In November 2020, The Bush School moved forward with the construction of a New Upper School Building and advanced the first step in our Education Master Plan. The new building will be situated adjacent to the historic Gracemont. 

This addition to our campus has been designed to support relationships that are at the heart of the Bush experience whether between students and teachers, families, or among students.    Loris Malaguzzi, a prominent educational philosopher, identified space as the “Third Teacher” complemented by two more obvious “teachers” (adults and other children).   We have envisioned the New Upper School Building to function in this same vein.   Our new classrooms will be more agile and responsive to spontaneous discussion, small alcoves placed in hallways will create places of pause and much of the building’s exposed structure will reveal how the engineering functions.   

As with previous campus improvement projects at Bush, such as the Lower School, Library, and Gym construction efforts, the Upper School project has been made possible through a combination of community philanthropy and financing.  Philanthropic commitments to our Connecting to Place Campaign from current and past Bush families have given the Board full confidence to move forward with this exciting long-term vision for our school. We look with anticipation to the moment when we can invite our community to enter the new building and gather in these beautiful spaces.