Buxton Private School

• Location of the school: Williamstown, Massachusetts,
• Age of students: from 13 to 16 years old,
• Type of education: mixed,
• Language of instruction: English.

Buxton School is an educational institution with a unique concept that offers cooperative learning. This small school, which has both boarding and day classes, is located in the most beautiful place - a family estate in the city of Williamstown, Massachusetts, among the picturesque mountains of Berkshire. More than 90 years ago, this progressive school was founded with the aim of developing the individuality and creativity of each international student. They still believe that all the experiences that students get are an important part of their education, that what happens outside the classroom is no less important than what happens inside the walls.

Foreign students at Buxton School receive a well-rounded education in the intellectual, artistic, emotional, and moral fields. The school achieves this through a rigorous academic program, a variety of arts classes and learning activities, well qualified educational staff, and a community of people working for the culture, education, and full development of each student.

The educational process at Buxton School differs from standard schemes and has its own characteristics.

• One of the key features of the educational process at Buxton School is a flexible approach to education - here the emphasis is on an individual approach to each student, taking into account his needs and abilities. Teachers try to develop the learning skills of each student, helping him in mastering the educational material and overcoming difficulties.
• Buxton School uses an active learning method: students actively participate in lessons, ask questions, conduct research and participate in projects. This helps them to better assimilate the material, develop critical thinking and independence.
• Another feature of the educational process is the emphasis on creativity and art. At Buxton School, students are offered a wide variety of subjects and courses related to art, music, and creativity. This allows them to develop their creativity, expand their horizons and find new ways of self-expression.
• Finally, an important part of the learning process at Buxton School is collaboration between students, teachers, and parents. It creates a friendly and supportive atmosphere that promotes effective learning and development of students.

Buxton School is constantly updating the campus space and strives to make it as comfortable as possible for all students. There are special dormitories for representatives of different gender identities, which ensure gender inclusivity. Before each move, international students take a survey about their preferences, the school assigns them to rooms according to the results. Faculty members also live in the neighborhood, in residences and homes on campus.

Buxton is a smartphone-free campus, but that doesn't mean students are banned from cell phones: they use regular phones without internet and can connect to Wi-Fi to use laptops and tablets to stay connected with their families, friends, and the rest of the world. However, the school strongly supports the idea of focusing on strong connections with the people around you, personal communication and cooperation, rather than existence behind the screen. Buxton School believes that being smartphone-free is a valuable privilege for both students and teachers.

During lunches, foreign students can enjoy not only delicious food prepared under the guidance of a chef who studied at the Culinary Institute of America, but also interact with each other. Student waiters (on duty) serve the tables and keep them clean as part of the work program. On Saturdays, students help out in the kitchen, creating menus and preparing meals in the presence of staff, and every Sunday, the entire school community comes together for a formal dinner. The school places a high value on food choices, taking into account the needs of the entire community, including vegans and those with special food preferences.

Every Friday at Buxton School, international students organize various activities: a capture the flag game, the Mad Tea Party, or cooking competitions. Weekends are for relaxation, socializing, teachers constantly offer various trips to the cultural attractions of the area on weekends.

Each semester, the school prepare a "Project Day" where students are given the opportunity to dedicate an entire day to their own project of choice. In the past, student projects have included painting walls in the main building, making wooden benches for football fields, staging a play in one day, working on a garden plot with herbs.

Buxton School hosts a large number of special events and celebrations throughout the year. Each school year begins and ends with picnics in local parks and lakes, in the fall, high school students plan a surprise day in the mountains, when the whole school goes hiking to the local mountain with a picnic on its top. Before the winter holidays, a general secret exchange of gifts is organized, and the culmination is a festive party, where handmade gifts are exchanged. In the spring, there are Spring Thing dances, and throughout the year, Halloween, Valentine's Day, Earth Day and other holidays are celebrated.

Students and teachers at Buxton School have the opportunity to easily create and run various clubs and circles of interest, receiving support from the school. Some of the active clubs and student organizations are:

• POC Union,
• Jewish Student Union,
• AAPI Union,
• Activists Club,
• Math Team,
• Knitting Club,
• Fermentation Club,
• Dungeons and Dragons Club,
• Mutual Aid Club.

