The Clapham Story 

In 2005 a group of families in the Wheaton area conceived the idea of Clapham School because of their desire for a school that was both academically rigorous and authentically Christian. They began praying together weekly for God’s guidance and launched the school with a small group of families in the fall of 2006.

Early on the school leveraged the help of a consultant to develop the curriculum and policies of the school in line with the growing classical Christian school movement. This gave the school a head start with a tried and true model of education and set of best practices.

In addition, the philosophy of Charlotte Mason, a British educator from the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries, was influential in the school’s early development. Her Christian principles of respecting the personhood of the child and fostering joyful discovery soften the rough edges of the classical tradition and bring classical education into the 21^st century.