Our Mission
The Brentwood Family opens minds and hearts for life.
This mission is our fundamental and unique purpose, that sets us apart from other schools.
Family
Stronger than community, “family” is a word that continues to come to the fore during our conversations with students, current/past parents, faculty, staff, and Old Brentonians. They shared that Brentwood was a family; in fact, they said it was their family.
Opens
For any meaningful learning to take place, having an open mind is essential. Valuing different perspectives, divergent thinking, and a diversity of people is, again, who we are. Our students, in particular, push us to be open-minded.
Minds
We are a school that focuses on progressive and rigorous teaching practices that keep the student at the centre of the learning process.
Hearts
We are a school of heart. To create a truly transformative experience, we must take the courageous step of opening our hearts to each other.
For life
Our unique and modern boarding approach creates life-long bonds. Whether you are a parent, former/current faculty, staff member, or alum, Brentwood stays with you for life. Furthermore, our progressive boarding environment develops core skills such as cooperation, resilience, and independence—qualities we all need to be successful in life.
Our Vision
Brentwood will set the standard globally for inspirational and transformative learning.
A vision is aspirational and directional. It provides a beacon of light or, in our case, a torch that illuminates our journey of learning. Though we may never arrive at this destination, we will continuously strive to get there.
Set the standard
We want to be a leading-edge school that others will look to for knowledge and best practices.
Globally
We want to be a school of international significance and with a globally minded outlook.
Inspirational
As founding governor Norman Yarrow first said in 1923, we want to inspire the “leaders of tomorrow.” We are fortunate to have committed faculty and staff who do just that, 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.
Transformative
In speaking to numerous Old Brentonians, our former students comment on how they were significantly shaped by their Brentwood experience. We must ensure that we continue to create a positive learning environment for all.
Learning
We want to be a centre of learning excellence. Whether in the classroom, on the sports field, in the art studio, or in our houses, our full boarding program ensures that learning takes place every minute of every day at Brentwood.
Our Values
Grit + Joy
While values such as excellence, integrity, and empathy are vitally important and highly valued at Brentwood, we wanted to drill down even further to qualities that truly drive our behaviour. As such, we are approaching this from a unique perspective. Our purpose is to prepare young people not just to survive but to thrive in the most globally competitive world ever. Juxtapose this with perhaps the most coddled generation ever, and the dilemma is obvious.
Angela Lee Duckworth and Paul Tough have developed our most recent understanding of GRIT. Very simply, current research is showing that Achievement = Talent + Grit. While both can be taught, the most controllable driver is GRIT. The other interesting part of these two, seemingly, antithetical terms, is one leads to the other. Hard work, industry, and ‘sticktoitiveness’—GRIT—leads to happiness, positive experience, and community—JOY. Furthermore, unlike marks or championships, GRIT is mostly internally measured and JOY is rarely achieved in front of a computer screen or in isolation—it is mostly a communal experience.
At Brentwood, we have a special environment where students can learn and live these essential life skills.