Academic Overview
Welcome to Barrie School.
Whether you've been part of our community for years or you're just discovering us, we're grateful you're here. Education matters now more than ever. We live in a time of rapid change: AI reshaping how we work and learn, constant information streams, and daily uncertainties that challenge how we prepare young people for meaningful lives.
Critical thought: The key to capability, courage, and confidence.
Since our founding in 1932, we’ve been inspired and guided by the philosophies of great educators like John Dewey, Jean Piaget, and Maria Montessori, who defined the very existence of school as a place to not just educate children, but to ready them for the future that actually awaits them.
At Barrie, our philosophy of building and shaping critical minds enhances and expands on this core principle to better respond to the dynamic, ever-evolving, and often challenging world that is our children’s reality today.
By preparing students through our unique, human-centered approach to confidently and joyfully ask bigger, deeper questions about what they see and learn, we teach them to examine the whole world critically.
They focus keenly on their interests, building the intrinsic understanding that they can use their knowledge and determination to adapt, overcome, and be ready for anything that the future brings them.
Through greater awareness, broader perspective, capability, courage, and confidence, students are well prepared to embrace their futures of excitement and optimism—to continue growing, achieving, and living meaningful, rewarding lives.
We're Evolving Barrie to Meet the Moment
Barrie School is proud to be the first school in the United States to offer the full Global Impact Diploma, an innovative diploma pathway designed by a consortium of international school
At Barrie School, this begins at the earliest ages, when Montessori learners choose their own work, are challenged by teachers to explore new topics, and then reteach what they have mastered to their peers. As students grow, they are continually empowered to take charge of their own learning. Project-Based Learning emphasizes analysis, research, creation, and innovation of strategies and solutions.
At Barrie School active participation is the first step in understanding and mastering more and more complex concepts. We believe that active participation is fed by intrinsic motivation, and that the key to academic excellence is unlocking the self-motivation that every learner has inside.