Our Background

Global Connection Academy is a ODE & ODJFS-accredited private, independent school located at 16200 Burrows Road in Thompson, Ohio. Our sprawling, nature-immersed 36-acre rural campus is removed enough from the hustle and bustle of the surrounding cities to feel like a retreat from the rush– and yet is still accessible in 30 minutes or less from Mentor, Painesville, Willoughby, Chardon, Middlefield, Geneva, Perry, and Madison. 

Our elementary school opened for its first academic year in September of 2023 for Kindergarten through 5th grades. An additional grade will be added each calendar year until we eventually offer classes through 12th grade. Our first graduating class is scheduled to be the class of 2031. 

In addition to our K-12 school, GCA also offers full day preschool, offering parents the convenience and peace of mind of having all of their children together under one roof. In fact, our preschool class often interacts with our school-age classes for many kinds of structured activities and celebrations each school year.

Global Connection Academy’s unique child-led curriculum is centered around the notion that learning should be fueled by students’ personal interests and passions. At GCA, students are supported to find their own intrinsic motivations– because learning becomes a joy when a child is given the opportunity to have a say in how they do it. 

Our students are supported in using their own passions and talents as a guidestone for the very foundation of their learning journey– while at the same time being nurtured to develop new skills and interests along the way. 

Our teachers and staff are committed to creating a rich and immersive learning environment that encourages and fosters exploration that is led by our students’ unique interests and aptitudes so that they develop a zest and appetite for problem solving and innovation. Small class sizes allow for personal attention that you can’t achieve in public institutions. 

We feel that our students should be allowed to ask why before they learn how; to be provided with a supportive, nurturing learning environment that embraces learning lessons through mistakes and allows them to “fail forward.” That’s the GCA Way.