Canterbury High School (Fort Wayne, Indiana)

Canterbury School

Canterbury School is an independent college preparatory school for students of pre-school age through Grade 12. The school is located in Fort Wayne, Indiana and enrolls 905 students in three divisions.

History

Established in 1977, Canterbury School opened at Trinity Episcopal Church in downtown Fort Wayne, Indiana. It was a nondenominational, self-supported school with 89 students in Kindergarten through Grade Six. It sought to inspire and motivate students while instilling Christian values and morals, cultivating an appreciation for the fine arts, developing foreign language skills, and setting high standards for teaching and learning. It continued to grow and within three years, it outgrew its church setting. In 1980, it relocated to the vacant Fort Wayne Community Schools building on Covington Road. When Jonathan Hancock arrived as the fourth headmaster in 1983, he oversaw Canterbury’s expansion to Grade 12. And in 1987, the year the first seniors graduated from Canterbury, the school grew yet again, opening a campus for grades nine through 12 on Smith Road. Programs for students as young as 2 were added that year, providing opportunities for children of every age to meet and embrace the educational challenges envisioned by those caring and dedicated parents who first served as an example of what can be achieved. Then, in 2007-2008, the school added onto both campuses.

School Mission

Canterbury School is an independent, coeducational day school offering a college-preparatory education to students in early childhood through Grade 12. The school seeks to enroll students of diverse talents and backgrounds. Canterbury promotes the total development of each child in his or her intellectual, physical, social, and spiritual growth.

Academics

The high school is known for its academic excellence, with nearly 100% of its students matriculating to colleges and universities, many of which are elite and highly regarded colleges, including some Ivy League.

Canterbury High School's students consistently dwarf state and national SAT averages, often having some of the highest scores in the state: the class of 2008 had a 1244 average, compared to the state 1007 average, and 1017 national average; on the ACT Canterbury students had a mean of 27.2, while the national average was 21.1. All students enrolled in AP level courses are required to take the exam. In 2008, 117 students took 263 exams. 96% of the exams scored a three (pass grade) or higher while 80% of all exams taken earned a four or five note. These statistics and its college preparatory curriculum credit Canterbury as one of the best high schools in the state of Indiana.

Athletics

Canterbury maintains its inclusion policy, allowing all students to compete in sports, even if they are not competitive at the varsity level.

In 2008, the Girls Basketball were the Indiana state champions in the 1A division. The Canterbury Boys Soccer also has a long history of competing at the State Championships. In all sports, the school has had 14 semi-state or state final appearances.

Fine Arts

Canterbury has always wanted its students to receive a well-rounded education. Students study fine arts for at least two semesters, whether it be photography, computer art, visual art, chamber music, jazz band, debate, speech, women's choir, men's a cappella, or theatre.

Each year, the high school puts on two productions, typically a musical and a play. Past works include: Seussical, Into the Woods, Romeo and Juliet, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), You Can't Take it With You, and The Man Who Came to Dinner.

Student Organizations

Student organizations include: Anime Club, Bowling Team, Canterbury Automated Vehicle Society (CAVS), Excalibur Yearbook, International Student Organization, JETS (Junior Engineering Technical Society) Team, Junior Classical League, Key Club International, Knitting Club, Mimesis Literary Review, Model UN, Satire Club, Sci Fi Club, Speech Team, Sententiae Literary Magazine, Stock Market Club, and the Untitled Paper

Travel Programs

Students are given a wide variety of travel opportunities that include the Australian exchange, French Immersion trip, Spanish Immersion, Lyrical Opera Trip, and the Stratford Theatre Trip. Also each junior class takes a week trip in which they visit six or seven colleges of varying sizes, settings, and selectivity to help them find the best college type to fit their needs.

Miscellanea

The school's baseball field is dimensionally modeled after the field of Yankee Stadium.

Resources

[http://www.canterburyschool.org Canterbury School]