March 17, 2022Nearly every week our leaders at BASIS Independent Schools field requests from families across the country to build a school near them. Families place a high value on giving their children an innovative, well-rounded education—one that supports accelerated learning, independent thinking, creativity, and critical inquiry from the very first day. The first BASIS Independent Schools opened their doors in Brooklyn and Silicon Valley during the fall of 2014. Now our private school program is well established as offering the highest international level of learning after graduating classes of seniors in California as well as New York City and Washington D.C. metro campuses.
Today we want to share and celebrate network growth from coast to coast:
“It is critical that we have a continuity of excellence at BASIS Independent Schools,” said Toby Walker, Vice President of BASIS Independent Schools. “That we hold ourselves to high standards, and that we learn from each other as school leaders and teachers across our network. The demand for our program is humbling, and we are committed to making it available to students and families.”
Bellevue Campus Expands Network to Metro Seattle Area
BASIS Independent Bellevue is located between downtown Bellevue and Lake Sammamish. BASIS Independent Bellevue will open in fall 2022 with Grades 2 through 7 to start and add a grade level each school year as we expand to a full middle and high school (Grades 5 through 12). We are now accepting applications for Grades 3 through 7 for fall 2022.
Rendering of the Bellevue campus currently under construction and slated for fall 2022 opening.
“Our belief is that the best technology in the classroom is the teacher,” said founding Head of School Elizabeth Thies. “In our program, the most important factor in a classroom is not necessarily class size, but the teacher. Beginning in primary and all the way through high school, students will have one Subject Expert Teacher for each discipline. That means that our students can have six to eight different teachers each school day and depending on their grade level. We have found that when students have a dedicated Subject Expert Teacher for each discipline, the learning opportunities are boundless.”
In our first year of operation in Bellevue, students will engage in a variety of classrooms including science labs, art, and music rooms, lunchroom, and gymnasium. Our campus will be shared with the Jewish Day School of Bellevue (JDS) for the first several years of our operation. After that time, JDS will relocate to a different campus and BASIS Independent Bellevue will be the sole operator on the property.
BASIS Independent Brooklyn Lower School Campus Arrives in Downtown Brooklyn
In response to the growing demand for our program in Brooklyn, a new, second Lower School campus opened at City Point in Downtown Brooklyn educating students in the earliest years (PreK through Grade 2). Our founding class of students, faculty, and staff started classes at 405 Gold Street in the new City Point complex in Downtown Brooklyn in fall 2021.
Head of School Shari D. Cameron Cuts the Ribbon to Open the Lower School Campus in Downtown Brooklyn
“As Head of School for BASIS Independent Brooklyn Lower, I am focused on cultivating a community where content mastery and compassion for humanity pretty much collide,” said Head of School Shari D. Cameron. “I want the Lower School to be a place where students can really relish in the sheer joy and the uncompromised rigor of our curriculum but simultaneously come to school each and every day being 100% who they are. I want them to realize that no matter who they are, no matter who their family is, they are in this place where we are all celebrated and we are all valued. I really want to cultivate that for our Lower School community.”
BASIS Independent Manhattan Upper School Campus Opens in Chelsea
BASIS Independent Manhattan opened its doors in 2017 and four years later our growth continues with the expansion to an Upper School campus for our Grade 6 through 12 students. The Head of School for the new campus is Brandon McNeice, who has brought his incredible passion and drive to the new Upper School Campus in Chelsea.
Head of School Brandon McNeice officially opens the Upper School Campus with BASIS Independent Schools and Spring Education Executives
“Overall, I’m fascinated by life’s transitions,” shared Mr. McNeice. “In our modern, American experience, the beginning of middle school coincides with all the awkwardness of adolescence during a period of immense potential for growth. I love working with middle school students, supporting them in their development that follows a steep yet rewarding trajectory of academic and social-emotional growth.”
“From there, high school students are on the precipice of adulthood and our primary purpose is to help prepare them for that transition,” continued Mr. McNeice. “In my early career, I worked in college residences as a mentor to freshmen and became very familiar with typical problems that prevent high school students from smoothly transitioning to living on their own. It was actually shortly after that while working in the college’s admissions department that I first came into contact with BASIS Curriculum Schools when I was blown away by the transcript of a BASIS applicant.”
You can hear directly from students and faculty about how much they enjoy the new Chelsea campus in a short video.
BASIS Independent Silicon Valley Set to Open Lower School Campus Fall 2022
BASIS Independent Silicon Valley is expanding as well to add a Lower School Campus. Two campuses will allow families to enroll students in the earliest school years and continue on through High School. The dedicated new Lower School will offer TK through Grade 5 while the Upper School in San Jose will focus on Grades 6 through 12.
Rendering of a classroom at our new BASIS Independent Silicon Valley Lower School
After serving as a member of the founding faculty of BASIS Independent Silicon Valley Upper School campus, Brooklynn Titus has been named Head of School for the new Lower School. “Since joining BASIS Independent Schools in 2014, I have developed a strong appreciation for the BASIS Curriculum, the dynamic staff that our schools attract, and the phenomenal students that we get to work with every day. I am thrilled to once again be a part of the opening of a new school in the BASIS Independent Schools network,” said Titus.
BASIS Independent Schools educate students to the highest international levels with a spiraling liberal arts and sciences curriculum benchmarked to the best education systems in the world. Our advanced curriculum, unmatched in breadth and depth, prepares students to be innovative leaders across disciplines. BASIS Independent Schools currently offers private school campuses in Northern California, New York, Northern Virginia, and Washington state and are a part of the BASIS Curriculum Schools, which also include BASIS International and Bilingual Schools in China and Thailand. You can learn more about the BASIS Independent private network of schools at www.basisindependent.com.
