The Stanley Story
Growing Children Who Love to Learn
Stanley British Primary School is a private institution with an inclusive and diverse community focused on growing children who love to learn and who are prepared to make a positive difference in the world.
At Stanley, your child's education goes well beyond academics -- our teachers and our philosophy offer children the opportunity to reach their full potential academically, creatively, socially, emotionally and physically.
Carolyn (second from right) and a team of like-minded educators opened a preschool rooted in progressive principles.
Froebel taught, "Play is the highest expression of human development."
Stanley first occupied the eponymous Stanley School at 13th Avenue & Quebec Street in Denver.
The Stanley School moved to the former Lowry AFB in the mid-90s, into Eisenhower's summer headquarters, the officer's club, duplexes and barracks.
Stanley's program blossomed, and Tim Barrier was tapped to launch our Middle School in 1995. Tim stayed 25 years (13 as its second head of school), crafting traditions and a fully realized campus, and leaving an indelible mark on the community and our program.
Stanley's Middle School formed on the Lowry Campus in 1995
A History of Innovation
Stanley was founded in 1972 by founding head Carolyn Hambidge and Colorado's former first lady Bea Romer. They both saw a vital need for a school with a different non-traditional educational framework, with teachers who could inspire a love of learning and embrace the belief that every child can succeed if taught well.
Carolyn Hambidge's views as an educator were dramatically influenced by the principles of Friedrich Froebel, a German educator known for his progressive views of early education. Carolyn was educated at The Froebel Institute, now a college within the London University system. As our founding head of school, Carolyn established Stanley's educational philosophy based on many of Froebel's principles, which likened education to a garden where children can grow and flourish rather than be molded.
Our Roots at Montview Preschool
The school's first classroom, located at Montview Preschool in Park Hill, was a laboratory model of the British Primary approach to education and was run as a parent co-operative with parents taking on major roles in the class. From the outset, Bea Romer said, "We began with a two-part purpose: our goal was to create innovative education for students and teachers."
Amazing Growth
The school quickly became very popular and began to outgrow its space. Parents and staff rallied and passed the hat to raise funds to purchase the red brick school on 13th and Quebec, which was named the Stanley School and originally hosted Denver's first public kindergarten. Beautifully historic but neglected, parents scrubbed, cleaned and worked endlessly to open a K-2 school in 1983, and added the third grade a few years later.
Demand continued to grow, and the school grew and built an addition to add grades four and five. Parents hoped to add a middle school and again needed more space. In the mid-90s, the Lowry Air Force was decommissioned, and Stanley parents joined Carolyn to again spring on the opportunity, using all of their might to purchase the former officer's club and surrounding duplexes for the sum of $1. Needless to say, it took much more to transform the space into a K-8 school.
A New Lowry Campus
Tim Barrier was hired to start the new 6-7-8 grade division, and in 1995 first Stanley 6th grade class opened on the new Lowry Campus. Over the next few years the rest of the students transitioned over to Lowry, and by 1998 the entire student body had moved over and the first 8th grade class graduated. In 2007 Carolyn retired and Tim Barrier was named the second head of school, where he stayed until 2020. And in true Stanley fashion, parents again rallied to raise funds in the mid-90s to build a school gym, which is used for sports and all-school gatherings.
Celebrating 50 Years and More
In 2020, Sumant Bhat was hired as the third head of school. After guiding us through the pandemic, Sumant led the addition of our Transitional Kindergarten program for younger five-year-olds, and helped us celebrate our 50th anniversary in 2023.
Since 1972, the Stanley model has been so appealing and effective that the school has grown continually and steadily from one classroom with 30 children to what is now 16 classrooms with over 460 children.
The school now has three educational divisions: the lower school of Transitional Kindergarten, Kindergarten, First and Second Grades (TK-K-1-2); the upper elementary division of Third, Fourth and Fifth Grades (3-4-5); and our middle school of Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Grades (6-7-8).