Private Schools

Educational Options in the Sandhills

By Lesley Berkshire-Bradley

Does your middle schooler perform better in a small, intimate environment? Did you attend a parochial school and sometimes wonder if your children should also attend a faith-based school? Are you a member of the military subject to frequent relocations and want your children to have a consistent learning structure in each new home town?

These are the types of questions that parents often ponder as their children grow and they consider how to provide the best learning environment for their student. The Sandhills is fortunate to have both strong public schools and private schools. If you are considering private schools, the summer is a great time to investigate  what the Sandhills has to offer, even as late as August.

Located in Southern Pines on 40 acres across from Sandhills Community College, The O’Neal School is an independent college-preparatory school offering its 465 Preschool through Grade 12 students an innovative liberal arts style education with classes covering science, humanities and the arts. With small classes and students spanning 3-years-old to18-years-old, a tone and culture of a responsive, caring community is at the core of this school’s culture.

Episcopal Day School, nestled in downtown Southern Pines, serves Preschool through Fifth grade students with the goal of ‘providing a strong foundation for lifelong learning by engaging the mind, body and spirit in a nurturing community grounded in Episcopal history, traditions and identity’. The school provides a close community of 200 students with 22 teachers focusing on academics and character education. The friendships and bonds students make follow them to middle school and beyond.

Saint John Paul II Catholic School, situated between Southern Pines and Pinehurst, is a 215 student Preschool-8th grade private Catholic School with a focus on academic excellence, spiritual growth, personal responsibility and service to others. The school is committed to the development and growth of the whole child while preparing them for high school, college, and life beyond school.

With 300 students located on campuses in both downtown Southern Pines and Whispering Pines, Sandhills Classical Christian School’s Preschool through 12th Grade curriculum provides an accredited Christian-based education using a Classical methodology, following the Trivium of Grammar focus for younger grades, Logic focus for mid-grades and Rhetoric focus for high school grades. The schools goal is to teach critical thinking through a Biblical world view from a classical perspective.

Also located in in downtown Southern Pines, the 200-student Calvary Christian School serves Preschool through 12th grade students, offering small classes in a caring environment. The school’s Principal, Dwight Creech, explains that the school “offers an education that focuses on scripture and the Bible as the go-to source to get the answers to the meaningful questions of life.” 

So, take advantage of the remainder of summer and explore these and other schools in the Sandhills. Our community is lucky to have them.