Princeton Day School is a private coeducational day school located in Princeton, in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, serving students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade. The largest division is the Upper School (grades 9–12), with an enrollment of about 420. The school has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools since 1989.Princeton Day School, Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools. Accessed April 3, 2022.
As of the 2023–24 school year, the school had an enrollment of 952 students (plus 20 in PreK) and 128.1 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 7.4:1.School data for Princeton Day School, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed September 1, 2025.
The school is a member of the National Association of Independent Schools, New Jersey Association of Independent SchoolsList of Member Schools, New Jersey Association of Independent Schools. Accessed June 4, 2017. and the Association of Delaware Valley Independent Schools.Listing of ADVIS member schools, Association of Delaware Valley Independent Schools. Accessed June 4, 2017.
History Founded in 1899, Miss Fine's School in Princeton prepared girls for college with a curriculum including English, French, Latin, history, and mathematics, at a time when women were not expected to attend college, and when only one out of eight children in America went to school at all. For years, in addition to serving as headmistress, May Margaret Fine taught all the subjects but French and even "tended the furnace....often leaving in the middle of Latin class to do it.""The Light That Ever Shines," by Alice Jacobson and Laura Rogers. The Inkling, January 1962. Reprinted in the 1999 Centennial issue of the Spokesman.
"A large shapeless figure [with] a pile of white hair dominated by a bun on the top, which usually slid over to the side of her head by the end of the day,"Selden, William K. From These Roots: The Creation of Princeton Day School. 1991. Fine was, despite her appearance, a loved and respected figure. John Finley, editor of The New York Times during the 1910s, wrote of her, "So was the school under her wise and gentle rule a place where happy children grew into her spirited likeness." Fine retired in 1931 and died two years later."Miss May M. Fine, Educator, Is Dead. Founder and Director for Last 34 Years of Girls' School in Princeton", The New York Times, November 15, 1933. Accessed November 3, 2017.
Miss Fine's School moved into what had previously been The Princeton Inn on Bayard Lane in 1924 and included boys from kindergarten through 3rd grade.
In 1924, a group of parents established a 4–9 grade school for boys on Bayard Lane, next to Miss Fine's School. The boys' school was known as Princeton Junior School. The school moved in 1932 to an independent campus with purpose-built buildings at 171 Broadmead in another section of Princeton not far from Palmer Stadium. The name was then changed to Princeton Country Day School (PCD), although in honor of its founding name, the school magazine was called the "Junior Journal." It had large playing fields across the street for football and soccer. In the winter, there was occasionally skating on Carnegie Lake nearby, and while ice hockey was played at Princeton University's Baker Rink. In the spring, there was an annual school fair held as a fundraiser. The school had an excellent academic reputation, and most graduates went on to New England boarding schools for secondary education. The buildings and campus of PCD are now part of Princeton University and used as a nursery school.
Princeton Country Day merged with Miss Fine's School in 1965 to become Princeton Day School, operating on a campus along the Great Road in Princeton.Staff. "Princeton Day Schools Aided", The New York Times, May 2, 1963. Accessed July 17, 2011. "The institution is a merger of Miss Fine's School for Girls and Princeton Country Day School for Boys."History , Princeton Day School. Accessed July 17, 2011.
In September 2005, the school launched the public phase of a five-year $50 million capital campaign, "Investing in Excellence" to support new and renovated facilities and increased endowment for faculty salaries and financial aid that raised a total of $53 million from more than 4,000 contributors.Staff. "Hopewell resident named senior administrator at Princeton Day School", Pennington Post, June 12, 2010. Accessed July 17, 2011. "Schulte joined the Princeton Day School community in 2003 as director of the Investing in Excellence Campaign, a five-year, capital campaign that garnered $53 million for financial aide, faculty support and new libraries, arts and athletic facilities. The campaign, at that time one of the most ambitious fundraising efforts ever undertaken by an independent day school, exceeded its goal and garnered support from 4,000 donors including current families, alumni and friends of the school."
Traditions Over the years, Princeton Day School enjoyed many traditions that no longer take place. These include an Upper School pie-eating competition that continued until the eighties, an annual sophomore-junior canoeing trip, intended to bridge the gap between two grades that traditionally do not share many classes, and legendary English teacher Anne Shepherd's wreathmaking assembly. The wreathmaking rite started in Miss Fine's School in 1900, and since, by the 1980s, participation in the event had dwindled, it was cancelled. A December 1982 article in PDS's student-run newspaper, The Spokesman, explained that "This [announcement] raised such an uproar that, by popular demand, the [assembly] was given one last chance.""Wreath-Making: A Waning Tradition," by Matthew Kilgore. Originally published in The Spokesman, December 1982. Reprinted in the 1999 Centennial issue of The Spokesman By the 1990s, though, wreathmaking was gone, indicative of the passing of certain traditions over time. (Another tradition that began at Miss Fine's, the annual Maypole Dance, actually continues today, though it is now performed by second graders instead of Upper Schoolers.)
