Westminster Christian Academy

Westminster is a wonderful school! Both my children love it. Every teacher we've had has taken a personal interest in my children. They look forward to going to school everyday, and I feel happy dropping them off. It means so much as a Christian parent that we know our families values are being backed up by the staff at their school. We love that they aren't just allowed to pray but the teachers pray with and for them on a daily basis. Also, I appreciate that communication with my children's teachers has been easy and fast. They are very accessible. We are very proud to be a Westminster family!
—Submitted by a parent

This school is a GREAT school all around!! My children feel safe, happy and genuinely loved by every teacher they have had. We've been at the school for 4 years, and I would NEVER leave this school! The teachers have not only taught the Bible to my children but have 'lived' it for them as well. Academically, they are well ahead of the national average. My 2nd grader is reading at the 6th grade level. My children are happy to go to school and any problems that have come up, the teachers have been easy to work with and have followed through with solutions. This school does exactly what it says it does..."provides quality education from a Biblical perspective." AND, they do SO much more!!
—Submitted by a parent

Westminster Christian Academy has been a great place of Christian fellowship and encouragement! Students are distracted by so many things these days and Westminster Christian Academy is a safe place where students are able to grow academically as well as spiritually!

As an upcoming graduate of WCA and spending my entire education there I would love to share my experience there. People are being challenged and getting the education that is being paid for. There is a lot of homework but they (the teachers) are doing it for our benefit to help us be prepared. The Christian environment is great and open but as others know not everyone at the school is a Christian. The teachers all have callings to be there and love to teach. The coaches are tough to make the kids better and teach them to strive for excellence. Anyone who believes that they are wasting money needs to talk to their kids. Kids these days in public school are not challenged and it shows with how national scores turn out. As a Christian and student I believe that only those who want to be lazy and have everything handed to them are the ones who do not enjoy the experience. I wouldn't have traded any of my experiences at WCA with any other. No matter the hardships I believe that this school is the best in Huntsville if not all of Alabama. -Wildcat '13

I attended WCA for high school. Going to WCA was not worth any of the money my family spent (Auburn s full time tuition was cheaper than WCAs) Majority of my high school teachers, on paper, were not qualified to teach high school level classes. I ve seen middle school teachers with higher education than what I saw at WCA. Some teachers were actually elementary school teachers that were moved to the high school when there were faculty and budgeting shifts. I had a great GPA at school, because it was extremely easy. I got an alright ACT score which got me into Auburn and Alabama. I went to Auburn and my first year was terrible. I pretty much did not learn a thing to prepare myself for college class life, WCA let the students get away with too much, and they were strict on social policies not academic ones. I 100% believe that I would have been more successful in college if I attended a public school such as Grissom, Huntsville or Bob Jones. My family is very upset and will not refer anyone to WCA because of its politics and lack of education. This school is very cliquey since half the faculty that was employed all had kids there.

My children have gone to WCA for the last three years. I would not recommend this school. I do not feel the education they are receiving is equivalent to the price of admission. They greatly lack in the math department. The administration is also closed minded to problems that arise. They will listen, however, they won't resolve the issues. We have experienced problems with bullying in the school. If your child hasn't attended since early on, they discriminate. The kids do as well as well as the coaches. Overall, I feel like my children will not be prepared for college. If you want your children to be spiritually, academically, and emotionally challenged, do not send them here. The school is also known for its hypocrisy. They should take the word Christian out of the schools name.
—Submitted by a parent

Plain and Simple, this school is a waste of money. It is incredible that this place is a private school that people PAY to go to. I cut my losses on my son, and got out in time to get him a better education. His GPA while attending WCA was a 2.9. He was smart, but he began to hate school. He didn't care about the work, and he didnt even seem to care about life and he came home complaining and hating school everyday. Once leaving, his GPA at his new high school was a 4.0, and his college GPA was a 3.8! He still talks about problems he faced at WCA with parents, teachers, and the administration. He has had to talk to a therapists to recover from various issues. His therapy later revealed that 90% of the problems he was facing was because of this school. I would advise you NOT to send your kids here. The education, staff, and atmosphere that you PAY thousands for is terrible. Not worth it.
—Submitted by a parent

I went to this school my whole life. There are a lot of negative things that have hindered WCA from attaining a higher level of recognition. The people running this school were so focused on the development of Brockway and raising money that they lost focus on the students currently going there. The amount of extra curricular activities was laughable. The student government was archaic and did not do anything. The majority of teachers were under paid and apathetic as a result. My headmaster would actually belittle teachers in front of students! The student body consisted of either sheltered kids that went to the school their whole life or kids that were expelled from a public school (I guess they needed the $$ for Brockway). Most of the sheltered kids would last one year at AU or AU and fail out because of they weren t prepared socially/academically for the real world outside of WCA. If I could put WCA into one word it would be Mediocre . Hopefully that will change with new staff, focusing on student development through better/more extra curricular activities, and giving students a classroom experience worth the extra thousands their parents will pay.

