The Barstow School

The Barstow School is a co-educational school where students in preschool through twelfth grade develop in a challenging educational community. As originally stated by Mary Louise Barstow, the objective of the school remains “to promote sound scholarship and to give symmetrical development to mind, body and character.” The goals of The Barstow School are to:

• Graduate well-rounded and self-confident individuals;
• Offer a rigorous and challenging college preparatory curriculum;
• Provide opportunities to develop leadership and enhance skills for lifelong learning;
• Develop highly skilled, ethical users of technology;
• Maintain a community that is diverse, accepting and inclusive;
• Promote service work to the community by students and adults;
• Foster open communication among all constituents in the Barstow community;
• Encourage the development of faculty through ongoing learning opportunities;
• Act as good stewards of the institution’s physical, financial and human resources.

Choosing the right education for your child is an important decision. Finding a place where your child grows into Who They Really Are is priceless. The Barstow Admission Team is here to help your family find just the right fit. Whether you join our school community in preschool, middle school or as a freshman, we look forward to watching your child graduate from Barstow fully prepared for the challenges ahead.

The founders and subsequent generations of The Barstow School envision a school where a community of learners, adults and children of all ages, come together in a mutually supportive, trusting environment that nurtures intellectual, physical, emotional and moral growth. In support of its legacy, Barstow envisions an educationally challenging community where:

• Students strive to be honest and trusting, expecting those same virtues from other community members;
• Reason, imagination and physical activity are necessary aspects of healthy development;
• Students learn to take risks while pursuing excellence in all their activities, developing the resilience to learn from failures without damage to their psyches or their futures;
• Students work and play in an emotionally safe and physically secure environment;
• Students learn to accept the freedoms and responsibilities necessary to support a democratic community;
• Students are open-minded, idealistic and accepting;
• Students develop self-discipline and, as a result, self-reliance;
• Students articulate their understanding, listen to the thoughts of others, and share in a dialogue beneficial to the whole community;
• Students demonstrate their knowledge through performance, presentation, and application, in addition to conventional assessments;
• Students learn through extracurricular activities the importance of following rules precisely, practicing skills rigorously and winning and losing graciously;
• Educators and parents share with young people the joy and pride of their accomplishments;
• Adults strive to model for students the highest standards of excellence, honesty, trust, and respect.

As a child grows with us, we build on students' experiences to both broaden and deepen their knowledge. Most importantly, we help students take that knowledge and apply it in real world settings. Teachers across all subject areas and grade levels, from preschool through grade 12, work together to create a progression of learning. It might be a second grader participating in the class bake sale during the rainforest unit to raise funds for rainforest preservation. Or it could be an upper school theatre student, inspired by the school production of RENT, who plans a food drive. Whatever passion a student develops, Barstow's faculty will help them explore it.

The mission of The Barstow School is to promote sound scholarship and to give symmetrical development to mind, body and character. The integration of technology is one manifestation of this mission. At The Barstow School technological innovations create transformational learning. We weave technology throughout every grade level and subject area at Barstow. But even more than that, we structure the experience of students and faculty to remain on the cutting edge of preparing our learners for the demands of school and work in the 21st century.

The hammer and saw don’t build the chair, the master carpenter does. The same is true for technology. An iPad or laptop doesn’t teach a child, but these tools, in the hands and minds of master teachers and bright curious learners can transform the learning experience.

Barstow’s technology program is anything but linear. It grows organically, as knowledge does. It branches out in directions we sometime don’t anticipate, but always in ways that build the knowledge and skills of students to safely use technology in their own learning. In every division, students learn how to use technology appropriately, research new knowledge, and define problems and create solutions using a variety of technology tools—some teacher-facilitated, others student-discovered. Coupling this with a focus on virtual organizational tools helps students become autonomous learners.