Buckley School

Buckley describes its teaching approach as balancing traditional and progressive classroom practices to help each boy learn, grow, and build a lasting love of learning. The school emphasizes fundamental skills, disciplined thought and action, personal integrity, respect for others, and the pursuit of knowledge and excellence, with the goal of preparing students well for secondary school while also developing strong character.

Buckley’s admissions page says Beginners (Kindergarten) applicants apply through Ravenna, pay a $75 fee, then self-schedule a parent/guardian tour, parent interview, the child’s school visit, and submit the ISAAGNY Confidential School Report; for Classes I-VIII, families first submit an inquiry, and if there is an opening Buckley will schedule the visit/interview and require grade-specific school forms, plus ISEE Primary for Classes II-IV or ISEE for Class V and up. (buckleyschool.org) The site currently says Beginners applications for the 2027–2028 school year will be available in August 2026, and the most recently posted cycle listed these deadlines and decision dates: early-notification files due November 26, 2025 with decisions December 5, 2025; regular applications due January 8, 2026; Beginners decisions February 5, 2026; and Classes I-VIII decisions February 11, 2026, with reply deadlines of December 12, 2025, February 12, 2026, and February 27, 2026 respectively. (buckleyschool.org) Requirements vary by grade: Class I needs the ISAAGNY Confidential Report and no standardized test; Classes II-V need transcripts/references and ISEE Primary; and Classes VI and above need transcripts plus ISAAGNY English, Mathematics, and Confidential evaluations, along with the ISEE. (buckleyschool.org) The main published priority categories are sibling and legacy applicants, who may request Early Notification under ISAAGNY policy; Buckley says all applicants are still evaluated using the same grade-specific admissions criteria, and for early-notification applicants the required steps differ slightly because siblings do not need a tour while legacies do. (buckleyschool.org) I did not find a published waitlist policy on the Buckley admissions pages I reviewed, so the website appears to describe application steps, dates, and sibling/legacy priority, but not how waitlist decisions are handled. (buckleyschool.org)