Altamont at a Glance

The Altamont School is a coeducational, traditional college preparatory independent day school enrolling students in grades 5-12. We are located on the crest of Red Mountain in a secluded residential neighborhood five minutes from downtown Birmingham.

Some of our students, some of our family

Lower School students at play.

Link to Campus Tour

Click here for a virtual tour.

Quick Facts:

2006-2007 College Bound

  • Altamont graduates are accepted into the most selective colleges and universities in the country: Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, Cornell, Dartmouth, Georgetown, University of Pennsylvania, Notre Dame, Washington and Lee, Swarthmore, Washington University, Middlebury, Williams, Barnard, Amherst, Davidson, Duke, Emory, UNC-Chapel Hill, University of Virginia, Vanderbilt, Pomona, University of Texas – Austin and the U.S. Naval Academy.
  • In the past five years, 79% of Altamont’s graduates have chosen out-of-state schools; 63% have selected schools in the southeast and southwest; 23% opted for schools in the northeast and mid-Atlantic and 13% headed to schools in the Midwest, Southwest, and West.
  • The 49 members of the Class of 2007 received academic, athletic, and special achievement scholarships of almost $1,700,000.
  • The college search program includes the annual College Tour of more than twenty northern or southern colleges and universities.
  • 14% of the students in the Class of 2006 were named National Merit semifinalists, a larger percentage than any other independent school in the area. Six went on to be named finalists.

Fall Project Week

  • Each October, the world becomes a classroom, with students going on weeklong trips around the corner and around the world. Students immerse themselves in courses such as maritime ecology in the Mobile Bay, “Books, Blues and Barbeque” in the Mississippi Delta, and “Tracing the Footsteps of the Ancients” in Roman Spain.
Link to A Day in the Life section containing profiles of various students and their daily lives at Altamont.

See what's happening today at Altamont.

Altamont is a small family – just over 400 students – with socio-economic, ethnic (approximately 16 percent minority) and religious diversity. We have an intensive college preparatory academic program with a personalized college search program, including an annual college tour. And we offer many opportunities for children to develop multiple talents by participating in arts, foreign language, community service, clubs, class projects, science competitions and sports – all at the same time.

Altamont was established in 1975 through the merger of the Birmingham University School (BUS), founded in 1922, and the Brooke Hill School, founded in 1940 as the College Preparatory School for Girls.

Our main campus is located on 28-acres on the crest of Red Mountain in a secluded residential neighborhood five minutes from downtown Birmingham. The main school building houses 40 classrooms, two science wings, a Fine Arts Center, a Student Center, an art gallery and sculpture garden, a complete computer network, with a wireless hub, a computer lab, a 20,000-volume library, and special studios for chorus, art, photography, orchestra. An audio-visual recording, editing and production studio was recently added to the fine arts suite. The athletic facilities include two gymnasiums with two basketball courts, three volleyball courts, and a weight room. The main campus offers six tennis courts, a soccer field and a track with discus cage, shot put ring, long jump pit, pole vault, and a golf cage. A second campus provides another gymnasium as well as soccer, baseball, and softball fields.

A tradition of high achievement

Our students in the main are high and very high achievers. Three-fourths of seniors maintain an A/B average in Altamont’s accelerated courses. Our students leave us ready for challenging college coursework. As well as joining other students in a great many curricular and extracurricular activities, two out of every three students also compete in one or more of our 25 athletic teams.

While completing requirements at Altamont, students who have demonstrated outstanding academic performance may study at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). Credit for courses taken and passed at UAB may be transferred to most accredited colleges or universities.

Our faculty includes 54 full- or part-time teachers regionally and nationally recognized as outstanding educators. They all teach in their certified fields of study, sponsor clubs, coach sports, and serve as academic advisors. Seventy-three percent of the faculty hold Masters degrees or higher, and three-quarters of the faculty have taught at Altamont for five years or longer.

Altamont is governed by a Board of Trustees that includes parents, patrons, alumni and friends. We are accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, and we hold membership in the National Association of Independent Schools, among other affiliations.

The school year, from late August to early June, is divided into two terms with Thanksgiving, Holiday, Winter and Spring Breaks and several long weekends. A typical day, from 8:00 a.m. to 3:15 p.m., includes six class periods, on a rotating schedule.

For the 2007-2008 school year, Altamont enrolled 55 new students from 32 schools. Our total enrollment by grade is 17 in Fifth, 26 in Sixth, 51 in Seventh, 54 in Eighth, 52 in Ninth, 59 in Tenth, 55 in Eleventh, and 64 in Twelfth.