Overview

Concord Academy is a coeducational, independent, college preparatory boarding and day school for students in grades 9 - 12, in historic Concord, Massachusetts. CA students are self-motivated, love learning, and are ready to take full advantage of CA’s academic, artistic, athletic, social, and cultural opportunities. Students who see adults as allies who want to help them do their best. Students at CA get excited about looking through the course catalogue to plan their academic study. They don’t hesitate to try new things. Whether starting a new club or conducting an independent project with a faculty advisor, CA students are innovators with an appetite for adventurous learning.  

Academics

At CA, we believe that learning should happen everywhere—in the classroom, on the athletics field, in the studio, and on the stage. Our exceptional faculty inspires students to question dated ideas and embrace new ones. At CA, students benefit from the richness of human interaction through our small class sizes. In class, teachers and students work in close partnership as they explore a rigorous curriculum characterized by wide-as-you-can-dream elective choices unified by common skill development across ages and departments. CA students are encouraged to share, discuss, and dissent as they learn to think with analytical power, imagination, and creativity. The academic program is not one size fits all. Students can - and are encouraged - to discover their passion. Compose a string quartet, study your own DNA, analyze the geometry of sacred art, these are all possible at CA.  At Concord Academy, learning is driven by the desire to do one's best work, not by competition. CA is a "no prize" school, with no class rank and no academic awards.  Our mission is to inspire our students to become lifelong learners who grow into young adults with informed opinions, clear goals, and the confidence they need to embrace the world.  

The Arts

The Arts are at the heart of the Concord Academy experience. Students are encouraged to imagine, explore, and create every day in the art studios, media labs, dance studios, music rooms, and on stage.

Athletics

Athletics at CA reflects the culture of the school, offering  freedom of choice within the athletic realm. Students are strongly encouraged to play team sports, but are not required to do so. Students are encouraged to go beyond the minimum athletic requirement, but there is no mandate. And academic faculty members are eligible to coach, but are not required to. With this flexibility and choice comes great reward. Students participate on teams and in physical education classes beyond the minimum requirement because they want to be part of something special. Experienced faculty choose to coach teams because of the value they see in working with students outside the academic classroom. Together, these athletes and coaches create a program of excellence that is full of positive energy.  

Campus Life

CA’s campus is open. During the day, students can come and go between school and the town of Concord without signing out. This part of common trust means you can grab a hot chocolate in a café during a free period or browse through a shop after school. The town of Concord surrounds the campus with history and literary tradition—an environment that suits CA just fine. Concord resident Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote of “the shot heard ’round the world,” signaling the American Revolution. Other literary notables, including Henry David Thoreau, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Louisa May Alcott, lived here. The town carries with distinction the legacy of these great thinkers—a tradition that CA is proud to reflect.