Summary
Organization name
Stanley British Primary School
other names
Stanley BPS
1972
Tax id (EIN)
74-2325997
Category
Education
Organization Size
Large Organization
Address
350 Quebec StreetDenver, CO 80230
Denver County, CO, US
SBPS
Our mission is to engage, challenge, and inspire children to reach their potential and develop their own voices.
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Testimonials
"Stanley BPS has meant so much to me over the years. The teachers there are some of the coolest people I've ever known. I feel that what I learned at Stanley BPS has helped me through high school and will continue to help me throughout my life." - Harris Markson, Class of 2000, graduated from East High School and UC Santa Barbara
"Thank you to Carolyn Hambidge for creating a school that allowed me to grow and thrive and made me never want to stop learning." - Madeline Morrissey, Class of 2002, graduated from Kent Denver and USC
"At Stanley BPS we were taught how to think as a process and what each concept actually meant and why you would use the concept. Once you know how to think, that skill translates into everything else that you do." - Emily Wasserman, Class of 1998, graduated from Kent Denver and Williams College
Mission
Mission
Our mission is to engage, challenge, and inspire children to reach their potential and develop their own voices within an inclusive, diverse, and collaborative community that values distinct contributions and abilities. We prepare teachers to implement our vision, mission, and values, and we share our educational approach with the larger community.
Vision
We envision a community of joyful, lifelong learners prepared to make a positive difference in the world.
Values
We value childhood. We are knowledgeable about the stages of child development and the different needs of each age group. We create learning experiences responsive to the stages of childhood. We are skilled in observing children and utilizing a variety of approaches to engage each child.
We value positivity. We uphold a community culture in which all bring their best selves to school each day, are kind and thoughtful in their interactions, and presume positive intentions of one another.
We value individuality. We recognize each child is unique and significant; therefore, we respect and build positive relationships with children and encourage them to know themselves – their strengths, challenges, learning style, culture and interests. We are committed to developing the whole child.
We value discovery. We create an integrated, meaningful curriculum in which children can explore and experiment through first-hand experiences. We give children the opportunity to pursue their interests and thoughts, to make choices, and to take responsibility for their own learning. We promote a culture of continual learning and growth in our faculty and staff. We encourage curiosity, imagination and creativity.
We value community responsibility. We provide a safe, nurturing, mutually respectful community. We cultivate in our students the ability and desire to be responsive and contributing members of the world. We value honesty, compassion and courage. We share what we know with one another and with the larger community of education.
We value diversity of all kinds – in students, staff and parents. We develop in children an understanding of similarities and differences in people and the ability to make socially responsible decisions. Towards this end we promote flexibility, resourcefulness, critical thinking and communication.
We value relationships. We recognize that positive relationships are fundamental to student learning and to the successful operation of the school. We actively include parents in their child's education and view partnership with parents as a critical means to realize our mission.
Background Statement
Stanley British Primary School was originally organized in 1972 as a model classroom housed at Montview Community Preschool in Park Hill. Through a partnership with Metropolitan State College and the federal Model Cities Project, the laboratory classroom was set up to demonstrate the English Primary School approach to education. The BPS program grew tremendously in popularity, and the demand for places in the classroom began to far exceed available space. In the fall of 1983, an energetic group of parents joined forces with BPS teachers in an effort to expand the program. After many months of work, the group purchased the Stanley School building located at 1301 Quebec St. in the historic Montclair neighborhood. After extensive renovation, much of it done by parents, the school was reopened in the fall of 1984 as Stanley British Primary School (Stanley BPS). When the school opened, it housed eighty kindergarten, first, and second graders. The school continued to grow and prosper at its new site, adding third grade by 1985. In 1991, after a successful $1 million campaign, Stanley expanded the program to accommodate children through the fourth grade. A new addition to the building was opened in January 1992 and a fifth grade was added in the fall.
In 1994, another group of dynamic parents, this time hoping to see BPS expand to the middle school years, spearheaded the successful effort to acquire land and facilities at the former Lowry Air Force Base. The fall of 1995 saw the establishment of Stanley's first sixth grade class in the former Officers' Club on a spectacular 11-acre campus, with the seventh and eighth grades added by 1997. As of September, 2000, the entire school, grades K-8, was housed on the Lowry campus. A capital campaign, completed in 2003, provided Stanley BPS with the Bill Daniels Gymnasium and the Bill Witter playing field.
In the spring of 2007, the Stanley BPS community gathered to celebrate and honor founding Head Carolyn Hambidge on the occasion of her retirement. Tim Barrier was named Stanley's second Head of School, beginning in the fall of 2007.
In 2020, Tim Barrier stepped down as Head of School and Sumant Bhat was chosen as our third and current Head of School. And beginning Fall 2022, we welcomed our first Transitional Kindergarten class.
The Stanley community has always been committed to expanding the BPS philosophy in the wider educational community and to serving as a bridge between the private and public sector.
From a single classroom serving 28 children in 1972, Stanley BPS has evolved into a thriving school serving over 460 children. As Stanley continues to expand its horizons and to take on new risks and challenges, there is cause to celebrate its accomplishments and to look forward with optimism to its future.
Organization Data
Denver, CO 80230