Belle Meade School

For grades 6-10 353 F.T. Valley Road Sperryville, VA 22740 540-987-8970 www.bellemeadeschool.org school@bellemeadeschool.org 501(c)(3) organization To visit the school please call for an appointment.	“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.” - Gandhi
“It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.” - Albert Einstein	Our School Philosophy The Belle Meade School program is based on creating an atmosphere in which the student can grow in mind, body, and spirit. The school provides an environment where one can discover one’s creativity, take responsibility for oneself and learn to be a contributing member of our community. Respect, imagination, creation, exploration, and laughter are at the heart of all we do. Academics A solid academic program of humanities, mathematics, foreign language, science, art, music is enhanced by students participating in the activities of the farm. The farm in return provides food and income for the school program.
Our Mission To guide the student during the transition years of adolescence in a supportive, nurturing environment. To integrate academic excellence and sustainable living. To offer mentoring and shared responsibility by adults and students working together. To foster development of self-worth through successful experiences in the natural world. To provide diverse situations for students to build relationships with each other and adults. To live from the heart with joy.
	School Community Students, teachers, and families participate in community projects. We work side by side in the garden, on canoe trips, building chicken houses, and other activities. These opportunities challenge the students to develop life skills of communication, working together, self-confidence and compassion for others. We gather for dinner each season which is a culmination of student projects and a time for families and students to appreciate and recognize what the students have accomplished during the term.
The School Environment Belle Meade School is on a 138 acre organic farm in Rappahannock County. The rolling land around the school slopes up into the woods and mountains. Two large ponds and four streams grace the property and provide solitude, fun, and a place to explore and discover nature. Fulfilling their dream, the Executive Directors moved and restored the 1914 school house from 2001-2003. The working, organic farm also hosts a bed and breakfast and a summer day camp. Shenandoah National Park and Old Rag Mountain are the backyard to the school. On the farm are cows, horses, pigs, chickens, turkeys and abundant wild creatures. Belle Meade School welcomes students and staff of every race, color, gender, religion, and national origin. The School is located approximately 70 miles west of Washington, D.C. and about 40 miles north of Charlottesville, VA.
Executive Directors Susan Hoffman, A.B. Smith College, Ed. M. Harvard, Ed. D. Johns Hopkins University, has taught for more than four decades as a classroom teacher and as a mathematics resource teacher spanning the ages pre-school through junior high school. She participates in the school as a teacher, through doing chores, and going on trips with students. Belle Meade Day Camp combines her love of young people and love of the outdoors. Mike and Susan started Belle Meade Day Camp in 1994. Mike and Susan run Belle Meade Bed and Breakfast where they serve organic and local produce. Susan has three grown children and three grandchildren. Michael J. Biniek, B.S. in biology, George Mason University, has both a theoretical and a practical interest in farming. He studies and practices ecological growing of food and animal husbandry. He created a heating system for the schoolhouse and the farm house using locally available wood. He comes by the two sides of farming naturally: one grandfather was a farmer, the other a professor of agronomy. Mike is involved with the school as a teacher, as a mentor, and through going on trips with the school. Before moving to Sperryville, Mike was an independent contractor for the Washington Post and owned and maintained rental houses.