About Us
Our children are happy every day at pickup. They are excited about what they are learning, energized by their teachers and classmates, and embraced for who they are by the Nashoba Brooks School community.
Nashoba Brooks Parent
Meet Danielle Heard
Danielle Heard joined Nashoba Brooks in 2008 as the assistant head of school and was appointed head of school after a national search in 2012. She earned a B.A. from Williams College and an M.Ed. from Harvard Graduate School of Education. She was a Klingenstein fellow at Columbia University Teachers College and completed the Program for Leadership Development at Harvard Business School. Since 1991, Danielle has held teaching, coaching, advising, and residential life positions at Emma Willard School, Dana Hall School, and Willow Hill School, and served as executive vice president of programs and operations at The Steppingstone Foundation. Danielle is proud to serve as an advisor to the Chewonki Foundation, a member of the Belmont Hill Board of Trustees, as the Chair of the AISNE Membership Committee, and as the President of the Board of the International Coalition of Girls’ Schools.
Hear from our Head of School
Thank you for your interest in Nashoba Brooks School! As you explore our website, you will discover our deep and ongoing commitment to advancing inspired education. Founded in 1928, Nashoba Brooks School has always been—and always will be—driven by our mission and centered on our students and their active pursuit of personal excellence through learning as a lifelong, vigorous, and joyful pursuit. As educators, we know that our work is not just about what we do, but also about how we do it and why.
What We Do
Though we celebrate our history, we take pride in never being complacent. In 2024, we launched our 10-year strategic directions, Spark, Sustain, and Soar, outlining our highest strategic priorities and the innovative and dynamic mindset required to advance this work most effectively. This work is grounded in our core values—integrity, collaboration, inclusivity, empathy, and resilience—and the knowledge that our students will become leaders and changemakers in their communities. These values are not simply words on a page; they shape the experience of each member of our community every day; they stretch our thinking, they grow with us, and they inspire our work together.
Guided by our mission and grounded in our core values, our students engage in innovative and interdisciplinary curriculum at every level. Recognizing that learning is not always linear and that application of concepts rarely happens in siloed subject areas, our students learn to master essential foundational skills as a means to deeper cross-disciplinary exploration. Whether applying key principles of economics in Grade 1, designing their own invention in Grade 4, or producing their own documentary film in Grade 8, our students learn to apply skills and knowledge across disciplines to formulate critical questions and seek creative solutions.
How We Do It
Just as our students, teachers, curriculum, and core values stretch, flex, and grow with us, so, too, does our campus. Since 2019, we created three new flex classrooms and the Shilling STEAM Lab. We also opened the Sureau Family Discovery Barn, and celebrated our beautiful 30-acre campus as an extension of our classrooms with the addition of the Merry Long Community Garden, the Denault Library Courtyard, and the renovation of the Devitt Learning Outpost. Recognizing that creativity and well-being are critical to the most impactful learning outcomes, Nashoba Brooks completed renovations with a redesign of the Community Commons, fitness room, and Arts Platform. Every inch of our campus is designed to engage students in active, meaningful, and impactful learning.
Why
Of course, the true investment is not in the spaces themselves, but what happens in them. These are spaces where students are inspired to embrace curiosity, build connections, formulate hypotheses, challenge assumptions, consider multiple perspectives, develop voice, and seek creative solutions to complex problems.
Empowered as learners and leaders, Nashoba Brooks students are exceptionally capable, confident, curious, and creative citizens and leaders. They graduate with the knowledge that they can affect positive change in the world. And they do.
Like our students, our employees and families view learning as a shared endeavor that is enhanced by strong partnerships, collaboration, and modeling. Our teachers are highly trained and dedicated to education as a lifelong pursuit. In addition to being informed by good practice, educators at Nashoba Brooks are dedicated to advancing the field of education through their practice, their research, and their leadership.
There is no better way to understand Nashoba Brooks School than to experience it for yourself. When you visit our School, you will feel the energy, enthusiasm, and joy that fill our classrooms as students and teachers embrace learning challenges together.
We look forward to seeing you soon!
Danielle Heard
Head of School