Bishop's Philosophy
Mission Statement |
The Bishop’s School is an academic community
pursuing intellectual, artistic, and athletic excellence in the context of the Episcopal tradition. We are dedicated to offering the highest quality education to a diverse student body and to fostering integrity, imagination, moral responsibility, and commitment to serving the larger community.Members of The Bishop's School will maintain integrity, honor, responsible citizenship, and respect for the rights of others.
Diversity and Inclusion Statement
The Bishop’s School promotes an inclusive and compassionate community of students, faculty, staff, administrators, parents, trustees, and alumni. We honor and embrace diverse identities such as age, culture, ethnicity, family structure, gender and gender identity, group affiliation, national origin, physical and mental ability, race, religion, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status. Because diversity enriches the exchange of ideas, we foster a physically and emotionally safe environment in which different experiences, thoughts, and opinions are respectfully expressed and respectfully heard. Such an environment allows every individual to thrive in and contribute to our global community.
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Fundamental Standard |
Members of The Bishop's School will maintain integrity, honor, responsible citizenship, and respect for the rights of others.
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While it may be true that a school is measured by what its graduates become, for The Bishop’s School it is the “becoming” part of this philosophy that has shaped the School’s mission for 100 years.
In addition to stimulating and challenging students academically, we believe that it is our role to help young people learn to be morally discriminating and to define ethical standards that will take them from adolescence to adulthood. For us, it is the journey and not the destination that is most important. We call this An Education for Life.
We recognize that how we teach plays a crucial role in how well students assimilate information as well as how well they gain insight into how they will live their lives. To that end, our teachers are accomplished in their fields and bring an unrivaled passion for teaching and young people. Our remarkably small class size, most classes have 14-16 students, allows relationships to develop between student and teacher that are more like the ones found at colleges. Small classes and a challenging college preparatory curriculum are unique to a Bishop’s education.
The environment in the classroom, on the sports field, on the stage, even on the campus after school, draws our students, their families and our faculty together as a community. When students have spent their years at The Bishop’s School, we trust that they will go forward relying on their own interior strengths and on the qualities that we have helped them develop while they were here.
Upper School Philosophy
It is the philosophy of Bishop’s Upper School that a disciplined study of academic coursework within a stimulating community of scholars is an excellent preparation for college and responsible participation in the adult world. Bishop’s small class size allows students and teachers to engage in exciting and free-ranging discussions inspired by great voices and concepts in history, literature, languages, science, mathematics, and the arts. While students come to Bishop’s to prepare to attend the best colleges and universities in the country, the scope of our academic program is broad enough to encompass larger, more important goals. It is our belief that a Bishop’s education will prepare a young person for the totality of his or her life.
“The Middle School Statement of Purpose at The Bishop’s School guides us as we work with our students. ‘We recognize that middle school learners have unique intellectual, physical, social, emotional, and character development needs. We believe middle school learning experiences should be integrated and connect to life while opening doors to new ideas that evoke curiosity and the desire to explore. Therefore, our teachers advocate learning opportunities that engage students in problem solving and allow them to learn and express themselves in a variety of ways. We value a wide range of teaching techniques and assessments of students’ progress in achieving both academic success and healthy behaviors.’ ”
Gayle Williams
Head of Middle School |
Middle School Philosophy
Bishop’s Middle School provides a transition period between elementary and upper school. These three years are viewed as a special time to address the needs of early adolescents by appropriately designing their curricular and co-curricular experiences. Implementing an interdisciplinary approach, faculty assist middle school students in responding to thematic ideas and questions; for the sixth grader it is “Beyond Boundaries” and “Exploring Borders,” for the seventh grader, the question of “Who am I?” is woven into discussions, while in the eighth grade, students examine “Who am I in this World?”
The whole-child emphasis of the middle school program is based on building study and thinking skills, taking responsibility for one’s own education, and developing self-confidence and a sense of moral responsibility. In addition to an integrated teaching approach that shows the relationships among academic subjects, middle school students are exposed to a wide variety of arts and athletic co-curricular activities as well as assemblies and speakers throughout the year that address age-appropriate needs.
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