From the beginning, North Bennet Street School was a pioneer in advocating the value of hand skills training to society. The manual arts training movement known in Sweden as Educational Sloyd (slojd means 'craft' or 'manual skill') was brought to this country in large part through the efforts of our founder, Pauline Agassiz Shaw.
Learn more about Pauline Agassiz Shaw, the Swiss-born daughter of a Harvard University naturalist and stepdaughter of the founding president of Radcliffe College. Discover how her intellectually rich upbringing, but limited financial means, infused within her a respect for learning, and how she became a social and educational pioneer, championing such efforts as public kindergartens, day nurseries, voting rights, and manual arts training for men, women, and children of all backgrounds.
Part one of a four-part series on the origins of North Bennet Street School.
This spring, NBSS is offering birdhouse making classes for kids and adults to support a good cause. Participants make one to take home, and another to donate to our partner organization, South Sudanese Enrichment for Families (SSEF), for their May gala.
For generations, people just like you have trained at NBSS to realize their goals. As we begin a new year, it's a good time to reflect on whether 2020 can also mean new skills, a new community, and a rewarding new career for you, through our intensive programs in traditional trades. There's never been a better time to apply to NBSS: we've frozen tuition at the current level, are offering a variety of new scholarships to qualified applicants, and providing over $700k of student aid this year. Watch this video to learn more.
NBSS is partnering with the Fuller Craft Museum and the Society of Arts + Crafts to present an innovative series of events this spring. Dive in to the joy of making by upcycling your shoes, learning to turn on the lathe, or celebrating all that glitters. Join us here at the School for kids and adult wood turning classes with guest instructor and noted wood turner Beth Ireland.