Accessibility Statement

Our commitment

Pomfret DEI brings together department resources and school history, and accessibility is central to our mission. We aim to meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA across every page and feature.

Accessibility targets

WCAG 2.1 Level AA
Semantic HTML with logical heading hierarchy
Alt text on every informative image; decorative images are marked aria-hidden
Keyboard-accessible navigation and visible focus indicators
A skip-to-main-content link at the top of every page for screen-reader users
Support for prefers-reduced-motion, which disables or shortens animations for users who request reduced motion, and a site-wide control to pause decorative visual effects
Color contrast ratios that meet AA thresholds for normal and large text
Correct language declarations (lang="en" site-wide, lang="es" on Spanish tour content)
Minimum 44×44px touch targets on interactive elements

Audio and video policy

Campus tour descriptions are available as text in English and Spanish. Audio narration is not currently available.

Known limitations

If a page or feature is difficult to use with your browser or assistive technology, please report the problem using the contact information below.

Reporting accessibility issues

For current school contact details, visit the School Directory. When reporting an accessibility issue, include:

The page URL where the issue occurred
Your browser and assistive technology (if applicable)
A short description of the problem

Continuous improvement

The accessibility targets above guide ongoing changes to this site.

Motion on this site

Everything that moves, and how to stop it

Motion here is decoration, never the content: every page is complete and readable when nothing moves. Nothing scrolls the page for you, and nothing plays sound. One switch stops it all.

Try it

Your browser is not running this site’s scripts, so nothing on it moves.

The same switch is in the header on every page (“Motion on” or “Motion off”). Your choice is kept in this browser only and is never sent anywhere. If your device is set to reduce motion, the site follows it without asking.

AI-generated atmosphere: morning fog over the Pomfret School playing fields, built from a real 2023 survey of the hill. — hill-fogAI-generated atmosphere over a real 2023 survey of the campusCT State GIS Office. (2023). 2023 Aerial imagery. Retrieved from https://maps.cteco.uconn.edu/data/flight2023/. Lidar: 2023 Connecticut Statewide Lidar, NOAA Office for Coastal Management Digital Coast, dataset 10296.

With effects on, this plate plays once when it comes into view and holds its last frame; its own pause button stops it. With effects off it is this still poster, and the video is never downloaded.

Every moving element, where it is, and what you get with motion off
What moves	Where	What it does	How to stop it	With motion off
Page change	Every page	A crimson panel wipes up over the page (240 ms in, 420 ms out) and the new heading rises 24 px behind it. Focus then moves to the new heading.	The Motion control, or your device’s reduce-motion setting.	No panel. The new page appears at once and focus still moves to its heading.
AI film plates	Home, the campus tour, the observatory stop, the archive, Sources & Methods and the demo below (the Film Register and the page-not-found page show still posters only)	Muted, short clips start when a plate comes within 200 px of the screen, play once and hold their last frame. Never more than two play at once, and they pause when scrolled away or when the tab is hidden. Two plates also drift slightly with the scroll.	The 44 px pause button on the plate itself, or the Motion control. Replay is the same button.	Each plate is its still poster with its label. The video file is never downloaded.
Film grain	On film plates only, never on a photograph	A faint 6% grain texture shifts every 120 ms.	The Motion control, or your device’s reduce-motion setting.	The grain stands still.
Survey flight	Home, on wide screens with a mouse or trackpad	A pre-rendered flight over the real 2023 survey, with the tour stops pinned on their roofs. It moves only as far as you scroll, never by itself, then dissolves into the October plate as three lines rise.	Stop scrolling, or use the Motion control.	One still image of the survey, the pins as a plain numbered list and the lines in place.
3D survey explorer	The campus tour only	An interactive point cloud of the campus that you can turn, zoom and fly between the stops; on screen, the camera drifts slowly. A desktop with a graphics processor starts it when it comes into view (8.8 MB). Phones and other devices start it only when you press “Explore in 3D”, which shows its size (2.9 MB); there is no video version. A plain scroll always scrolls the page.	Esc or “Done” hands the pointer back; the Motion control turns the view off.	A still image of the survey, with every stop listed as a link. Nothing is downloaded.
Ticker of record titles	Home, the history section	Record titles run sideways at about 40 px a second, stopping while you point at or focus them. Counters count up once to their real values.	Its own 44 px Pause button, or the Motion control.	The titles sit still in wrapped rows, and the counters show their values.
Timeline title cards	The timeline and its six chapter pages	Each title card holds while its records slide over it on ordinary scroll, and its numeral tilts back. A crimson line draws down the margin, the arc of the years draws once, margin years nudge 8 px on hover or focus, and a soft light follows a mouse over the cards.	The Motion control, or your device’s reduce-motion setting.	The cards still stack (that is the layout), but nothing tilts, draws, nudges or glows.
Light table, ledgers and year drums	Humans of Pomfret, the Heads of School and the Schwartz Fellows	Slips settle, the table’s two layers shift up to 6 px with a mouse and the masthead cards fan out once. Term bars and rules draw in, numerals drift and the year drums roll.	The Motion control, or your device’s reduce-motion setting.	Everything lies still in its final place.
Reading room	The archive and its two reading rooms	The desk lamp brightens as each issue comes into view. In a reading room, page turns cross-fade in 400 ms and a loupe follows a mouse over the pages (never over the covers).	The Motion control, or your device’s reduce-motion setting.	Pages change at once and there is no loupe. “Detail” still opens every scan.
Survey still and endnotes	Sources & Methods	On the survey still a crimson line sweeps once, the stop marks drop in and six frames develop as you scroll. Filtered endnotes ease forward.	The Motion control, or your device’s reduce-motion setting.	Everything is shown at once, in place.
Tour stop openings	The six tour stop pages	The opening picture settles from 108% to its own size as you start to scroll, and the ring on the roof pulses three times.	The Motion control, or your device’s reduce-motion setting.	The picture sits at its own size and the ring is still.
Headings and reveals	Most pages	Headlines rise line by line as they come into view, large numerals settle, and some card grids shift up to 14 px.	The Motion control, or your device’s reduce-motion setting.	Every line, numeral and card is already in place.
Reading-progress rule	The bottom edge of the header	A thin crimson rule fills as you scroll down the page.	The Motion control, or your device’s reduce-motion setting.	The rule stays empty.
Workshop cards	AI & Bias, top of the page	The stack of three cards turns slightly as you scroll past it.	The Motion control, or your device’s reduce-motion setting.	The cards hold one still pose.
Film Register	AI & Bias, part two	Plate posters open from the bottom edge (AI label first) and settle as you scroll, and the compare slider’s seam glides once to show that it moves. Any touch or key stops the glide.	The Motion control, or your device’s reduce-motion setting.	Posters sit still. The compare slider still works by hand and with the arrow keys.
Page-not-found numeral	The page-not-found page	The large 404 rises once as the page loads. The film plate beside it is a still poster.	The Motion control, or your device’s reduce-motion setting.	The numeral is in place.