Norfolk Academy

Since our 1728 founding, Norfolk Academy has existed for the transformative education and edification of children (and families) in Hampton Roads. As Virginia’s oldest independent school, we carry that historic mission into today, even as we constantly reevaluate and improve upon our purpose, our performance, and the lasting effect we have on our students and our region. As a private school with a public purpose, Norfolk Academy strives to educate our students through relationships with our regional partners.

Trusted and reciprocally empowering relationships form the bedrock of the Norfolk Academy experience. The inspiring relationships we forge with one another underlie our college-prep curriculum, our innovative programming, and our time-honored traditions. No exciting discovery, no personal breakthrough, no learning epiphany occurs at the Academy without the heartfelt, inspiring, and perspective-shifting relationships that students purposefully build with one another and with their teachers—who also serve as trusted coaches and wise advisors.

The relationships we begin building in grade one—and that grow in ardor and complexity all the way through grade 12—make possible both the authentic kindness and the outsized accomplishments of our students. That’s why years after graduation, Norfolk Academy students still count their friends and teachers here as the largest influences on their entire lives. Few schools have thrived for almost 300 years like Norfolk Academy. And it’s the clear and ringing timbre of relationships you find at Norfolk Academy that continues to demonstrate our relevance today.

Norfolk Academy is a co-educational private school serving grades 1-12 in three divisions: Lower, Middle, and Upper. The school has a rich history and a well-defined philosophy. The school is located in Norfolk, Virginia, on a beautiful 64-acre campus.

The students who attend Norfolk Academy come from all areas of Hampton Roads (Chesapeake, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Suffolk, and Virginia Beach), the Eastern Shore of Virginia, and northeastern North Carolina. The Faculty and Staff are highly qualified and dedicated to making sure that their students achieve their highest potential.

The school encourages its students to achieve in all areas. Norfolk Academy boasts a strong sports program and an exciting arts program. By offering these varied opportunities, the school helps each student in our diverse community learn to appreciate and enjoy the full spectrum of quality education.

The Norfolk Academy is a college preparatory, coeducational day school that strives to assist its students to develop maturity of mind, body, and character. We hope to engender an awareness and appreciation of intellectual, aesthetic, and moral excellence in a setting that offers well-developed programs, not only in the academic disciplines, but also in fine arts, athletics, and service to others. We aim to prepare students to become ultimately useful and responsible citizens of a democracy.

We strive to make them aware of their role in creating a just society. We are committed to the spiritual and ethical values of the Judeo-Christian heritage and envision that these will become a part of the being of each member of the Norfolk Academy community.

Norfolk Academy seeks to offer a coordinated program for students, building and expanding on knowledge and experience from grades one through twelve, encouraging responsible participation in a variety of school activities, providing opportunities for leadership training, and facilitating interaction with the community beyond the school. We are committed to the principles of academic freedom. We trust that students and faculty will be stimulated to continue to teach, learn, and explore, to think practically and creatively, and to move toward wisdom and understanding.

Aware of a tradition of academic excellence that dates from 1728 and sensitive to the need for meeting change, the Academy attempts to maintain high standards, both academic and ethical, for students and faculty. We believe that the honor system is the embodiment of these ideals. We aim to provide a balanced program for individual growth and to guide and measure the progress of each student.

We are committed to the enrollment of boys and girls who show promise of intellectual curiosity and who come from families of varied social, economic, religious, ethnic, and racial backgrounds. We believe that teachers should be knowledgeable in their fields and should understand and enjoy the ways young people learn and grow. We believe that the interests and talents of these teachers should enable them to assume responsibilities outside the classroom in guidance, athletics, and activities. The school seeks to provide equipment and facilities that create an atmosphere in which growing children may participate actively in their mental and physical development. We strive to encourage students, faculty, and families to work together to assist
students in arriving at personal assessment of themselves and in challenging them to reach their true potential in a world of accelerating change.