Since Columbus Academy’s founding in 1911, the core of the Academy experience has been the relationship between each child and his or her teacher. We have long cultivated excellent and experienced faculty and staff members who are dedicated to fostering compassion and integrity while they reward effort and accomplishment among the students with whom they teach, lead and coach.

Today, nearly 1,200 students – from our 3-year-olds to our 12th-graders – are the soul of our independent, coeducational school community and represent the entire Central Ohio landscape as they come from over 50 different zip codes. Their wide-ranging interests and efforts – and deep character – lead them to invest in service projects, win state championships and participate in wonderful theatre productions and art exhibitions throughout the school year.

Our commitment to character and ethics is represented throughout our campus, from our new 3-year-old classroom 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.

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.

Once on our beautiful 231-acre wooded campus, you will see our playful young students sorting math tables, 12-year-olds mastering pieces on the cello and teenagers learning to express themselves with clarity and grace. Come see for yourself why the Columbus Academy experience makes our school one of the premier independent schools in the country.

A Strategic Vision adopted by the Board of Trustees in 2016 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 Vision is to imbue Columbus Academy’s excellent academic tradition with critical thinking, creativity and reflection by pursuing these strategic goals:

• Curricular Innovation: innovating the way we teach, learn and play while reasserting Columbus Academy’s most sound programs both inside and outside our classes
• Ethics and Character Formation: elevating students’ insight into difference, ethics and character formation through reflective discovery about self and others and active implementation of cultural competencies
• Student Flourishing: honoring the way our students achieve and flourish by emphasizing determination, creativity, sense of play and iteration as important and healthy components of their success
• Service Learning: fostering compassion, respect and moral courage through the intentional practice of sustained service work beyond the school’s walls
• Campus as a Living Classroom: instilling a sense of stewardship and wonder of our campus as a living classroom

Our Mission  

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.