Located in Blue Hill, Maine, the Bay School is an independent Waldorf school integrating academics and the arts from early childhood through eighth grade. Founded in 1980, thirty teachers, administrators and staff currently serve up to 120 students and their families.
Central to our philosophy is a desire to honor childhood and make learning joyful. Individual achievement gives way to the quality of our students’ relationships with their teachers and one another, the beauty of the space in which they work, the rhythm and form of their days – all creating the sense that everything matters and is worthy of care and consideration.
The Bay School mission is to provide an education that engages and nurtures the whole child, inspiring a balanced growth of heart, mind, body and spirit. We are committed to developing in our students inner confidence, responsibility, self-motivation, a love of learning, imagination, creativity, and intellectual clarity. The educational ideals and values of the school, rooted in the Waldorf tradition, create a community of children, alumni, parents, faculty, friends, and neighbors imbued with reverence for others and the natural world.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
The Bay School affirms and celebrates the inherent dignity of all people. We recognize that the world we live in is shaped by vast disparities in opportunity based upon identifiers such as race, social class, gender and gender identity, home language, sexual identity, learning profiles, and physical ability. Too often, educational structures and systems reinforce and recreate these disparities.
In recognition of these documented realities, The Bay School is committed to conscious efforts to address the impact systemic oppression has on our school and community. We must actively seek, identify, and confront our own complicity in order to provide our students, their families, and our community with an educational experience that is generative, nourishing, inclusive, and equitable. These efforts must be sustained and integrated into every aspect of our educational and institutional evolution.
Land Acknowledgment
The Bay School is located on the traditional lands of the Penobscot Nation. We respect and seek to learn from the history, language, and culture of the Wabanaki whose presence and teachings continue to enrich our community.