget of wisdom you can really use. (Especially as a ninth grader!)
Commonwealth’s fifth-floor ceramics studio is a joyous makerspace, full of students—including many in the midst of a free period—busily working on projects not just in clay but a dizzying variety of materials. Ceramics and Sculpture teacher Kyla Toomey calls it “controlled chaos,” but the students who flock to the space would have it no other way.
Though he's a fixture in Commonwealth's Jazz Band, when Wyatt ’24 took to the stage to duet James Taylor’s “Carolina in My Mind” at our fall talent show, his warm baritone, precise guitar picking, and understated stage presence evoked Taylor himself. Keep reading to learn more about this troubadour, including his jazzier musical influences, his work with the Boston Mayor's Youth Council, his time on Commonwealth’s Robotics Team, and his surprisingly strong opinions about grilled cheese.
Don’t be fooled: David Gold’s Commonwealth classes may appear to be solidly STEM, but he approaches them with a liberal-arts lens. Keep reading to learn more about his interdisciplinary approach, plus what he finds a “wee bit silly” about most statistics classes, how he defines “space operas,” and “what the best mathematicians do.”