College Preparatory School in Kansas City, MO

The Barstow School:
The Barstow School, located in southern Kansas City, Missouri (20 minute drive from the Plaza), is an accredited, nonsectarian, coeducational, independent preparatory school offering preschool through 12th grade programs. While an education can be obtained anywhere, it takes a special place to ignite your passion. At The Barstow School we support and challenge all children to be participants, not spectators. Academically, artistically and athletically teachers understand students’ needs and consistently provide them with support that allows them to reach their full potential. At Barstow, no one “slips through the cracks.”

The Barstow School is a co-educational school where students in preschool through twelfth grade develop in a challenging educational community. As originally stated by Mary Louise Barstow, the objective of the school remains “to promote sound scholarship and to give symmetrical development to mind, body and character.”

Accreditation & Memberships:
Barstow holds membership in the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), the Independent Schools Association of the Central States, the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCACS), the Educational Records Bureau, the National and Missouri Associations for College Admission Counseling, the College Board and the Cum Laude Society.

Lower School:
- Preschool
- Pre-Kindergarten
- Kindergarten through 5th Grade

Middle School:
- 6th through 8th Grade

Upper School:
- 9th through 12th Grade

Barstow's Personalized College Counseling Program:
The Barstow School college counseling program is designed to support each phase of the student's college search process: exploration, selection, application, and the transition to college. Our program strives to match students with the college or university that is most suited to their interests and goals.

The purpose of college counseling is to help students realize their goals for continued studies while helping them to make a good match. Although the college admission process is often perceived to be highly stressful, our belief is that through education, self-knowledge, and access to our staff’s professional resources, Barstow students can take ownership of the process.

This college planning process begins in each student's freshman academic year and will continue through his/her senior year. Our aim is to introduce to the students the terms, guidelines/timelines, nuances, and informational programs at age- and grade-appropriate times.