Miss Hall's School, located in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, is a highly selective independent school for girls aged 14–18. Founded in 1898 by Mira Hinsdale Hall, a graduate of Smith College, it was one of the first girls' boarding schools established in New England.Today, Miss Hall's School offers a college preparatory curriculum augmented by two programs, Horizons and the Girls Leadership Project. Horizons is an experiential learning program in which all students do volunteer work in the community. Through Horizons, girls work in one of 72 off-campus sites to hone their communication and problem-solving skills, refine ethical positions, strengthen financial literacy, and explore interests for college majors and careers. Through the Girls Leadership Project, young women conduct research and design programs and workshops around the themes of "voice" and personal authority and leadership.The school mission statement says that it "inspires and encourages each girl to pursue the highest standards of learning and character; to contribute boldly and creatively to the common good; and to seek a purposeful life based on honor, respect, and personal authenticity."Average class size: 10; students of color: 22%; international students: 24%; 20 states and 18 countries; faculty with advanced degrees: 75%.HistoryMiss Hall's School has chosen to date its founding from 1898, as that is when Miss Mira Hinsdale Hall began her forty-year leadership of the School, an era that brought the School to the forefront of women's independent secondary education. A broader historical view would be that the present school is a successor institution to one founded in 1800 by Miss Hall's great aunt, Nancy Hinsdale. That was the first girls' boarding school established in Massachusetts and the first attempt to provide advanced education for young women in the town of Pittsfield. The School evolved through various owners throughout the 1800s and was known at one point as the Pittsfield Young Ladies' Seminary. In 1898 Miss Hall bought the school that was sitting at South and Reed streets and began to apply her many talents to its expansion. For the next nine years, Miss Hall not only enrolled high school girls but also incorporated a coeducational primary day program into her school.
