Valwood School


Valwood School is an independent, coeducational, college preparatory segregation academy located outside of Valdosta, Georgia, United States. It offers programs from pre-kindergarten through high school. There were 511 students enrolled in the 2015–2016 school year.

History

Valwood School was founded by local white people in response to the federally mandated racial desegregation of public schools. Valwood's first classes were inaugurated in September 1969, in the old Central Elementary School building in Valdosta. Classes were offered to white students for grades 1-10, with kindergarten and eleventh grade programs being added in 1970. The first full graduation exercise was held in June, 1972, and the school moved to Gornto Road in the fall of that year. A preschool program was added in 1982. Various improvements to the physical plant were completed over the years, including a gymnasium/cafeteria complex in 1973 and an athletic field in 1989. In 2000 the school received a gift of of pecan grove from the Howard Dasher Company as a relocation site. The school opened its new campus at the location, two miles north of Valdosta on Old US Hwy 41, on August 26, 2002.

Accreditation and memberships

Valwood is a member of the Georgia Independent School Association and currently competes in region 3-AAA.
The Valiants football team were the GISA Class A Champions in 1985, 1986, 1999, GISA Class AA Champions in 2012, and GISA Class AAA Champions in 2015 and 2017. The men's tennis team has won four GISA titles: 1992, 2000, 2001, and 2002. The women's tennis team has won four GISA titles: 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2014.