Mission & Values

Mission

Inspire and challenge.
At Belmont Day School, we foster intellectual curiosity, honor differences, and empower meaningful contribution with excellence, respect, honesty, responsibility, caring, and joy.

Statement of Purpose

Belmont Day School was founded in 1927 by a group of parents committed to providing children with a strong academic foundation and many opportunities for creative expression. Today, as then, the school’s program guides and challenges the intellectual, social, emotional, moral, artistic, and physical growth of each child. Belmont Day School strives to be a diverse community dedicated to academic excellence and intellectual discipline where students feel secure, experience the joys of learning, and know their accomplishments are valued.

At Belmont Day School we view education as a process by which children become self-motivated life-long learners who take responsibility for themselves, each other, and the world around them. The curriculum is dynamic and rigorous and reflects an understanding of the many ways children develop and learn. In every grade, new concepts are introduced, reinforced, and mastered through a range of concrete experiences and opportunities that develop abstract reasoning. Teachers guide and instruct students individually and in small groups while providing time for students to learn from one another. The faculty pursues ongoing professional development and regularly evaluates curriculum in light of the best in educational theory and practice.

The school and all its members commit to and practice six core values: respect, honesty, responsibility, caring, joy, and excellence. Faculty, students, parents, and administrators integrate these values into curricular choices, working relationships, community service, and all other aspects of school life. It is this vision of education that guides the school now and has characterized the school since its founding.

At Our Core

Belmont Day’s six core values—respect, honesty, responsibility, caring, joy, and excellence—are integral to academic quality, creativity, fitness, and health. Even the youngest children quickly become aware of the school’s values and expectations. And soon enough, they begin to cherish and promote these ideals. Spend some time at Belmont Day School, and you will witness our six core values, alive and active, informing everything we do.

History of the School

Belmont Day School opened its doors in 1927 with 18 students in the parish house of the All Saints Episcopal Church. At the time, the farming community of Belmont was beginning to transform from a rural town to a suburban economy, with a population that doubled in size between 1920 and 1930. Area families were eager to support a school with such a “richness of subject matter,” as was recorded in the Boston Evening Transcript on March 13, 1928. The Transcript highlighted the school’s curriculum as offering “appreciation of natural sciences and history, and of beauty,” plus “the technicalities of reading, writing, and arithmetic,” and “opportunity for working to individual capacity.”

Originally designed to serve students in kindergarten through grade six, the school grew quickly and in 1933 relocated to a stone cottage surrounded by farm fields and woodlands. This is the 11-acre campus that our school enjoys today. Through numerous renovations over the years, Belmont Day School has added new wings to expand through grade 8 and reach its current size. The quaint, bluestone walls of our original cottage are now incorporated as a distinct architectural feature in our school’s Erskine Library. Belmont Day Camp, which offers summer fun for ages 3-15, first opened its doors in 1946.

Throughout these changes, Belmont Day School has remained a bold, remarkable, inspiring community of learners and leaders.

Belmont Day School’s newest addition, which opened in 2019, is a 25,000-square-foot building that is a hub for community activities and STEAM curricula. Called “the Barn” as a nod to our campus roots, this facility houses a second full-size gymnasium, plus a science classroom, studios for art and woodworking, and the IMPACT Lab that highlights engineering and innovation initiatives.

Governance

Belmont Day School is governed by a board of trustees consisting of elected parents, alumni, faculty, community members, and the head of school. Our school always has been, and always will be, a mission-driven organization that is inspired to fulfill its statement of purpose. Perhaps this is why so many alumni, long after graduation, can still name Belmont Day School’s six core values.