The Barstow School

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The Barstow School is a secular, coeducational, independent preparatory school in southern Kansas City, Missouri, USA. It was co-founded in 1884 by Mary Louise Barstow and Ada Brann.The Barstow School enrolls about 668 students from preschool through grade 12. The school has a strong academic tradition and matriculates nearly all of its graduates to four-year colleges.The school has 41 athletic teams in 12 sports beginning in the sixth grade.The Barstow School is the oldest independent school west of the Mississippi.Tuition for the 2010-2011 school year ranged from $11,605 for five full-day preschool to $16,000 and higher for grades 9 through 12.The Barstow School is also the home to the Hybrid Learning Consortium, a globalized learning community offering a diverse variety of online courses to students around the world. The HLC currently has 19 member schools, both domestic and international. The HLC enables institutions to create a scalable model for diverse course offerings wider than a single institution can support.HistoryMary Louise Barstow and Ada Brann, both graduates of Wellesley College, came to Kansas City in 1884, responding to the need to establish a local school comparable to the outstanding independent schools on the East Coast. With the support of several notable families in the rapidly growing city, they founded the Barstow School at 12th Street and Broadway on Quality Hill in Downtown Kansas City.