Dear Friends,

Welcome! We are delighted you found our website. We thought you might like to learn a little about the principles which sustain the education at Columbus School for Girls. We hope our students leave this school believing that their lives and the lives of others matter. We want them to be courageous and good, as well as scholarly and analytical. We believe education accomplishes this purpose when students are taught to enjoy challenge and risk, to respect the thoughts and feelings of others, and to embrace the joys of an active mind and a healthy body.

Along the way to these lofty goals, however, a school must ask itself some practical questions:

• How does a diverse community unite in a common purpose?
• How is moral behavior taught without usurping the parents' role?
• How can children be taught to enjoy internal (spiritual) rewards in a world that seems to value only external (material) rewards?
• How can children be taught the necessity for careful thought when they see daily in the media only speedy and facile answers?
• What are the special benefits that an all-girls school can provide to prepare its students for the world?

We do not have absolute answers to these questions, but we know from experience that there are some actions a school must take in attempting to answer them, actions in which we are engaged:

We talk. Teachers, administrators and parents should always be engaged in discussion — with each other, with experts, with students — to define what is held in common and to articulate their goals.

We enlist parents in the school's endeavors because parents are the school's strongest allies.

We give students multiple opportunities to experience a sense of accomplishment and pride, whether in the classroom, the studio, the gym or the community.

We pledge never to be content that simply being “all girls” is enough.  We base our curriculum, our teaching practices, and our programs on the research that delineates the ways girls learn. At the same time we are mindful of the best practices in education for all children and hold ourselves and our students to the highest standards. 

We try always to honor the spiritual as well as the intellectual essence of our students. Our mission is to create an environment that nurtures and protects what we value most in our children: their curiosity, their talents, their integrity, and their humanity.

Ultimately, though, the heart of the educational process is in the classroom and it is in this setting that our students will find the strength of Columbus School for Girls. As you browse our website, I hope you will "meet" some girls and teachers who will give you an idea of the excitement of learning which permeates these halls. 

Sincerely,

Elizabeth (Liza) Lee
Head of School