Welcome to Doane Academy, a remarkable school in its 189th year of empowering young people to lead purposeful and joyful lives.

I am honored to lead Doane, New Jersey’s only pre-K through 12th grade Episcopal day school, and one that has had a core commitment to equity and excellence since its founding. Small by design and thoroughly diverse, we are a closely bonded community that has a mighty impact on all who are part of it. Doane offers an educational experience that balances scholastic achievement with social and emotional learning and that fosters ethical development and leadership with high intention. Our outstanding faculty and staff believe in every student’s unique potential and dedicate themselves to cultivating it. Doane graduates have a rewarding breadth of college options; they enter the wider world with sharpened intellects and compassionate consciences, ready to use their hearts, hands, and voices.

Enjoy your exploration of Doane’s website. I invite you, as well, to visit our beautiful campus here on the banks of the Delaware River. You may find, as I did upon my first visit, that it casts something of a spell; I’ve come to understand that even more than foliage and gracious historic buildings and sunlight on water, this feeling springs from the radical sense of belonging and community of aim to be found here. This is the Doane Difference.

My best,

Erin P. Mayo
Head of School

In the fall of 2023 Erin Pike Mayo became the first female Head of School of Doane Academy since 1974 and the ninth female head in the school’s history. Doane Academy, which was founded in 1837 by Rev. George Washington Doane as an academic boarding school for young women, was originally named St. Mary’s Hall. Today, Doane Academy is an independent, co-educational day school, founded in the Episcopal tradition, that serves about 240 students from age 3 through grade 12. It is the mission of Doane Academy to deliver an exceptional college preparatory program while cultivating character development and nurturing the emotional maturity essential to prepare students for life.

Doane academy's mission and core values