St. Paul's School (New Hampshire)

St. Paul's School (also known as St. Paul's or SPS) is a highly selective college-preparatory, coeducational boarding school in Concord, New Hampshire, affiliated with the Episcopal Church. It is often regarded as one of the most elite boarding schools in the United States. The school's 2000 acre campus currently serves 539 students, who come from 40 states and 18 countries.

Established in 1856 to educate boys from upper-class families, St. Paul's later became one of the first boys' boarding schools to admit girls and is now home to a diverse student body from all backgrounds. While the school accepted 15% of applicants for the 2020-21 academic year, its 2016-2019 graduates matriculated most at Georgetown, Brown, Cornell, Harvard, UPenn, Yale, and Dartmouth. Although annual tuition is $62,000, St. Paul's provides provides financial aid to 39% of its students and fully meets any admitted student's demonstrated financial need with an average award of $56,182. The school's endowment is valued at $631 million as of June 2019, ranking third among American boarding schools.

The first ice hockey games in the United States were played at St. Paul's in the 1870s and the first squash court in the country was opened at the school in 1884. Home to the likes of Hobey Baker and Malcolm Gordon, the St. Paul's hockey team played and beat collegiate teams such as Harvard and Princeton in the sport's early days. St. Paul's is a member of the Eight Schools Association and was formerly a member of the Independent School League, the oldest independent school athletic association in the United States.

Athletics
Malcolm Gordon coached ice hockey at the school for 29 years, and noted World War I fighter pilot Hobey Baker played under him. The first squash courts in the United States were built at St. Paul's in 1884.

St. Paul's, and Concord, New Hampshire, were early cradles for ice hockey in America. By some accounts, the first hockey game in the United States was played on Lower School Pond November 17, 1883. The school was an established leader in the sport in the early twentieth century, playing and beating collegiate teams, including Harvard and Princeton.

The athletic directors of St. Paul's and the other members of the Eight Schools Association compose the Eight Schools Athletic Council, which organizes sports events and tournaments among ESA schools.

St. Paul's was also a member of the Independent School League (ISL) until 2017. The school announced the decision to withdraw from the ISL in 2016 due to league bylaws surrounding scholarships. Since the 2017–18 academic year, the school competes in the Six Schools League (SSL) with Choate, Deerfield, Northfield Mount Hermon, Andover, and Exeter. Additionally, the school competes in the Lakes Region League with Proctor Academy, New Hampton School, Kimball Union Academy, Tilton School, Holderness School, Vermont Academy, The White Mountain School, and Brewster Academy.