Mission Statement of Horace Mann School

Our Core Values

The Life of the Mind

Among the five core values, the Life of the Mind embodies the central relevance of independent critical inquiry and authentic self-expression. As members of a community that finds strength and resilience in its intellectual curiosity and diversity, our students acquire the analytical skills and intellectual range that enable them to engage with the world around them with candor, courage, and confidence. Our students are secure in the knowledge that upon graduation, the rigor of their education will have prepared them well to pursue their dreams and become leaders of character in their chosen professions.

Mature Behavior

As a core value Mature Behavior requires thoughtful translation at each grade level for our students, who range in age from three to eighteen years old. Over time, mature behavior is defined in broadening terms, from notions of civility and resourceful cooperation to the ultimate ethic inherent in personal integrity. Good sportsmanship, honest scholarship, and intellectual honesty are embedded in the principles of learning on which the School’s mission rests. These principles inform the rules and regulations by which all students are obligated to abide. At all times our students are expected to take on leadership roles both within and outside of the classroom, and to make responsible choices.

Mutual Respect

Mutual respect and the tolerance it engenders undergird our community’s embrace of both intellectual diversity and the diversity of culture, ethnicity, gender, race, sexual orientation, and socio-economic background on our campus. Our students, staff, and faculty hail from many different corners of the earth and from various walks of life. Our students are expected to grasp, in keeping with the precepts of humane learning, that tolerance fosters the trust necessary to make our School safe and sound as a place to explore, to question, and at times to challenge ideas and traditions that have shaped our world; and that they can do so in the sure knowledge that they will be respected.

A Secure and Healthful Environment

Horace Mann School aims to provide a secure physical, social, and emotional environment for all students. The campuses of all five divisions are committed to using resources in an ecologically sound and sustainable manner. The physical plant is carefully maintained and upgraded to the highest security standards. Our Security staff safeguards and monitors the campus, and fire and safety drills are conducted on a regular basis. Our food service offers varied and plentiful healthy food choices daily and all students have a scheduled lunch period during their day. Care for students’ social and emotional health is provided by our guidance professionals, who offer a carefully calibrated sequence of age-appropriate programs and courses aimed at creating and maintaining an environment free from harassment and bullying.

A Balance Between Individual Achievement and a Caring Community

In its pedagogy Horace Mann School seeks to balance the demands of an academically rigorous curriculum with the moral imperative to raise good scholars and good citizens, caring and socially responsible students whose awareness of the wider world will inspire them throughout their lives to service to others. The School leads by example, actively sharing resources with its neighbors in the Bronx and beyond. Spearheaded by the Dorr curriculum, all divisions seek to foster in our students a capacity for selfless dedication to the greater good. From the Nursery Division’s penny drive and the Lower Division’s day of service onward, students learn to take an increasingly active role in designing, implementing, and reflecting on service projects. Community service is a graduation requirement, and many students participate in service projects through Horace Mann’s Center for Community Values and Action.