Established 1952 Teaching staff 27.1 (on a FTE basis) | Headmaster Sharron Howell Grades 8–12 | |
Motto Discere Vivendo(Learning Through Living) | ||
Indian Springs School is a private school that includes grades eight through twelve with both boarding and day students. It is at the base of Oak Mountain, in Indian Springs Village, Shelby County, Alabama, United States.
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History
Indian Springs School was founded in 1952, endowed by Birmingham-born, MIT-educated businessman Harvey G. Woodward. He left in his will the funds and instructions for creating the school at his death in 1930 as a segregation academy. Woodward wanted to make the school available to both upper-class and lower-class people. He instructed that the school should use a holistic approach to learning (the school's motto is "Discere Vivendo", or "Learning through Living"). During its first years, the school was a working farm, which the students tended, although this element was shortly eliminated. However, Woodward also stipulated that the school could admit only Christian, white, boys, limitations that were sequentially abolished by 1976.
Indian Springs opened in 1952 with ten staff members and sixty students. The first director of the school was Louis "Doc" Armstrong. He made several changes to Woodward's original plans for the school, most notably Woodward's request that the school not be preparatory and not for Jews.
By the 1970s, the school had grown to include equal numbers of day students and boarders. An eighth grade was added, and the school began admitting girls in 1976.
Campus
Indian Springs School's campus is on 350 acres (1.4 km2) in northern Shelby County, 15 miles (24 km) south of downtown Birmingham. Through the 1970s, the school was remote and surrounded by woodlands, with Oak Mountain State Park abutting its southern boundary. In the late 1970s, facing increasing debts and possible bankruptcy because of decreased enrollment, the school sold hundreds of acres surrounding the campus.
Instruction takes place in seven academic buildings, which house 23 classrooms, a new science center, a concert hall, a theater, two student lounges, a college center, a technology lab, a 19,000-volume library, and special studios for chorus, art, photography, and drama. The athletic facilities include two gymnasiums, with two basketball courts, two volleyball courts, and two weight rooms. The campus has six new tennis courts, a competition soccer field, a baseball field, a softball field, a cross country track, and a practice field/track. A new organic orchard, Fertile Minds, complements the greenhouse in producing food for the students. In 2006, new dorms for both boys and girls were opened.
For day students, tuition is $21,250 per year, not including the 1,200 deposit. Boarding student tuition is $39,500, also not including the $1,200 deposit. There are annual bus and meal plan fees that are not included. Tuition fluctuates yearly.
Demographics
The demographic breakdown of the 279 students enrolled in 2013-14 was:
Independent sources do not include demographic breakdown by sex for private schools.