The Columbus Academy

Columbus Academy is one of the premier Pre-Kindergarten through Grade 12 coeducational country day schools in the United States. Our curriculum embraces the arts and technology to develop the entire individual intellectually, socially, ethically, artistically and physically. Families from throughout Central Ohio make up our school community. We believe that diversity, inclusion, equity and justice are essential to the excellence of our community, culture and curriculum. Academy students at every grade level are artists, scholars, musicians and athletes. Our 231-acre campus and distinct buildings for Lower, Middle and Upper Schools include three libraries, a central visual and performing arts complex, six state-of-the-art computer labs, SMART Boards in classrooms, a fully equipped makerspace, age appropriate playgrounds and athletics fields for all sports.

The hearts of Academy students are the soul of our school community. Their wide-ranging interests and efforts – and deep character – lead them to invest in service projects, win state championships and participate in wonderful theater productions and art exhibitions throughout the school year.

Our commitment to character and ethics is represented throughout our campus, from pre-kindergarten classrooms to our junior speeches and commencement. In each stage of their education at Columbus Academy, our students engage with a carefully crafted curriculum that invites learners at every age to both challenge and mastery.

Since its earliest days on Nelson Road in 1911, the core to our experience at Columbus Academy has been the relationship between each child and his or her teacher. We have long cultivated excellent and experienced faculty and staff who are dedicated to fostering compassion and integrity while they reward effort and accomplishment among the students with whom they teach, lead and coach.

And while our history roots us in those steadfast values, we are committed to preparing students for the joyful and challenging complexities of our diverse world by shaping our community through actions of inclusion, equity and justice. We pledge to "foster compassion, respect and moral courage" as tenets in our students' lives so that they can be the best possible citizens in a pluralistic world.

Columbus Academy – an independent, coeducational college preparatory school – enriches its academic tradition of excellence by valuing a broad diversity of students as it seeks to develop the complete person: mind, body and character. The school rewards rigorous effort and accomplishment, fosters compassion, respect and moral courage, and insists on integrity, fair play and community service. Academy strives to develop and sustain a community of thoughtful, responsible, capable and confident citizens eager to engage in a pluralistic and ever-changing world.

Columbus Academy teaches careful thought, creativity of imagination and the habit of excellence. The school’s strength has been predicated on careful planning, a robust imagination about its future, and living by its Mission as it nurtures students for a global community. A Strategic Vision adopted by the Board of Trustees of Columbus Academy imagines the future with student learning at the center of all aspects of school work. In carrying out the Strategic Vision, we will determine the best ways to infuse innovation, service, creativity and stewardship in students’ daily lives while the school seeks partnerships in research and collaborative work to prepare them for our pluralistic world.

The future is rushing at us. Ours are the children who will be prepared to greet that future, grasp it, guide it, shape it, enrich it. Ours is a reimagined educational model that builds upon academics to develop the whole child – in ways of mind, heart, body and character. Scroll down to meet the people of Columbus Academy.

At Columbus Academy, our curriculum, culture and community cultivate a love of learning and the higher-order skills that are vital to a happy childhood and success in today’s world. Academy engages students in learning inside and outside of the classroom – from formative preschool activities to the first stirrings of academic mastery in middle school to traditional college preparatory disciplines. Our highly qualified teachers shape a multi-faceted curriculum that weaves in the arts, technology, the humanities and STEM. And, the individualized attention they provide to each student ensures they will thrive both at school and in life.