Bement's Mission

The Bement School provides an education based on time-honored school traditions and values for children in kindergarten through ninth grade, day and boarding. From the classrooms to the dorms, we live and learn as a family, while encouraging responsibility for our own work and actions. Bement actively seeks an academically diverse, international, and multi-cultural student body. Students and adults at Bement work together to create a climate of acceptance, kindness and challenge which nurtures each child intellectually, creatively, physically, and emotionally. Nestled in the heart of one of New England's most renowned historic villages, Bement offers a modern education in a colonial American setting. The beautiful street provides students with cultural opportunities and a warm sense of place. The school is located just minutes off of Route 91 connecting Connecticut to Vermont. Our day students come from the surrounding communities such as Amherst, Northampton, Deerfield, Longmeadow, Greenfield, Conway, Northfield, Springfield, and Sunderland as well as towns in southern New Hampshire and Vermont. We are centrally located and easily accessible from many local communities. Morning transportation is available throughout the valley.  

Academics

Bement's academic life has had more than eighty-five years of scrutiny and responsive revision. We continue to emphasize skills which we think are timeless, while introducing courses and methodology which reflect the needs of a rapidly changing world. Our commitment to small class size insures that all voices are heard and that active participation is unavoidable. Faculty and students develop a comfort with one another that fosters intellectual risk-taking within a friendly and supportive community. Our mission statement asks that we seek "an academically diverse, international, and multicultural student body," and we expect our curriculum and classroom practices to honor this mandate. As you peruse this part of our website, we hope you'll enjoy learning more about our upper and lower schools, our daily fine arts offerings, and the strength of our ninth grade program. Most of all, we hope this introduction will inspire a broader conversation which we welcome at any time.  

Athletics

Athletics is a part of daily life at Bement. Our founder, Grace Bement, believed in “hardiness”, and that still holds true today. Athletics at Bement is an opportunity for each student to gain a life-long respect for physical fitness, to learn the importance of teamwork and sportsmanship, and to discover the value in achieving goals through discipline and hard work. In our lower school, our P.E. teachers focus their curriculum on the path towards growth and development of each student based on his or her own abilities. Each student experiences that PE is safe and fun, and is willing to challenge themselves without fear of being judged against others. In our upper school, because we believe every student is unique, we offer a variety of sports, both competitive and non-competitive. Competitive teams have a regular schedule against local schools. Each student chooses one sport each term, which creates a well-rounded experience. Varsity and junior varsity teams allow all students to compete on teams, regardless of talent and experience. Often students will discover interest for a sport they may not have had exposure to otherwise. Every sport emphasizes sportsmanship, teamwork, effort and participation., the development skills and strategy, leadership, increasing stamina and fitness, and personal growth.  

Boarding at Bement

Every day at Bement, we live and breathe our mission to “live and learn as a family” in our boarding community. Nestled in the heart of Historic Deerfield, Bement offers a unique experience for our forty boarding students. The small size of our boarding community means that each of the four ten-person dormitories feels like a real home. The dorms are centered around common rooms with features including fireplaces, tables with space to spread out and play cards or board games, kitchenettes, and plenty of couches and chairs so that the entire dorm can relax together. Family-style meals in our dining hall provide an opportunity for students to dine with a diverse group of peers and dorm parents. Boarders often pitch in to help take care of our campus: they help our kitchen staff set up for meals and clean up afterward, shovel snow during our New England winters, and are responsible for daily and weekly chores in the dorm, including doing dishes, taking out the trash and recycling, and vacuuming. Just like the members of a family, Bement students and adults work together to live and learn successfully. Bement boarders build close relationships with many of the adults in our community. With just ten students per dorm, the two dorm parents who lead each dorm get to know each boarder well. From eating three meals a day together to helping with homework, from relaxing in the dorm to participating in exciting weekend activities together, boarding students and their dorm parents build strong relationships during the school year. Many of our dorm parents also work as teachers and coaches, allowing students to interact with their dorm parents in the classrooms and on the playing fields as well as in the dorms. Boarding students also have an opportunity to see some of their classroom teachers in a different context when these teachers proctor evening boarder study halls. All teachers at Bement, and especially dorm parents, are fully committed to making Bement a wonderful home for our boarding students. It is not uncommon to see teachers taking a group of boarders to a special dinner, to church on a Sunday, to a play at a local school or theater, or out for ice cream after a sports game!