Dunn School, Santa Barbara, California, USA

Founded in 1957 as the Valley School, Dunn School has deep roots of teaching generations of students as it continues to grow and carry on founder Tony Dunn’s vision for independent education in Santa Barbara County. The Valley School opened with 49-day students and 7 boarding boys, grades kindergarten through eight. Tony Dunn’s objective was to establish a residential high school which had roots in the example of Eton and the tradition of English private education.

Campus & Facilities

Dunn’s campus retains the rural identity and country charm of the Valley, with ranch-style buildings that open to the outdoors, athletic fields with mountain views, and outdoor meeting spaces under the massive Red Oaks that characterize California’s central coast. Learning takes place everywhere on campus, which supports and encourages Dunn’s decidedly collaborative, hands-on, friendly and open-minded culture of learning and living. Dunn’s buildings and grounds are outfitted for contemporary learning and living experiences.

Middle schoolers enjoy their own space on campus, largely secluded from the Upper School, with sprawling decks, grassy courtyards and homey, sun-filled classrooms.

The Upper School campus blends the charm of the California countryside with modern needs of contemporary, college preparatory learning. Classrooms are designed for small, seminar-style classes and are appointed with learning technology. Students gather for assemblies on wooden benches each week and eat on picnic tables under an oak grove at the center of campus. A modern library provides a quiet study space, day and night, and the College Counseling center offers a place to research colleges and work on applications.

Dunn’s dining hall is not run by your average lunch lady. Chef Robin Reynolds leads Dunn’s food service, serving three hot meals and two snacks per day for the Upper School Dining Hall and Middle School lunches. Foods are prepared from whole fresh ingredients, limiting the use of processed foods and avoiding products containing artificial flavourings.

Art & Music: The Sinclaire Art Studios feature a painting studio, ceramics studio with an outdoor kiln, and a multimedia classroom for digital photography and film-making students. Designed to take advantage of natural light as well as new technology, the Studio is the perfect place for all students to explore hidden talents and for budding artists to get the foundations they need for lifelong expression. 

Music facility is an old one-room school house donated to the school by the Firestone family. The open space inside makes for a perfect place to learn the basics of music theory, how to play different instruments, and jam with friends and faculty. Walk by any time of the day or evening and you’ll hear students working on their craft.

RAD Lab: This makerspace is designed for a 9th grade “Research and Development” class that is a problem- and project-based approach to scientific fundamentals. Students engage in coding, robotics, woodcraft, applied physics, and related activities to learn the principles of science and engineering.

Dormitories: Residential students live in attractive, well maintained dorms that include housing for resident faculty families — complete with kids, pets and all the bustle of daily life. Each dorm includes for student use: a full kitchen, comfortable lounge with fireplace and TV, Wi-Fi access (available during age-appropriate hours), laundry facilities, cleaning supplies and multiple patios. Students (with faculty supervision) are required to clean their rooms each evening and keep the common areas tidy and sanitary. The dorms also organize programming to foster community and responsibility, which we consider part of our whole student approach to learning and living.