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1. Core Purpose---Mission Statement
   
   Whitefield Academy, a Christ-centered college preparatory school, exists to bolster Christian families in rearing young people who go on to college and life with a passion for learning, for others ahead of self, and for the living and active Jesus.
   
   
2. Core Values
   
   Whitefield Academy stands for...
   
   
   1. Academic excellence in a college preparatory program taught from a Biblical world view. Whitefield is called to serve the children of Christian families – who desire a rigorous academic program.
      
      
   2. Covenantal education where the faculty, administrators, board and parents form a partnership in Christ to educate and discipline children with joy and grace—without legalism.
      
      
   3. Enrollment reflecting the racial, ethnic and economic diversity within the body of Christ.
      
      
   4. Effective servant leadership as a characteristic of the Whitefield Academy graduates who are prepared to make a difference in their world for Christ.
      
      
   5. Faithful stewardship of the talents and resources of the faculty, students and the entire Whitefield community, so that God gets the glory.
      
      
   6. Modeling excellent Christian education in the United States. Our goal is to attain noteworthy excellence that is demonstrated in Whitefield students’ lives, so that Whitefield can serve as a replicable model that could be used, all or in part, by Christians across the United States.

Whitefield Academy was formed in 1996 by the partnership of The Cranmer School and the Mount Vernon Christian Academy. The goal of this dynamic union was to provide Atlanta with a Christian school that is academically excellent, financially sound, and spiritually alive.

Each of the two schools brought an important spiritual and material contribution to this historic union; each brought its own history of providential grace and faithfulness in providing Christian education to the children of Atlanta. The first of the schools, Mount Vernon Christian Academy, operated grades 8 - 12 on its fourteen-acre campus at the corner of Northside Drive and Mount Paran Road for twenty-three years. From its formation in 1973, the Mount Vernon parents, students, alumni, administration, and Board of Trustees, worked tirelessly to maintain a Christian, private-school alternative in northwest Atlanta.

During this same period, Atlanta was undergoing an economic and demographic transformation. From its origins as a southern church-going town, Atlanta emerged in the nineties as a burgeoning, sophisticated center of international business and culture. Naturally, private education became fiercely competitive. The facilities, endowments, and student bodies of the major Atlanta private schools grew dramatically, making it very difficult for small, independent, conservative Christian schools to keep up. Fully understanding the changing character of Atlanta as an international community, and knowing the inherent potential and influence of a strong Christian school, the Mount Vernon Board of Trustees began broadening its support in the Atlanta Christian community in the 1990s.

Simultaneously, parents of children in other private and public schools were also becoming aware of the need for a larger, more comprehensive Christian school. These parents began meeting in small, home prayer-groups to explore options and opportunities. In the autumn of 1995 the prayers and enthusiasm of a large group of Buckhead parents coalesced under the leadership of Chuck Johnston, an experienced leader in education and not-for-profit institutions. Community support for this group mushroomed, resulting in the formation of The Cranmer School. Cranmer was conceived as a new institution for grades 6-12 that would emphasize excellence in education as an extension and partner of the Christian home.

As plans for the Cranmer School progressed and the challenging search for an appropriate site in north Atlanta got underway, supporters of both Mount Vernon Christian Academy and The Cranmer School began to come together. Mount Vernon Board Chairman David Jones and Cranmer Headmaster Chuck Johnston recognized early that the goals and vision of the two schools were identical. Sharing the goal of excellence in Christian education, the two boards held exploratory meetings in the spring and summer of 1996 to determine the feasibility of a joint venture. The prospect of a partnership involved intense prayer, introspection, and a thorough investigation of legal ramifications. Ultimately both parties recognized the great importance of solidarity in achieving such a challenging, expensive, and vital goal.

On September 10, 1996, these meetings culminated in a joint resolution to combine the boards, resources, leadership, and support of the two schools. The combined Board of Trustees envisioned a completely new institution for grades 6 - 12 with a generous modern facility, competitive and innovative programs for academics, athletics and extra-curricular activities, and a nurturing, committed Christian faculty and administration. The new school, Whitefield Academy, would subsume the resources and identities of the former institutions. Chuck Johnston, of The Cranmer School, was named Headmaster, and David Jones, of Mount Vernon Christian Academy, was named Chairman of the Whitefield Board of Trustees. In the summer of 1997, the former Mount Vernon Christian Academy site was sold to Holy Spirit Catholic Church. Immediately, the Board commenced planning the new, much larger campus, now located in Smyrna/Vinings.

The new entity, Whitefield Academy, is named after George Whitefield, the eighteenth-century English evangelist closely associated with the Great Awakening in North America. Whitefield is remembered for his courageous and influential proclamation of the gospel across denominational, geographic, and socioeconomic lines. Students will be inspired to learn that Whitefield was able to accomplish and contribute much even as a very young man. Like its namesake, Whitefield Academy hopes to inaugurate a new era of excellence, integrity, and responsibility in Christian teaching, awakening future generations to the highest order of academic achievement and Christ-inspired leadership.