Thornton Academy - Saco, Maine

International A. P.

We have been sending many great students from Spain to the school in the past years and they always have a wonderful experience. Many stay for 2 or 3 years since they love the academic options, sports and all the stuff members at the school that make them feel at home!

Susan B.

For the past two years we have invited international students into our home for the 5 day Thanksgiving Holiday from school.  Our entire family felt that it would be very rewarding to share our American traditions with students and in turn learn more about the countries they are from.  It has been great fun cooking turkey and pie with students from Spain, Vietnam and China.  We even went out and cut down our tree to decorate for the upcoming Christmas Holiday. We have enjoyed the experience very much and plan to continue in future years. Thank you Thornton Academy for attracting great students from all over the world to Saco, Maine.

Carol T.

Serving as a Vacation Family to one of Thornton's residential students was an amazing experience for my family. We were afforded the opportunity to open our home to a wonderful young person, learn about his country, and hopefully share a bit of what makes our family and traditions special. Our time as a vacation family was a blessing.

Matthew K.

As a student and part of the residential program,I enjoy being part of this community. Not only does it offer several AP classes helping to prepare my for college, but many advanced and rigorous courses and electives that challenge students in their respective fields.

Brianne S.

I ended up dropping out in 2015, due to an insane amount of bullying from both students and teachers. French teacher and math teacher both openly made fun of me for having questions/not understanding. French teacher even took it as far as to grade my tests (nobody else’s) in front of the whole class and only point out what I did wrong, not what was done right. When this was brought to the schools attention, they honestly couldn’t care less. And when they were let known that I would be dropping out, they did not care AT ALL. I was just a number to them. This school doesn’t care about their students whatsoever and it really shows. I was a struggling student who needed help, and I was denied. I feel 1 star is way too generous.

Alaskan T. (. T.

Attended: 09.5 - 12 (2.5 years)
Pros:
-Diverse learning experience with many options to study including Biddeford Regional Center of Technology trade schools in the town over.
-Large athletic program.
-Free payed tuition if you live in the city.
-I was falsely diagnosed with ADD in the 3rd grade, the school payed $3,000 to conduct test's. I found out that I had acute short term memory loss and they helped me find ways to remember things better.
- Class's aren't crowded. (25-30 people per class) My web design class only had 14 people in it.
-Offer night class's.

Cons:
-Often the teachers look at their job as just a job and not a passion. I found it hard to get help if I didn't understand something. I've had teachers stay after work for 10 minutes before at a public school but was denied several times here.
-The main building is pretty outdated.
- I noticed the boarding student usually got away with more. Example: A girl got talked to for being late to class but she explained that the Japanese students do it all the time. Sure enough a girl named Yuki was 10 minutes late to class as usual.

Stephen K.

TA/TAMS, private high & middle schools that excel in academics. The high school has students from many countries offering a great multi-cultural experience with outstanding athletics.

Katrina O. (.

This place is something..some of these teachers tell these kids to Google the anwsers instead of using textbooks. There's this one Math teacher that basically treats my sister rotten. No respect or kindness from this guy. It's sad that my poor sister is being treated like dirt and once the teachers have been told the issue they still make it worse than ever...Disgusting place rare nice people..