About The Greenbrier Community School
A School Built on Relationships
Our school community is a place of collaboration, trust and civility. We are a community of learners with classes from 18 months to 8th grade. Our pedagogy is innovative, our values are grounded in time honored tradition with a commitment to be on the forefront of the progressive ideas that produce the best education and learning environments.
We are comprehensive, inclusive and encourage respect for all person’s beliefs and do not discriminate on the basis of race, creed, or national origin. We actively seek out faculty and students of diverse backgrounds and traditions in the belief that they bring something to be valued and respected, and because we would like to be broadly inclusive of the community we serve. We look for the values that unite people rather than those that divide, and do not allow factionalism to undermine the life of the whole.
Our faculty consists of experienced education professionals who understand the individual needs of children and who provide a rigorous academic environment where students are challenged to achieve at the highest possible level. Our excellent reputation in the community has been built on eighteen years of providing developmentally appropriate curriculum taught by skilled instructors.
Our curriculum is innovative and student centered with an emphasis on independent thinking and problem solving. Our students mature into confident, self-directed learners who recognize the value of collaboration and cooperation in the learning environment.
We believe that the habits of the mind and heart are formed at a relatively early age. If the learning process is presented to children as a dynamic journey and not a static series of tasks, they will learn to be innovative problem solvers who are confident in their ability to make intellectually sound and morally appropriate decisions.
“This school has always meant to be a community school — how fitting that’s finally its name.”
— Jan Deaner, Founding Teacher
Our Approach
What Makes GCS Different
Responsive Classroom
Social curriculum guides daily life — cooperation, empathy, and self-control are taught alongside academics in every classroom.
Reggio Emilia
Classrooms feel like an extension of home — filled with materials that inspire learning, creativity, and deeper inquiry.
Multi-Age Classes
Students learn from and with one another across age groups, reinforcing mastery through peer teaching and collaboration.
Student-Centered Curriculum
Learning is driven by student interest and curiosity. Children have meaningful input into how topics are explored.
Small Class Sizes
An 8:1 student-teacher ratio ensures every child is known individually and receives personalized instruction daily.
Community & Inclusion
51% of students receive financial aid. The Bolling-Clay Scholarship and Hope Scholarship make GCS accessible to every family.
Our History
Becoming a Community School
When Greenbrier Community School was founded in 1999, it was called Greenbrier Episcopal School. In 2019, the school chose a name that reflected its true mission and vision. Just months before, GCS had purchased the historic Bolling School building — which during segregation had been the only African American high school in Greenbrier County, West Virginia.
Four years on, GCS announced the Bolling-Clay Scholarship — awarded to ethnically diverse students — to honor the legacy of the Bolling School and support inclusion. Today, 54% of GCS’s students receive at least one form of scholarship, including the Hope Scholarship, the Bolling-Clay Scholarship, and internal tuition assistance.