From a former wildcat: I transferred there starting with junior high and stayed until graduation. Almost all negative reviews are from drama in one's life or an "insufficient" education. First, almost all people who hate a school because of drama(girlfirend/boyfriend problems, relationships, etc.) will hate most schools because they allow themselves to be drawn into or give into certain relationships. Six years at WCA and I had no drama problems because I didn't date a different person or change my friends every other week. Second, as of 2011, WCA has a smaller number of AP classes then Bob Jones or Grissom but that in no ways equates to an insufficient education. My ACT scores were in the top 99th percentile and I was able to get into every school I applied to, the most prestigious being a top 25 nationally ranked school. It is up to the individual student! Even in college I have been well prepared, even ahead. Also, you have more chances to show leadership(vital to prestigious schools)because of the small number of students compared to the large number of extracurricular activities. Last, just visit a football or other game and feel the school spirit for yourself.

I am a former student at westminster. I really enjoyed the school in elementary school but once i got to middle school it was the worst 3 years of my life. The kids are all immature spoiled bratts. the four years i was there i didnt make one steady friend and i am very outgoing, it seems to be that the only kids that like the school are the ones that have been there since kindergarten. I felt that i was not learning as much as my friends from public school and they had better grades than me. The kids are very clique-ey and stuck up, my parents seem to love the school but they havent been there.do NOT send your kids to that school. its the biggest waist of money and there are far fewer opportunities than public school,church is for teaching about God and I feel that school should be about learning about the occupations and how to deal with college, no kids that go to westminster get anywhere in life. okay that is all

My girls have been at WCA for 7 and 4 years now. They both love the school, teachers and learning. They both score Above Average on almost every section of the Stanford achievement test. They also love being in the band. We are truely blessed to be at this school.
—Submitted by a parent

I wish I had never went to this school. If I was given the opportunity to go back, I would rather have dropped out! Many of the teachers at WCA are uncaring. Nothing was done about bullying which happened to me on a nearly daily basis. I was practically driven away from going to church for a long time after leaving due to the hypocracy that runs rampant at that school. Also I was a bit unprepared for college as the teachers there refuse to teach scientific theories that would be needed for college level science.

Westminster academics, curriculum, leadership, and facilities are leaps and bounds ahead of the public school that we transferred from. I suppose they are not perfect, but who is? Parent/teacher/administration communication is encouraged and that really makes a difference. Westminster has surpassed our expectations thus far. It's definitely worth checking out.
—Submitted by a parent

Westminster is a school in a tremendous growth process. They realize that there is much improvement that needs to be made in their academic climate. For a school that has been in existence for 45 years it has an appallingly low academic bar. If you look closely at the programs that stand out and are supported by the administration they are primarily the athletics. The academics are way behind. Depending on your priorities, this could be an ideal school.
—Submitted by a parent

I have recently transferred my kids from a large school in Georgia. This is an excellent school. God first and students second. The people involved with this school from the administration to the janitor are the nicest people I have ever meet. It gives a high level of education, and the kids are very welcoming. Me and my family love this place, and only wish we would have never waisted time in Georgia.
—Submitted by a parent

To be honest, yes parents love this school. But it's because they don't go here. Academically, there are some good parts, some very poor. I was in major leadership roles in this school and I loved it, but at the same time it was frustrating because the administration and the structure of the overall school in my opinion was needing some major work. They are slowly but surely making changes, and especially with the new coming building, I feel those changes could be speeding up. If you are going to put your child here, prepare them to be able to stand strong and stand up in what they believe, face frustrations with teachers and maybe some conflicting beliefs on certain Bible topics, and get an outdated education.
—Submitted by a student

First and foremost, I had the unfortunate experience of attending Westminster for all 12 years of my schooling (not by choice). Pros Good christian values are represented throughout all of the academic and athletic programs at the school. Cons (there are many) The academics is tremendously sub-par. Very few AP courses or honors classes(w/poor performance on the few AP exams)...If you take a look at the graduation class each year it becomes evident of this. A third of the class will go to calhoun community college. A third will go evenly between alabama and auburn. and the other third will go to small colleges in alabama or not college at all. This is consistent every year. There are rarely any kids from westminster that aspire to go anywhere outside their comfort zone. Westminster kids are sheltered into thinking that in the real-world all people love God and dont curse.
—Submitted by a student

As a former student who attended WCA for 8 years, I have to disagree with some of the comments made. Yes, the textbooks and teachers stress quality Christian principles, but from my experience, the overall academic atmosphere lacked excellence, especially when compared to the nearby schools such as Randolph, Bob Jones, and Grissom. If a Christian education is what is sought for your students, then I definitely recommend sending them to WCA, but if you want a school that will really prepare your children for the rigor of the real world, I would advise looking some place else.
—Submitted by a student

I have 5 nieces/nephews that go here and they are all excelling in a curriculum that albeit not easy, pushes kids to do their best. I'm not a fan of the administration but I love the teachers, curriculum, safety/discipline, and amount of parental involvement. If a parent isn't willing to be involved, they're turned away for good reason. The kids get great 1-on-1, supervision, encouragement, faith, and life skills in addition to their education. Great self-esteem is built here.

Westminster offers a refreshing biblical world view that has provided our child with a great foundation that will last a lifetime. The extracurricular sports and music programs are average. Middle school sports relies heavily on parent leadership not just parent participation. In 2007, they mandated science fair projects for 6-12 graders. What an achievement! It was wonderful to see what the teenagers researched and the confidence they gained along with general research and analysis skills. Many of the students' parents are also faculty members; students seem to get preference when it comes to behavior and extracurriculars. The modified block system worked better than the current 8 individual periods per day. The students could focus better with the block system and homework levels were more manageable. For several years the school had not updated textbooks; the new headmaster has changed that policy and has begun updating texts to remain current.
—Submitted by a parent