This year, Kirby Hall School is celebrating the 50th anniversary of opening our doors. We are thrilled to light the cake candles, as fifty years is a significant milestone in this rapidly-evolving city of Austin.
KHS was founded in 1976 by Mrs. Beverly Rase with a handful of students at a unique vantage point on the edge of downtown and next door to the campus of The University of Texas. It offered a community–a place to belong–for academically curious and creative children to ask questions and develop their critical thinking skills in a nurturing and supportive environment.
We remain to this day one of the unique, non-religious, independent schools in Austin, welcoming families to join us from all faiths, cultures and backgrounds.
Currently, we have more than 130 students traveling to our historic campus from over 30 zip codes across Austin and Central Texas.
We offer classes from PreK4 to middle school (6th-8th grade). Middle school here provides pre-teen/teenage students with the space to stretch and explore young adulthood while still retaining the wonder and curiosity of childhood.
Families have been drawn to Kirby Hall for years because of our ongoing commitment to the academic and whole-child benefits of:
- Small class sizes (15:1 / student:teacher ratio)
- Personalized growth mindset instruction
- Maintaining a dedicated faculty (accomplished in their subjects and fields of study) who truly get to know students across several years, some who have been with us for decades
- Tech-intentional programming
- Learning how to work collaboratively and treat others with the values of kindness, humility and respect
Now, more than ever, with the abundance of screentime and AI infiltrating daily life, Kirby Hall is prioritizing the following core elements to help foster more meaningful human relationships between our students, nature and the community around them:
- Hands-on learning (ex: through reading real, physical books or building and creating in our Makerspace classrooms)
- Outdoor learning (in our adjacent outdoor classroom teeming with native plants, chickens, and goats)
- Place-based learning (taking advantage of all all the historical, cultural, and ecological sites and organizations that Austin itself and the surrounding Texas Hill Country have to offer)
As we anticipate our next fifty years, Kirby Hall looks forward to the launch of a multi-year capital campaign established to build a new gym and dedicated gathering space for our growing community.
Happy Birthday, Kirby Hall!
To learn more about us, please visit our Admissions pages to schedule a personal tour or attend an upcoming group tour.
About Kirby Hall School
For 50 years, the mission of Kirby Hall School has been to offer students (PreK4 to 8th grade) a place to belong and strengthen their critical thinking skills and imagination while learning to lead with the values of kindness, humility and respect. We welcome families of all backgrounds, race, religion, and cultural heritage, as community is at the core of all that we do.
