4 Reasons Why Parents Should Choose Buckley Country Day School

Buckley Country Day School’s mission is grounded in the belief expressed by B. Lord Buckley that “Opening the Eyes and Awakening the Mind” is the essence of education. Guided by that mission for almost a century, BCDS has purposely focused on developing a rigorous curriculum and teaching students the skills required for their future. The school has also remained committed to a liberal arts education dedicated to nurturing the whole child and fostering joy in lifelong learning. As audacious as it may seem, life readiness is BCDS’s ultimate educational objective.

Buckley Country Day School's Curriculum Inspires and Prepares Students for Life

Buckley’s mission drives the school’s curriculum. It is demanding and requires students to be fully engaged and willing to take risks. As they progress through the grades, Buckley students are expected to take an increasingly active role in their learning. The curriculum has been intentionally designed and scaffolded for students to continuously hone essential skills and develop cognitive agility to apply their skillsets to solve new problems.

BCDS fosters a dynamic learning community where children are inspired and well-prepared to excel as educated, ethical, and confident individuals. The school’s curriculum is meant to prepare students to become socially responsible citizens and educated decision-makers. Thus, Buckley Country Day School seeks to offer a comprehensive, inquiry-based curriculum informed by current research, student assessment, and best practices. The school’s programs and culture are rooted in a child-centered, value-based education within a diverse, inclusive, nurturing, and tradition-rich community. BCDS uses a broad repertoire of strategies to differentiate teaching and learning.

Buckley Country Day School’s curriculum framework reflects what the school believes to be essential skills for students:

• Critical Thinking: The ability to think critically and creatively to process the voluminous amount of information at one’s fingertips and solve problems.
• Communication: The ability to communicate one’s thinking effectively and using multiple media.
• Collaboration: The ability to consider and embrace multiple perspectives and divergent opinions to solve problems.
• Creativity: The ability to stretch one’s thinking to create new knowledge.
• Cultural Competence: The ability to employ a range of skills to engage in effective and mutually respectful interactions with people and places that are different than one’s own.
• Character: The ability to demonstrate character traits and social and emotional intelligence skills, among which are Empathy, Resilience, Self-Control, Curiosity, Agency, and Open-Mindedness.

Buckley’s size and low student-to-teacher ratio enable the school’s exceptional faculty to maximize individual attention. Buckley teachers are carefully selected based on their credentials, their experience, their understanding of teaching and learning, their passion for their craft, and their ability to serve as positive role models for their students. The professional culture of the school is one of excellence, collaboration, and growth.

Fostering a Culture of Respect, Kindness, and Inclusivity

BCDS’s core values of Integrity, Perseverance, Kindness, Personal and Social Responsibility, and Mutual Respect are purposely woven into all aspects of teaching and learning at Buckley. The school embraces diversity broadly and champions a culture of inclusivity where all children, teachers, staff, and families are made to feel safe and respected as they see themselves.

Buckley Country Day School Sets Students Up for Success

Buckley’s grade level configuration and size are designed intentionally. It believes that K-8 or T-8 schools provide the best preparation for secondary school and beyond. This claim has long been substantiated, as in the extensive Fordham Institute report concluding that “there is clear evidence that the K-8 model has a significant positive effect on academic achievement, openness to learning and student behavior.”

The school community of BCDS allows children to take their time to grow and, at the same time, be given early leadership opportunities. The process of re-evaluating the best and most suitable secondary school options at the end of eighth grade—at a time when the students are actually ready for the transition—is a unique and special experience provided in K-8 schools. In a school where most children will spend more than a decade of their most formative years, students are naturally and deliberately encouraged to develop a profound sense of self-awareness and agency to “write their own story.”

A Diverse Student Body

Buckley seeks to attract, admit, and enroll capable, curious, and motivated students, creating a diverse community of families who embrace our core values. One of the school’s major strengths is the ethnic, religious, and socioeconomic diversity of its student body. The staff at BCDS firmly believes that the multiple perspectives a diverse student body brings into the classroom enrich the experience of all students.

Main image courtesy Buckley Country Day School