Buxton School covers 114 acres (0.46 km2) of grassland and forests in Massachusetts. The educational infrastructure of the school includes:

• Main school building;
• a boarding school for girls with a dining room;
• a boarding house for boys;
• an educational building with most classrooms;
• an art complex with buildings for photography, arts, music and ceramics studios;
• a theater;
• own library;
• teachers' houses.

The school area has several features:

• Williams College is considered to be the best liberal arts college in the country. Buxton students can go to their final year at Williams College, learn from college faculty, attend artist lectures, participate in drawing classes, use sports facilities, etc..
• Nearby are world-class museums including the Stirling and Francine Clark Institute of Art, a small art museum that is said to own "the best collection of Impressionists in the world," the Williams College Art Museum, which is considered the best college art museum in the country, and the world-renowned Museum of Modern Art – MassMoCA.
• Berkshire is known as one of the centers of performing arts in the country. Here you can visit Tanglewood, the summer residence of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Williamstown Theater Festival, which takes place on the Williams College campus and won theater festival awards, Jacob's Pillow, the longest-running dance festival in the country, screenings by the Barrington Stage Company, and much more.
• There are also plenty of sporting activities in Berkshire, including skiing at Jiminy Peak, hiking up Mount Greylock, and hiking in the Hopkins Memorial Forest, which covers an area of 2,600 acres.

At Buxton School, the school year is organized in such a way that students' learning and recreation are in harmony with each other, ensuring efficient use of time and preparation for various challenges. It consists of three trimesters: autumn, spring and summer, lasts about 10 months, starting in September and ending in June, sometimes even in early July. The longest holidays fall on the summer period: these are July and August.

In addition to the school year, foreign students and parents must consider additional costs: registration fee, educational deposit, visa, flight tickets, renting room and board.

Additional costs also will be required for:

• Liability for damage to books,
• School-wide trips,
• Laundry service,
• Road tolls,
• Additional art supplies,
• Personal needs.

Buxton School encourages applications from international students and works to support their experience every step of the way, including three levels of ESL tuition and one-on-one lessons. Students living outside the U.S. must provide:

• Completed application;
• All necessary documents for financial aid (if you are applying for it);
• Official report card from the current school (for the previous two academic years or more with translation into English);
• Two letters of recommendation from teachers who know the candidate well. One letter must be from an English teacher or someone else who can assess written and oral English proficiency;
• Recent English proficiency test scores (e.g. SSAT, TOEFL, TOEFL Jr., etc.);
• Admission fee (by money order to Buxton School or online).

If desired, the candidate can also provide the school with: any additional materials, samples of creativity (poetry, drawing, painting, sculpture and photography), CDs (DVD or MP3 with music, theater or dance performances), mathematical or natural science projects or reports.

At the moment, about 50 people study at Buxton school, international students make up about 2% of the total number of students.

Students graduating from Buxton School usually continue their education at similar colleges and universities. These institutions, like Buxton, are small and academically rigorous, with both personal experience and a personalized curriculum highly valued. Each of these colleges and universities is well acquainted with Buxton School, and admissions officers are well aware of the school's rigorous academic standards, artistic and creative thinking, and the high caliber of students.

Recent Institutions Selected by Buxton School Alumni:

• Alfred University,
• Bard College,
• Hamilton College,
• Indiana University,
• McGill University,
• Middlebury College,
• St. Lawrence University,
• University of CA- Santa Cruz,
• University of Michigan at Ann Arbor,
• Williams College,
• Worcester Polytechnic Institute,
• Yale,
• And many others.

Buxton School maintains a close relationship with its alumni, who often act as mentors and guides throughout the educational process, actively recommending the school they have chosen themselves.

The main requirement for foreign candidates is knowledge of English (it will be necessary to confirm it with documents).

Buxton School is committed to empowering its students by creating an environment for academic, personal, and creative growth. The school uses its financial aid platform to provide these opportunities to those international students who would not otherwise be able to access them. 50% of Buxton students are currently receiving financial aid.

• Guardianship services during the studies
• Student supervision