Laurel School - Lyman Circle Campus

Laurel School, founded in 1896, is a nationally recognized, college preparatory, independent day school for girls, Kindergarten through Grade 12, with a coeducational Pre-Primary program. Laurel School’s Center for Research on Girls puts the world’s best research to work for girls – at Laurel and everywhere. Laurel has two campuses. The Lyman Campus is situated on 11 acres in suburban Shaker Heights, Ohio, and is home to classrooms, two gymnasiums, newly renovated visual arts studios, a Chapel Theatre and a dance studio for the Pre-Primary, Primary, Middle and Upper Schools. Opened in 2002, the 140-acre Butler Campus in Russell Township, Ohio, features outdoor education, experiential learning, unparalleled athletic fields, a 16-element Project Adventure Course, and a 16,000-square-foot fitness and wellness center.

Laurel girls are ambitious. They take risks and welcome intellectual and physical challenges. They are individuals who hone their intellect, develop their confidence and discover their passions. Laurel girls embrace over a century of tradition and develop bonds of friendship that last a lifetime. Laurel girls are courageous, creative, ethical and compassionate. They are young women who become leaders in their colleges, industries and communities.

An all girls’ school, K-12, with a coed Pre-Primary, Laurel School is proud to be an inclusive and equitable school community that welcomes students without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, handicap or disability or sexual orientation. Additionally, we actively seek faculty and staff without regard to these identifiers or gender.

For over a century, we have offered selective admission to girls who seek challenges. Laurel girls are ambitious, eager to claim their voices and reach their goals. Our superb faculty and college-preparatory program promote critical thinking, intellectual risk-taking, problem solving and creativity. Our school culture prizes outcomes and emphasizes resilience. Learning at Laurel is active, interdisciplinary, noisy and joyful. In the classroom, on the athletic fields, in a stream at the Butler Campus, in the Collaboratory—girls learn by doing.

Laurel’s Center for Research on Girls (LCRG) substantiates our claim that we know girls—how they learn, think and feel—better than any other school. LCRG’s original research, professional development for faculty—our own as well as at schools around the corner and across the country, and parent education ensure that we put the world’s best research to work for girls everywhere.

Because women who lead must possess a strong moral compass and have experience in discerning what is essential from what isn’t, we cultivate courage, respect and empathy. Girls matter at Laurel. Every girl, every day. In the context of the swiftly changing educational landscape, we produce graduates who are confident and capable, leaders and learners, dreamers and doers. Laurel girls dive in, explore, immerse themselves in learning. We invite you to do the same.

Equity and Inclusion at Laurel serves as a resource to the community for training, social and cultural programming, and inclusive educational approaches. We strive to promote equity and justice. We are Laurel. And we are a community. And our mission says it all: to inspire each member of our community to fulfill their promise and to better the world.

Our mission – “To inspire each girl to fulfill her promise and to better the world” – fuels all we do. Our nationally recognized Center for Research on Girls puts the world’s best research to work for girls - right here at Laurel every day. Our dedicated and talented faculty help each girl discover who she is and what she is passionate about. Laurel nourishes each girl’s mind and character helping each one to be courageous, creative, compassionate and ethical. Laurel girls lead the way and are easy to spot!

The curriculum at Laurel School promotes learning that is enduring and transferable. Teachers and families work collaboratively to help each student find her own path, and girls enter the classroom with an open mind, ready to partner in their own learning. Laurel’s curricular goals require many approaches. To meet the needs of Laurel students, three kinds of learning in particular distinguish our curriculum: experiential, interdisciplinary and community-based.