Our History and Mission
Our mission, as an independent, tuition-free, non-sectarian middle school, is to educate and inspire economically disadvantaged girls from the New Bedford area. Our Sisters’ School empowers students to step into the future with valuable life skills and a mindset of achievement and excellence by providing a safe, supportive, and academically challenging environment.
Mission Statement
Extraordinary Sailors
Our School’s name honors the bravery of the women known as “Sister Sailors,” who boldly headed out to sea from New Bedford’s harbor during the city’s whaling days. Like those women, OSS students courageously embark on a voyage of discovery in a challenging environment, carefully crafted to support them as they explore and achieve their greatest potential, while finding true north on their moral compass.
BOLD
BRAVE
INNOVATIVE
In 2006, a group of concerned citizens began to ponder the limited educational success and opportunities for girls in the greater New Bedford area. Encouraged by research demonstrating that positive educational opportunities for girls in the middle grades contribute to reduced teenage pregnancy, higher rates of high school graduation in four years, greater possibility of post-secondary education, and a disruption of the poverty cycle, this group formalized and began the challenging task of starting a tuition-free middle school serving New Bedford’s girls.
Since opening its doors to students in the first two grade levels in September 2008, the School now educates up to 76 girls in grades five through eight (5-8) from diverse races, cultures, and faiths, whose families qualify for assistance based on Federal Poverty Guidelines. Since the first graduating class in 2011, graduates of Our Sisters’ School have consistently pursued academic excellence at higher levels. They are building lives of professional satisfaction while also actively contributing to their communities. We steadily graduate ambitious and empowered young women.
The School remains as deeply committed to its mission today as when it was founded.
ANTI-RACISM STATEMENT
At Our Sisters’ School, we are committed to an inclusive and diverse community, dedicated to our Core Values of Excellence, Community, Civic Engagement, and Leadership. We condemn all forms of racism — individual, interpersonal, institutional, and systemic. We will be diligent in identifying, discussing, and challenging issues of race and ethnicity to ensure diversity, equity, and inclusion in all of our work, including student, staff, volunteer, and trustee recruitment, anti-racist curriculum development, and community engagement. We pledge to address any inequities we discover, using just and fair practices to yield a better understanding of ourselves and our school.
NON-DISCRIMINATION STATEMENT
Our Sisters’ School, Inc., admits girls as students regardless of their race, color, national or ethnic origin, religion, creed, or sexual orientation. The School does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national or ethnic origin, religion, creed, or sexual orientation in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship programs, athletic, and other school programs.
Our Sisters’ School, Inc., employs personnel of any race, color, national or ethnic origin, gender, gender identity, religion, creed, and sexual orientation, and allows them all the rights, privileges, and activities generally accorded or made available to personnel at the School.