West Newton English and Classical School

West Newton English and Classical School, also known as the Allen School, was a model school in West Newton, Massachusetts, United States. It was established in 1854 by Nathaniel Topliff Allen (1823–1903), an educator and protege of Horace Mann.^[1] Allen was an advocate of women's suffrage, temperance, and the abolition of slavery, and his school, unusual at the time, had a racially integrated, co-educational student body. It offered a kindergarten program based upon the principles of Froebel's Kindergarten System, and included gymnastics in its curriculum, both of which were, in America, educational innovations.^[1] The school's coursework included reading, spelling, arithmetic, geography, geology, and bookkeeping. Daily journals kept by students were critiqued every two weeks.^[1] The school also taught art, music, dancing and ethics. Students attended lectures by guest speakers such as Theodore Parker, William Lloyd Garrison, and Ralph Waldo Emerson.^[2] Many of Allen's relatives, including his uncles, brothers, cousins, nieces, and three daughters, lived and taught at the school, and provided lodging in their homes for students.^[2]

Over the course of its 50 years in existence, more than 5,000 students attended the school.^[2] Students came from all over the world, and many graduates, both men and women, went on to have careers in medicine, law, government, and education.^[1]