Dear Wellington Community, 

Since Wellington’s founding in 1982, the world has evolved at an astounding pace. What has remained constant is our school’s belief that education can—and should—be better. Wellington’s founders and those who followed embraced connection, agility, and an entrepreneurial mindset, embedding these qualities into Wellington’s ethos. They understood that true educational excellence blends traditional academics with relevant opportunity, future-focused innovation, and a connected community.

Generations of students and families have cherished Wellington’s profound impact, calling it the most important educational experience of their lives. A group of Jaguars is called a leap, and within Wellington’s leap, every individual is seen, valued, and belongs. More than preparing students for college, Wellington prepares them to become thriving, contributing adults in ways as unique and valuable as they are. Yet, as young people face vast opportunities and unprecedented complexity, they require different skills, mindsets, and support than in the past. In this context, standing still is not an option. To meet the evolving needs of our students, and to prepare them for tomorrow’s world, Wellington must take a bold leap.

A Bold Leap: 2032 charts a path for growth and ambitious progress, an opportunity to deepen our School’s purpose and elevate its potential. By enriching and extending our deeply relational, relevant, and challenging environment, we will affirm Wellington as an essential school, cementing its position among the nation’s greatest and most forward-thinking schools. To do this, we commit to three shared purposes:

1. Wellington will be the best place to teach and learn for those seeking educational excellence in a highly-connected, future-focused learning community.

2. Wellington will elevate the standard for educational excellence and student engagement.

3. Wellington will strengthen its financial foundation, securing its permanence and continued excellence.

This strategic plan outlines the strategies we will take over the coming years to guide Wellington towards our shared purposes. By staying true to our values while embracing the challenges and opportunities of the future, we will continue to create an environment where students are empowered to become the kind of leaders the world needs. The Wellington community—students, families, faculty, staff, and alumni—will be at the heart of this journey, continually working together to bring value to our world and to each other.

Thanks for all you do for Wellington, and… Go, Jags! 

Eliza McLaren

Head of School

Dear Wellington Community, 

On behalf of the Board of Trustees, it is with deep pride and excitement that we join Eliza in sharing A Bold Leap: 2032, our strategic plan guiding Wellington to its fiftieth year. This plan is the product of a thoughtful, inclusive, and yearlong process that engaged our full community—and it reflects both the values we hold dear and the vision we share for our future.

From the earliest stages, we knew this work had to begin with listening. Through a series of listening sessions and community surveys, we gathered insights from students, families, faculty, staff, alumni, and friends of the school. Trustees and school leadership took these reflections seriously—reporting back on key findings at the Head of School’s State of the School event in February—and then used them to shape and sharpen our goals.

In March, the Board of Trustees and the School’s leadership team came together for a retreat to reflect on everything we heard and to chart a bold, clear path forward. The plan we now share with you reaffirms Wellington’s mission and values, introduces an ambitious new vision, and outlines the strategic priorities that will guide us in the years ahead.

We hope that, in reading this plan, you will see your voice reflected. We are especially grateful to the faculty-staff task force and the strategic planning steering committee whose wisdom and dedication helped shape every aspect of this work.

We are also indebted to Tim Fish, whose guidance as a facilitator and thought partner was instrumental throughout this process.

The Board of Trustees is committed to partnering with the School’s leadership, faculty, and staff to implement the priorities we’ve outlined together. The Bold Leap ahead will require all of our support. We know that with a community as strong, generous, and passionate as Wellington’s, there is no limit to what we can accomplish.

With appreciation and optimism,

Jim Croft P '17 '20 '22
Chair of the Board of Trustees

Wellington will be the best place to teach and learn for those seeking educational excellence in a highly- connected, future-focused learning community.

We will cultivate a joyful, innovative, and diverse learning community united by a shared mission and core values supporting educational excellence, character development, and personal growth. Wellington will realize its potential as a unique and exceptional educational choice for students, families, and educators to learn and grow.

1. Establish Wellington as the employer-of-choice for outstanding educators by offering competitive compensation, clear advancement pathways, and robust professional development while maintaining transparent expectations and evaluation processes. We will sustain a professional environment that inspires, supports, and retains talented educators.

2. Develop educator pipelines that attract faculty and staff from backgrounds reflective of our student population, through fellowship programs, mentorship tracks, and national recruitment partnerships.

3. Enhance our campus through a comprehensive master plan, creating learning environment at all grade levels that embody our mission-level commitments to engaged, collaborative learning while meeting our growing enrollment.

4. Establish an Office of Community Engagement & Belonging to reinforce Wellington’s values and community expectations, strengthen campus inclusion and culture, and deepen engagement between Wellington and the larger Columbus community.

5. Advance programming for executive function and well-being across the whole community by articulating PreK-12 social-emotional learning and executive function curricula. Commit to prioritizing and balancing the demands of academics, arts, athletics, family, and personal needs of students and families through coordinated scheduling and programming.

Wellington will elevate the standard for educational excellence and student engagement.

Wellington will build on its foundation of rigorous academic excellence through innovative programs that inspire the highest levels of student engagement. Our students will develop a lifelong love of learning and the skills to achieve in and contribute to an increasingly complex and competitive world.

1. Strengthen Wellington’s educational program by advancing curriculum, instruction, learning resources, technology, family partnership, and professional development.

2. Create the Center for Student and Teacher Engagement to drive student programs that inspire engagement, purpose, and skill development, while offering teachers exceptional professional learning and growth opportunities.

