BCA > History
History
Barrington Christian Academy was founded in 1979 by the Barrington Baptist Church. The school began with fifty students in grades 1-8. Today, in 2012, our enrollment is 200 students in grades K-12. Since 1985 we have been governed by an independent school board of thirteen members representing several area churches.
BCA first received accreditation from the Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI) in 1998. In 2005 BCA earned accreditation renewal from ACSI and also earned initial accreditation from the New England Association of Schools & Colleges (NEASC) for the K-8 program. In 2010, our new high school program received full accreditation from both NEASC and ACSI. The first wing of the school building with ten classrooms was built in 1981. In those early years, some of the classes were held at Barrington Baptist Church, and some in the main classroom building. PE classes have been held at Cedar Hall since the beginning. As the Academy flourished, the school expanded a grade level at a time, and by 1983 was a K-12 school. But financial challenges and other growing pains led to the closing of BCA’s original high school back in 1985. There was always a plan to re-start the high school, or develop a regional Christian high school when the time was right. When the high school was discontinued in 1985, BCA also became an independent school, now an affiliated ministry that is no longer governed by the Barrington Baptist Church. After BCA was accredited and the middle school enlarged with a 1999 building addition, the need to add a Christian high school became increasingly apparent. In 2004 the Board of Trustees voted to expand the mission of BCA to include grades 9-12. In September of 2006, that commitment became a reality as 11 students began in the ninth grade class. A success from the start, the high school development continued in earnest, and a capital campaign was launched in the fall of 2007 to raise the funds necessary to add a third wing onto the building and hire the best faculty available for the high school. That first high school class graduated in 2010 with twelve students, including a national merit scholar and many others who have impacted their college campuses through leadership in Intervarsity, Campus Crusade, the arts, service projects and academic arenas. BCA is now a leader in the Christian School movement, with Head of School Elsie Wright serving as the chair of the ACSI Northeast Region’s Accreditation Commission. Mrs. Wright also serves as president of the Rhode Island Chapter of the Council for American Private Education (CAPE), and a board member for the Rhode Island Scholarship Association (RISA), which has led the RI Tax Credit initiative to provide scholarships for low-income families. There have been five heads of school at BCA:
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