New traditions have joined the Maypole Dance in recent years, including the annual Powder Puff game, a fiercely competitive flag football match between the junior and senior girls that has been held since 2004, and Dr. Seuss Day.
Blue & White Day On Blue & White Field Day, an all-school athletic competition held each spring, PDS students often carry a fierce 24-hour sense of patriotism for their color, which is assigned in their first year and remains through graduation. Popular Blue & White Day events include The Big Race, which involves students in each grade from PreK through 12, a faculty balloon toss (for which students serve as rowdy spectators), and the freestyle sack race."Blue Claims Victory on Field Day," by Kalla Gervasio. The Spokesman, Summer 2003.
Blue & White Day was founded by beloved Physical Education teacher Kim Bedesem;"Why No More Blue-White Day in US?" by Caroline Binder. The Spokesman, March 2001. when Bedesem died in 1993, it was decided that each subsequent Blue & White Day be dedicated to her. Each year, the Blue & White Day T-shirts distributed to students and faculty have the name "KIM" somewhere in the design."Longtime LS Teachers Miller, Atiram Leave PDS," by Somy Thottathil. The Spokesman, Summer 2001. While Bedesem created Blue & White Day in its present form in the 80s, similar events existed at Miss Fine's and PCD as much as 60 years earlier. James Howard Murch, PCD's first Headmaster, was remembered by his successor for "the pleasurable relish with which he took to interpret[ing] the decimal-splitting rivalries of the Blues and Whites." Miss Fine's School (whose school colors were voted Blue and Grey by the Class of 1918)Timeline from the 1999 Centennial issue of The Spokesman had "similar challenges" in which Blues and Greys competed.
The Upper School (grades 9–12) returned to Blue and White Day in 2006 following over a decade's hiatus from the event. Their re-entry into the morning part of the activities was later expanded to include other Blue/White competitions in the Upper School during the rest of the school year.
Administration On June 16, 2022, the Princeton Day School Board of Trustees unanimously voted to appoint Kelley Nicholson-Flynn, former assistant head of school for operations at Riverdale Country School in the Bronx, as the new Head of School starting July 2023.
Facilities
Princeton Day School completed a $60 million comprehensive capital campaign in 2021 that included a new, state-of-the-art LEED-certified athletic center. Previous construction and renovations were completed in September 2007 and include doubling the size and adding a variety of new technologies to their middle and upper school libraries. A new art center houses studios for architecture, ceramics, painting/drawing, woodworking, photography, and cinematic arts. The school's music facilities have been expanded to include a recording studio and new practice areas to accommodate a growing choral and instrumental music program. In 2019, PDS began construction on a new athletic center, which will hold four international squash courts, two all-purpose athletic courts, changing rooms, offices, and a large commons area attached to the existing Lisa McGraw Skating Rink.
Clubs and activities Student-run publications at Princeton Day School include The Spokesman, an award-winning Upper School newspaper published eight times a year, which uses a staff of 19 editors and two faculty advisors, and its middle school sister publication, known as Spokes. Each year, the student-led literary and arts magazine cymbals is also published, along with the annual yearbook, the Link.
Clubs offered in the Upper School at PDS (many of which are created by a student's or group of students' initiative) include Model United Nations, the Mock trial, the Debate Club, the Foreign Affairs club, Science Olympiad, the Science Club, the EnAct (Environmental Action) club, the Pet and Wildlife Salvation (PAWS) Club, the India Club, the French Club, the Latin Club, the Chinese Club, Chamber Music Club, Dance Club, Girls Who Code, Gallery Club, Mathletics, the National Organization for Women (NOW), Tabletop Gaming Club, Student Progressive Coalition, the Spanish Club (which holds a popular annual Salsa Cook-off in March), various A-Capella groups and the Science League Team.
PDS also offers several affinity groupsExtracurriculars, Princeton Day School. Accessed May 26, 2022. for students to join, including the Asian Pacific Islander Desi American (APIDA) Affinity Group, PRIDE (for students who identify as part of the LGBTQ+ community), Black Student Union, Latinx Student Union, Multiracial Student Union, and the Jewish Union.
Students may also be selected to lead in the Peer Group program, and may be elected to serve on the Student Council, Student Ambassadors Committee, and Judiciary Committee.
Sports teams The Princeton Day School Panthers compete under the supervision of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association.Princeton Day School, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed October 20, 2020.
Middle and Upper School sports teams at PDS include:
Fall: Boys and Girls Soccer, Girls Tennis, Boys and Girls Cross-Country, Girls Field Hockey Boys Football was dropped in 2011 due to a lack of sufficient numbers of interested players. Winter: Boys and Girls Basketball, Coed Squash (upper school only), Coed Fencing, Boys and Girls ice hockey, Girls Volleyball Spring: Boys Baseball, Boys and Girls Lacrosse, Boys Tennis, Girls Softball, Coed Golf (upper school only), Coed Figure skating (upper school only)
NJISAA Prep State Championships