3. Ensure all students are challenged at every stage of their education via small group learning environments, engagement feedback, differentiated instruction, and multiple levels of courses for supported, on-level, and extended learning pathways. Wellington will further support the diverse learning needs of its students with a thoughtful approach and programs addressing executive function and metacognition resulting in each student accessing a path to educational excellence while building the skills needed for lifelong success.

4. Expand engineering, entrepreneurship, and apprenticeship programming to equip every student with valuable hands-on skills, problem-solving abilities, and the capacities to drive improvement and innovation.

5. Evaluate and refine how Wellington structures and uses time beyond the traditional school day and calendar extending Wellington’s mission and impact to afterschool programs, summer offerings, and to the larger Columbus community.

6. Advance co-curricular programming including athletics, global and outdoor learning, service learning, and ensuring the flexibility for students to pursue interests beyond Wellington.

7. Invest in and expand The Wellington Initiative to enhance learning and instruction at Wellington while inspiring educational innovation nationally by sharing the School’s approach to advancing student engagement.

Wellington will strengthen its financial foundation, securing its permanence and continued excellence.

We will secure Wellington's future through strategic financial growth, expanded philanthropic support, and a deepened culture of giving. By building a durable endowment, increasing annual support, and developing innovative revenue streams, we will ensure the resources necessary to fulfill our ambitious vision. Financial strength will be built upon a foundation of pride and belonging that extends from current students and families to our growing our alumni community, creating a virtuous cycle where engagement fuels investment in Wellington's future, and that investment creates an even more engaging experience for generations to come.

1. Launch a capital campaign and grow the endowment to equip the School with the resources needed to achieve its ambitious goals over the next decade while ensuring long-term stability and sustainability through and strategic philanthropic investment.

2. Increase enrollment by 60 to 80 students (primarily in Middle and Upper School) supporting investments in educators and programs that strengthen the School’s reputation and attractiveness, maintain a low teacher-to-student ratio, and expand tuition assistance to improve access and community diversity.

3. Cultivate an engaged alumni network that extends the benefits of a Wellington education well beyond graduation, developing longitudinal surveys to track alumni outcomes.

4. Build on the existing culture of philanthropy raising Wellington’s annual giving benchmark above $1 million while increasing participation across all constituencies.

The planning process included a year long listening session, kicked off on October 11, 2024, during Wellington's fall professional development day. Among those present was founder Ken Ackerman GP ’05 ’08, a reminder of Wellington’s entrepreneurial roots and the legacy of bold ideas that continue to guide the community. Faculty and staff spent an energizing brainstorming session with consultant Tim Fish, founder of Two Chairs Studio and former Chief Innovation Officer at the National Association of Independent Schools. With more than 25 years of experience guiding independent schools through strategy and innovation, Fish was quick to affirm what makes Wellington unique. He noted that the school has been on a path of growth and innovation since its founding, and this moment was an opportunity to shape the next stage together. 

In the months that followed, Fish returned to campus regularly to meet with trustees, administrators, and the leadership team, and he spent time listening to faculty, staff, parents, alumni, students, and Columbus community partners. His approach, grounded in deep listening and relationship-building, gave him a chance to understand Wellington’s culture and values before helping to chart its future.

The Board of Trustees and Wellington’s administrative team continued that collaborative spirit at a March 2025 retreat. Together, they examined emerging priorities, weighed new possibilities, and envisioned the initiatives that would shape Wellington’s path to its 50th anniversary in 2032. 

After conversation and refinement, the Board of Trustees approved A Bold Leap: 2032 in May 2025.

Wellington’s strategic plan was officially launched on September 30, 2025, as a signal that Wellington’s next chapter will be ambitious and forward-looking. And like any good roadmap, A Bold Leap: 2032 sets a clear destination while leaving room for creativity, innovation, and community choice in how the school will get there. 

We are grateful to the members of our community who helped bring the strategic plan to life. 

Steering Committee: Jim Croft, Tucker Bohm, Gerrie Brand, Ted Manley, Matt Scantland, Andy Thomas, Bob Wheeler, Tim Fish, Shelley Brown, and Eliza McLaren.

Faculty/Staff Taskforce: Emily Berty, Erica Clark, Keith DeVoe, Elissa Francis, Louis Frank, David Glover, Kelly Heineike, Dara Jackson, John Kruzan, Sloan Magliery, Amanda Pierce, Rishi Raghunathan, Lindsey Smith, Gina Spicer, Brandon Sullivan, and Laurie Beth Sweeney.

The Wellington School announced a landmark $5 million gift from the Scantland family, the largest in the school’s 43-year history. The transformative investment will establish a permanent endowment dedicated to attracting, retaining, and empowering outstanding educators through competitive compensation and professional growth opportunities. 

The Croft Family Kindergarten Wing opened its brand new doors to 54 students on the first day of the 2025-26 school year. On Tuesday, September 30, community members came together for a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the space and honor the individuals whose incredible generosity brought it to life over the summer. 

Thanks to a transformative $500,000 gift from Board Chair Jim Croft P ’17 ’20 ’22 and his wife, Michelle P ’17 ’20 ’22, the School was able to renovate the Rick O’Hara Room (ROHR) into a purpose-built home for kindergarten including three spacious classrooms, the Discovery Den for collaborative learning and play, and the new Edwards Board Room. 

"This is more than a renovation—it is a future-focused investment in our students and teachers, and it is the first step in a significant campus upgrade that will take shape over the coming years," said Head of School Eliza McLaren. "Jim and Michelle’s generosity allows us to bring our vision for early learning to life, ensuring that Wellington’s kindergartners have a space designed specifically for their needs—a playful and structured place, joyful and intentional."