Nancy Campbell Collegiate Institute


The Nancy Campbell Academy is a grade 7 through 12 Canadian accredited international private Baháʼí school in Stratford, Ontario, Canada. Emphasizing its "twin pillars" of academic excellence and a clear moral framework, NCA satisfies the Ministry of Education standards, leading to the Ontario Secondary School Diploma. The Institute was named after Nancy Campbell, an accomplished pianist, artist, actress and dancer, who lived as a "world citizen" motivated by her belief in the Baháʼí Faith. Campbell worked to promote the ideal of the oneness of humanity, and was a dynamic speaker who travelled throughout the world giving lectures on peace and world unity. Breakwell Education Inc. established NCA in 1994 as Nancy Campbell Collegiate Institute, or NCCI. Within seven years of its founding, NCA was among 16 schools rated Number One in a Fraser Institute survey of 816 Ontario high schools.

Twin pillars

Academic excellence and a defined moral framework, based on 19 Moral Leadership Capabilities, are the twin pillars of NCA.
The Institution approaches the education process with a lenient model of teachers as counsellors, guides, and friends, based on a relationship of concern and mutual respect.
The Secondary School academic programs include:
Students participate in the Advanced Placement Program in association with the College Board, the American body of college and high school instructors that provide students with college/university level credits for advanced standing when they arrive at post-secondary education institutions. Many students have received scholarships with institutions such as McGill University, McMaster University and the University of Toronto. Other programs include Independent Tutorial and accredited English as a Second Language as needed.
The Moral Framework used by the institute was adapted from the Moral Framework developed at Universidad Nur. It is harmonized with the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. For example, two of the moral capabilities include:
Formal qualities of student life at NCA include a "student family", proactive counseling programme, and group spiritual observances. "Student families" are annualized groupings of students of different ages, races, nationalities, religions, talents and abilities who are carefully grouped in a way such that strengths and weaknesses are balanced out by all the members. The families and their faculty sponsors work together to plan and participate in service projects, hold social and family unity activities and consult together on school-related issues. In the counseling programme students learn how to resolve conflicts through effective communication making decisions that are compatible with spiritual and personal values. Effort is also made to educate students about the effects of drug and alcohol addictions, safe dating practices, and goal setting. The spiritual life at NCA is shared by staff and students which observe religious and cultural celebrations from around the world. Service projects are actively formulated with a strong international, but also local, outlook. Students have participated in community service projects in the following countries:
Until 2013, the campus was situated in the heart of London, Ontario/Canada, at the edge of the Thames River. The campus, with its historical buildings built in the 1870s, had been beautifully restored after NCA bought out the former Weldon Park Academy which closed in 2003. The Institute was founded in 1994 in Stratford, Ontario, Canada and is located there today.