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Wellington School head Robert Brisk and student body president Grace Korandovich led students and staff through their new facilities in October following a $17 million upgrade.
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The Wellington School is a college preparatory school that boasts a 100 percent college attendance rate for its students. Founded in 1982 and accredited by the Independent Schools Association of the Central States, the school recently completed a major renovation, adding a new wing that houses its upper and lower school students and a school-wide learning center library.
Though some students enroll in sixth or ninth grades, many attend Wellington from pre-K or kindergarten through high school graduation. Wellington head Rob Brisk says this consistency allows the school “to develop a program that involves great growth over a period of 14 years.” He adds that many themes are carried from the lower school through the middle school and all the way up to high school graduation. Beginning in the sixth grade, students take on independent research projects that they expand on throughout their Wellington careers. These projects, and others, are often cross-disciplinary, integrating several subjects of study into one.
In addition to these in-depth topics, Wellington students are given a broad exposure to all disciplines, from French (which begins in the lower school) to the upper school’s robotics class. Students even collaborate with teachers to design courses such as Asian History or Student Writing and Publishing. A “learning beyond the classroom” approach encourages students to meet with community leaders and Ohio State University professors. Students also teleconference with a peer school in Africa and visit schools in Chile and France as part of the language program.
Student-designed extracurricular activities also are encouraged and vary in scope from a robotics club—which was invited to the FIRST Tech Challenge World Championship Robotics Competition in April—to a climbing club, drama club (one of the few high school programs in the country to be invited twice to the French Festival in Scotland) and 4A club, which stands for African American Awareness Association. On the athletic side, Wellington boasted six Division I and two Division III recruits in the 2009-’10 school year.
From clubs to the classroom, Wellington teachers encourage a team-oriented style of learning. Breakout rooms between classrooms in the lower school help teachers provide extra guidance, and a learning center features three group study rooms, used by upper school students to work on group projects. A Senior Buddies program, in which each lower school class adopts two to three high school seniors, provides mentors to younger students.
The Wellington School was founded to embrace each student’s creative growth. “And that is our mission,” says Brisk. “To help students find those dramatic areas of growth, while providing them a great fundamental education in all areas.”
St. Andrew School has seen several generations of Upper Arlington families pass through its doors since its establishment in 1956, a tradition that principal Joel Wichtman describes as “deep-rooted.”
He says a cornerstone of the school is its religious instruction, which is touched upon in every subject. A special religious instruction program for the lower grades incorporates the Montessori style of learning to create a hands-on environment. The school employs full-time teachers in areas of special instruction such as physical education, music, art and computer technology. “You don’t see that everywhere,” Wichtman says. “We are able to incorporate that type of instruction into our weekly routine.” St. Andrew also offers Latin classes to students in the higher grades.
The school has a student connector program called family groups, in which one or two students from each grade level combine to form an activity-based family. In addition, eighth-grade students are paired with first-graders for one-on-one mentoring. Service projects at most grade levels help connect students to their communities, through volunteer work at the YWCA and the HYPED foster home.
St. Andrew offers an after-school program for older kids, as well as the option of a half-day or full-day kindergarten. The school’s pre-K facility opened in 2008, with half-day programs for 3- and 4-year-olds and pre-kindergarten for 4- and 5-year-olds.
St. Agatha School, founded in 1941, is one of the few schools that has twice been named a National School of Excellence by the U.S. Department of Education; principal Joan Mastell says there are plans to apply for this honor in fall 2011 to commemorate the school’s 70th anniversary. With a mission of “enthusiasm for learning and love of God,” an impressive 80 percent of St. Agatha’s teachers have their master’s degrees; one even has his Ph.D.
The school focuses on teaching public speaking skills in its science, history and literature courses. “At every grade level, we have an opportunity for research and oral presentation,” says Mastell, citing the two opportunities as the school’s main strengths.
St. Agatha recently underwent renovations, the majority of which were completed in 2008. New offices, paint, lighting, Smart Board technology, in-class laptop labs for older students and a working kiln in the art studio are just a few of the enhancements.
The school’s student buddy system connects each lower grade with an upper one and is centered around literacy activities, such as the January program in which third-grade students read to kindergarteners and help them write thank-you notes to Santa.
Extracurricular activities include the annual spring musical for older students, parish athletics and the Battle of the Books competition, which was introduced this year in response to the school’s voracious readers. The kindergarten enrichment program extends the half-day kindergarten classes to full-day, and extended childcare services are available for older students.
Emma Frankart is an assistant editor for Columbus Monthly.
The Wellington School
3650 Reed Rd.
wellington.org
457-7883
Grades: Pre-K through 12, coed
Enrollment: 577
Tuition: $8,575-$19,275
St. Andrew School
4081 Reed Rd.
standrewschool.com
451-1626
Grades: K through 8, coed
Enrollment: 441
Tuition: $3,325 for parishioners;
$5,300 for non-parishioners
St. Agatha School
1880 Northam Rd.
saintagathaschool.org
488-9000
Grades: K through 8, coed
Enrollment: 302
Tuition: $3,830 for parishioners (discounts offered for siblings);
$5,600 for non-parishioners
