Stoneleigh-Burnham School
Stoneleigh-Burnham School | |
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Address | |
574 Bernardston Road Greenfield, MA 01301 United States | |
Coordinates | 42°36′52.56″N 72°35′08.88″W / 42.6146000°N 72.5858000°WCoordinates: 42°36′52.56″N 72°35′08.88″W / 42.6146000°N 72.5858000°W |
Information | |
School type | Independent, secondary, single-sex, boarding girls' school |
Motto |
Veritas Supra Omnia (Truth Above All) |
Established | 1869 |
Head of school | Sally L. Mixsell '69 |
Grades | 7–12 and postgraduate |
Enrollment | 148 |
Average class size | 10 |
Student to teacher ratio | 6:1 |
Campus size | 100 acres (0.40 km2) |
Color(s) | blue and white |
Mascot | Athena the Owl |
Accreditation | NEASC |
Yearbook | Images |
Alumni | 7,000 |
Website | www.sbschool.org |
Aerial view of the Stoneleigh-Burnham Campus |
Stoneleigh-Burnham School (SBS) is an independent boarding and day school for girls in grades 7–12 and postgraduate. Founded in 1869, the school is a combination of five founding schools from New England, but resides today on a 100-acre (0.40 km2) campus in Greenfield, Massachusetts, United States, located in the Pioneer Valley.
Stoneleigh-Burnham is affiliated with the National Coalition of Girls' Schools (NCGS), the National Association of Independent Schools, The Association of Boarding Schools and is accredited with the New England Association of Schools and Colleges.
The Head of Stoneleigh-Burnham is the first ever alumna to act as Head of School, Sally Mixsell.
The school's motto is Veritas Supra Omnia (Truth Above All), and the school mascot is an owl named Athena who wears the colors blue and white.
History of Stoneleigh-Burnham School
Stoneleigh-Burnham School is the result of the merger of five girls’ schools, dating back to 1869 with the Prospect Hill School of Greenfield, Massachusetts.
The history of Stoneleigh-Burnham School as a timeline:
- 1869: Prospect Hill School founded in Greenfield, Massachusetts by Reverend John Farwell Moors.
- 1877: The Classical School for Girls founded in Northampton, Massachusetts by Bessie Talbot Capen and Mary A. Burnham. The founders are encouraged by then-President of Smith College, Laurenus Clarke Seelye, to provide young women with a better preparation for entrance into Smith College.
- 1885: The Classical School for Girls is renamed the Mary A. Burnham School, in honor of founder Burnham.
- 1909: The Elmhurst School is founded in Connersville, Indiana by Isabel Cressler and Caroline Sumner, also at the urging of Seelye.
- 1926: Elmhurst School relocates to a larger campus in Rye, New Hampshire and is renamed the Stoneleigh School for Girls.
- 1930: The Stoneleigh School for Girls merges with Prospect Hill School forming Stoneleigh-Prospect Hill School on what is today the Stoneleigh-Burnham School campus.
- 1968: Stoneleigh-Prospect Hill merges with the Mary A. Burnham School to form Stoneleigh-Burnham School.
Academics
Stoneleigh-Burnham School is a small community with a wide array of academic offerings. The academic schedule works on trimesters in which class size ranges from 6 to 12 students, with a student to faculty ratio of 6:1. The school has a college acceptance rate of 90%. The school is an International Baccalaureate school. Stoneleigh-Burnham has long been a school that values international perspectives and experience. Life in the 21st century, in an interconnected, globalized world, requires critical-thinking skills and a sense of international-mindedness, both of which IB students learn and understand.
The IB underscores Stoneleigh-Burnham’s dedication to preparing girls for collegiate success. Offering the IB affords SBS the opportunity to provide a global, interdisciplinary curriculum and to apply international assessment standards. The program will equip students with exemplary critical thinking skills, and open doors for them at universities both in the U.S. and abroad. They are now the only girls’ school in New England to offer the IB.
Athletics
Stoneleigh-Burnham School provides its students with several athletic opportunities. Fall offerings include soccer, volleyball, fitness, dance and horseback riding. Winter offerings include basketball, fitness, skiing, figure skating, dance and riding. In the spring, the school offers lacrosse, softball, tennis, dance and riding. The equestrian team and facilities are one of the things the school is known for.
Stoneleigh-Burnham athletes play with the motto: Win without boasting, lose without excuse!
Arts
The performing and fine arts are a large part of the Stoneleigh-Burnham experience. Stoneleigh-Burnham students take part in numerous performing and visual art presentations many times throughout the year, both on and off campus.
SBS visual art course offerings include Digital Photography, Desktop Publishing & Photoshop (working with the Adobe Creative Suite), Ceramics, Painting, Advanced Placement Art, Design and Color, and International Baccalaureate Art
Music courses include: Octet Selective Vocal Group, Chorus, Big Band, Jazz Combo, Middle School Instrumental Class, Chamber Music, Middle School Vocal Class, and Middle School Select Chorus, and International Baccalaureate Music
Dance courses include: Pointe, Beginner/Intermediate Dance, Advanced Dance, Dance 7, Dance 8, and International Baccalaureate Dance
Acting courses include: Acting, Theatre 7, Theatre 8, and the Winter Play.
Student life
SBS extracurricular activities include StuCo (the Student Council); the Literary Society; the Debate and Public Speaking Society; Admission's Blue Key Society; the Dance Performance Project; the Octet singing group; peer tutors; Riding Club; Students of Color (SOC); and the Gay Straight Alliance (GSA).
Stoneleigh-Burnham’s Debate and Public Speaking Society regularly competes with schools such as Deerfield Academy, Loomis Chaffee, St. Paul’s, Roxbury Latin, and Phillips Exeter. Many students, including one in 2010 and another in 2012, traveled to the World Individual Debating and Public Speaking Championship. Many students of the Society have also represented the United States in the International Independent Schools Public Speaking Competition, including three in 2012. Three more speakers will travel to Toronto in October 2013 to represent both Stoneleigh Burnham School and the United States.
References
- Stoneleigh-Burnham School: History of SBS (SBS website)
- Stoneleigh-Burnham School: Student Life (SBS website)
- Scott, Samantha G. E-mail interview. 13 February 2011.