Focused on Student Activity:
The Barrie School Emphasizes
Learning by Doing
Located on an idyllic 45-acre campus in Silver Spring, Maryland, is a remarkable school that encourages students to explore, discuss, investigate and experience. The Barrie School is an independent school with a rigorous academic program. It was founded in 1932 as a Montessori preschool and has since grown into a comprehensive, pre-K through grade-12 institution. The Barrie Lower School offers a Montessori curriculum for students in preschool through grade 5. The Middle and Upper Schools emphasize a blend of experience-based and traditional college preparatory education.
"The Barrie School is small and possesses a unique ethos," says Head of School, Tim Trautman. “The student-faculty ratio is 7 to 1 in the Middle and Upper School, allowing teachers to devote a lot of time to each student. Our highly educated faculty members, who remain active and enthusiastic participants in their fields, give Barrie students the inspiration and the opportunity to discover their own passions and potentials.”
While The Barrie School offers a superlative in-class curriculum (including a full complement of Advanced Placement courses in humanities, mathematics, sciences, foreign languages and the arts), it is its hands-on learning opportunities that truly set the school apart. “Our curriculum requires Barrie students to take skills and information acquired in class and test them out beyond the boundaries of traditional classrooms,” says Trautman. “Our students apply what they learn in the classroom to community service, internships, and weekly Extension Days. An annual Extended Study Week allows groups of our students and faculty to pursue interests far off campus – this year, in places like France, Turkey, and the Galapagos Islands, as well as places within the Continental U.S., such as Space Camp in Texas and the Chesapeake Bay. All of these in-the-field experiences simultaneously utilize and expand our students’ knowledge. They return to class able to enrich their classmates’ education as well as their own with what they have learned by doing.”
Community service and internships are required in the Middle and Upper Schools. And students have a great deal of choice in how they satisfy these requirements. For community service projects, students work with organizations such as the American Red Cross, the Bethesda Naval Medical Center and local animal shelters. Students often choose internships in line with their own career ambitions. One Barrie student with an interest in thoracic surgery recently volunteered at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. After graduating from Cornell University last spring, another Barrie alumnus was offered a position in the computer software company at which he had completed his Barrie internship.
The Barrie School also boasts a wide array of extracurricular activities to further enrich student life. For example, championship equestrian, golf and basketball teams, other interscholastic offerings such as soccer, lacrosse, baseball, volleyball, track and tennis, as well as a compliment of intramural sports and activities, give students the opportunity to develop their athletic skills and the spirit of teamwork, while the school’s well-developed and highly regarded drama program involves students in the artistic and technical aspects of theatrical production.
"As a small community, we depend upon each of our students to contribute to all aspects of school life. The Barrie School encourages all students to participate in arts and athletics in addition to their academic work," says Trautman. "Our graduates are well-rounded and prepared to continue learning and also to continue sharing their knowledge and skills." Among the colleges and universities that The Barrie School Class of 2006 will be attending are Brandeis, Bucknell, Carnegie Mellon, Dickinson, Goucher, Kenyon, Lehigh, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Northwestern, Towson and the University of Maryland.
Open House: October 22, 2006
For more information please call 301.576.2800 or visit www.barrie.org.
13500 Layhill Road, Silver Spring, MD 20806
