It is a pleasure to introduce you to the dynamic, inclusive, and joyful learning community of The Bush School. The Bush School provides a progressive, inquiry-based, student-centered program focused on participatory learning. This engaging learning environment is designed to produce caring and informed students, artists, athletes, thinkers, and citizens who aspire to live rewarding and purposeful lives.
The Bush community adults regard safety, compassion, honesty, and scholarship as paramount and imbue these virtues in their work with students. This has been true since the school's founding in Helen Taylor Bush's basement in 1924. We continue to honor her legacy by graduating students guided by the simple values upon which Mrs. Bush established the school — truth, beauty, and purpose.
Although much has changed since 1924, our fundamental teaching approach remains as relevant now as ever. Bush students engage with our challenging and robust academic programs. They are asked to confront and solve complex problems in the classroom and beyond in various experiential opportunities throughout our campus, Seattle, and the world. As a result of these experiences, they learn how to impact their community that is meaningful and enduring.
As Seattle's only K–12 independent school, we are in the enviable position of witnessing students' emotional and intellectual maturation and sharing their future successes. The Bush School is an exceptional place for children to grow and to learn.
Our students live in a world where the challenges are complex and multidimensional and require them to be talented problem solvers, clear and articulate thinkers, caring and skillful in engaging with people different from themselves, and capable of resisting conformity self-interest.
These foundations of Bush School education are taught intentionally from Kindergarten through Twelfth Grade in all school programs. Education-based on these foundations prepares our students and graduates to make a meaningful difference in the world.
Our educational program's quality is founded on a culture of trust and respect between the adults and the students in the school community. The quality of our students' educational experience depends upon the development of meaningful relationships with caring, talented, and skillful teachers and staff. These relationships nurture our student's desire and ability to take responsibility for their learning. Faculty respect individual differences between students, and they engage students in a joyful curiosity about the world and how it works. They address all aspects of student development — intellectual, aesthetic, emotional, social, and physical.
We hold students to high expectations. We believe the process of education is as important as the products of it. We teach students how to think and how to learn. This prepares them for college, and more importantly, for a lifetime of learning.
Experiential education is a distinguishing element of the school's educational philosophy. It promotes a complex, integrated understanding of the world, develops leadership, builds self-confidence, and empowers students. Students learn from direct experience with real issues and problems, taking risks, and engaging actively in and holding authentic responsibility for their learning. Experiential learning takes place on campus, in the city and the outdoors, across the country, and internationally.
We emphasize collaborative learning to teach leadership and followership and take advantage of our students' different backgrounds and talents. We believe multiple perspectives and a range of world views enliven and promote learning, educating students to be empathetic, curious, and open-minded about others and the world.
To create and maintain this kind of learning environment — one that encourages all members of the school community, especially students, to be their best selves — each of us must feel treated with respect and encouraged to actively and fully participate in the life of the school. Each school community member — students, faculty, staff, parents, guardians, alumnae/I, and trustees — shares responsibility for building and sustaining this environment.
Our unique school educates students from Kindergarten through Twelfth Grade on one campus. We value the relationships that are built between teacher and student. We know that these relationships are not just what makes learning possible but also what makes learning dynamic, energizing, and engaging. The combination of K–12 community, progressive education, experiential programming, and challenging academics capture students' intellectual curiosity and fuels their academic, artistic, athletic, and personal growth.