BASIS Independent Schools: Network Growth
Published: March 17, 2022Nearly every week our leaders at BASIS Independent Schools field requests from families across the country to build a school near them. Families place a high value on giving their children an innovative, well-rounded education—one that supports accelerated learning, independent thinking, creativity, and critical inquiry from the very first day. The first BASIS Independent Schools opened their doors in Brooklyn and Silicon Valley during the fall of 2014. Now our private school program is well established as offering the highest international level of learning after graduating classes of seniors in California as well as New York City and Washington D.C. metro campuses.
Today we want to share and celebrate network growth from coast to coast:
“It is critical that we have a continuity of excellence at BASIS Independent Schools,” said Toby Walker, Vice President of BASIS Independent Schools. “That we hold ourselves to high standards, and that we learn from each other as school leaders and teachers across our network. The demand for our program is humbling, and we are committed to making it available to students and families.”
Bellevue Campus Expands Network to Metro Seattle Area
BASIS Independent Bellevue is located between downtown Bellevue and Lake Sammamish. BASIS Independent Bellevue will open in fall 2022 with Grades 2 through 7 to start and add a grade level each school year as we expand to a full middle and high school (Grades 5 through 12). We are now accepting applications for Grades 3 through 7 for fall 2022.
Rendering of the Bellevue campus currently under construction and slated for fall 2022 opening.
“Our belief is that the best technology in the classroom is the teacher,” said founding Head of School Elizabeth Thies. “In our program, the most important factor in a classroom is not necessarily class size, but the teacher. Beginning in primary and all the way through high school, students will have one Subject Expert Teacher for each discipline. That means that our students can have six to eight different teachers each school day and depending on their grade level. We have found that when students have a dedicated Subject Expert Teacher for each discipline, the learning opportunities are boundless.”
In our first year of operation in Bellevue, students will engage in a variety of classrooms including science labs, art, and music rooms, lunchroom, and gymnasium. Our campus will be shared with the Jewish Day School of Bellevue (JDS) for the first several years of our operation. After that time, JDS will relocate to a different campus and BASIS Independent Bellevue will be the sole operator on the property.
BASIS Independent Brooklyn Lower School Campus Arrives in Downtown Brooklyn
In response to the growing demand for our program in Brooklyn, a new, second Lower School campus opened at City Point in Downtown Brooklyn educating students in the earliest years (PreK through Grade 2). Our founding class of students, faculty, and staff started classes at 405 Gold Street in the new City Point complex in Downtown Brooklyn in fall 2021.
Head of School Shari D. Cameron Cuts the Ribbon to Open the Lower School Campus in Downtown Brooklyn
“As Head of School for BASIS Independent Brooklyn Lower, I am focused on cultivating a community where content mastery and compassion for humanity pretty much collide,” said Head of School Shari D. Cameron. “I want the Lower School to be a place where students can really relish in the sheer joy and the uncompromised rigor of our curriculum but simultaneously come to school each and every day being 100% who they are. I want them to realize that no matter who they are, no matter who their family is, they are in this place where we are all celebrated and we are all valued. I really want to cultivate that for our Lower School community.”
BASIS Independent Manhattan Upper School Campus Opens in Chelsea
BASIS Independent Manhattan opened its doors in 2017 and four years later our growth continues with the expansion to an Upper School campus for our Grade 6 through 12 students. The Head of School for the new campus is Brandon McNeice, who has brought his incredible passion and drive to the new Upper School Campus in Chelsea.
Head of School Brandon McNeice officially opens the Upper School Campus with BASIS Independent Schools and Spring Education Executives
“Overall, I’m fascinated by life’s transitions,” shared Mr. McNeice. “In our modern, American experience, the beginning of middle school coincides with all the awkwardness of adolescence during a period of immense potential for growth. I love working with middle school students, supporting them in their development that follows a steep yet rewarding trajectory of academic and social-emotional growth.”
“From there, high school students are on the precipice of adulthood and our primary purpose is to help prepare them for that transition,” continued Mr. McNeice. “In my early career, I worked in college residences as a mentor to freshmen and became very familiar with typical problems that prevent high school students from smoothly transitioning to living on their own. It was actually shortly after that while working in the college’s admissions department that I first came into contact with BASIS Curriculum Schools when I was blown away by the transcript of a BASIS applicant.”
You can hear directly from students and faculty about how much they enjoy the new Chelsea campus in a short video.
BASIS Independent Silicon Valley Set to Open Lower School Campus Fall 2022
BASIS Independent Silicon Valley is expanding as well to add a Lower School Campus. Two campuses will allow families to enroll students in the earliest school years and continue on through High School. The dedicated new Lower School will offer TK through Grade 5 while the Upper School in San Jose will focus on Grades 6 through 12.
Rendering of a classroom at our new BASIS Independent Silicon Valley Lower School
After serving as a member of the founding faculty of BASIS Independent Silicon Valley Upper School campus, Brooklynn Titus has been named Head of School for the new Lower School. “Since joining BASIS Independent Schools in 2014, I have developed a strong appreciation for the BASIS Curriculum, the dynamic staff that our schools attract, and the phenomenal students that we get to work with every day. I am thrilled to once again be a part of the opening of a new school in the BASIS Independent Schools network,” said Titus.
BASIS Independent Schools educate students to the highest international levels with a spiraling liberal arts and sciences curriculum benchmarked to the best education systems in the world. Our advanced curriculum, unmatched in breadth and depth, prepares students to be innovative leaders across disciplines. BASIS Independent Schools currently offers private school campuses in Northern California, New York, Northern Virginia, and Washington state and are a part of the BASIS Curriculum Schools, which also include BASIS International and Bilingual Schools in China and Thailand. You can learn more about the BASIS Independent private network of schools at www.basisindependent.com.