Morristown-Beard School

We know that finding the right school is a journey to discover the best fit for your child's unique interests. At MBS, you will find an academic environment that embraces active engagement, analytical and critical thinking, excellence in writing, risk-taking, and of course opportunities for leadership. We take pride in knowing that every student leaves MBS powerfully prepared for learning and for life.

Morristown-Beard is an independent, coeducational day school serving students from over 90 communities and nine counties in northern New Jersey. There are 572 students in grades 6-12, with an Upper School enrollment of 423. There are 92 faculty members, of whom 71% hold advanced degrees, of which 19% are doctoral. The School is accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools and the New Jersey Association of Independent Schools and is approved by the New Jersey State Department of Education.

Students leave MBS exceedingly well prepared for the challenges of college and university studies. Their skills in thinking, writing, and time management set them apart among entering college students, while the qualities of mind they develop here position them for success long after college. These strengths—from communication and collaboration to the ability to solve complex, open-ended problems—lead nearly every list of capabilities for 21st-century success.

Within a culture of support and collaboration, Morristown-Beard School students discover and develop their individual pathways to academic success and personal fulfillment while becoming enlightened, morally responsible citizens of the world. While every communication, every decision, every action taken by an institution speaks to the values it either openly or tacitly embraces, it is particularly important for an educational institution to be as clear as possible about its vision for School culture, both academically and socially. We continue to honor our longstanding Core Values (respect, responsibility, integrity, courage, compassion), and hereby incorporate them into a more expansive, updated statement of our ethical and social vision.

The bedrock of our academic program is to provide a foundation in the Liberal Arts. Our most fundamental goal is to help train and guide our students so that they may ultimately contribute to making the world a better place, and we believe that all members of the MBS community should cultivate a life guided by moral principles, among them:

• Empathy is the ability to understand deeply or even to experience the emotional state of another person. Knowing, and caring, about how others feel is a powerful force in creating positive interactions.
• Cooperation is not emphasized as much in society at large as competition is, yet cooperation is far more instrumental in driving human progress and in creating healthy social environments than is generally recognized.
• Humility implies a willingness to see oneself as part of a larger, shared endeavor, and to be able to subordinate, where necessary, our individual roles in the service of a more inclusive vision.
• Awareness of Diverse Perspectives enhances all aspects of learning and social experience. Research shows clearly that the more students are able to encounter and understand other points of view, the more deeply engaged they are, both academically and socially.
• Independence of Mind allows us to resist trendy or conformist thinking, and forces us as individuals to examine critically our decisions and assumptions so that we develop a consistent and coherent philosophy of living.
• Connectedness grows directly out of Diversity as a foundational value of MBS. Understanding our commonalities is essential to developing the idea of Global Citizenship to which the School is committed.
• Humor is a central aspect of the resilience required to meet the inevitable challenges we encounter not only in school, but also in life. At MBS, we value the ability not to take ourselves overly seriously, even when we are engaged in the most serious of endeavors.

Unwavering in its 125-year commitment to nurturing students' individual strengths, MBS is unique in its history and mission. We are deeply invested in pushing students to reach their potential within a life of balance and authentic learning. Morristown-Beard draws the best out of its students by harmonizing academic rigor with moral and ethical development. With small class sizes and individualized instruction, we have a unique opportunity to connect personally and intellectually in an intimate and inspiring academic setting.

Beard School curriculum emphasizes critical thinking, problem solving, independent thought, and intellectual risk taking. It supports cross-disciplinary connections and a holistic view of knowledge. It encourages integration of habits of intentional speaking and writing so that students may develop and articulate their ideas. The curriculum is process-oriented, and teachers’ assessment of student work reflects the means by which a student creates and learns in addition to final product. The curriculum at Morristown-Beard School esteems the qualitative as well as quantitative dimensions of learning and supports students' making connections to other areas of intellectual thought and the larger world.