Durham Academy is an independent, coeducational, day school in Durham, North Carolina, whose 1,237 students range from pre-kindergarten to grade 12. The school has four divisions, each with its own director: Preschool (Pre-kindergarten/Kindergarten), Lower School (grades 1–4), Middle School (grades 5–8) and Upper School (grades 9–12). These are arrayed on three campuses that comprise four acres. Thirty-eight percent of Durham Academy's students are people of color, as are 17 percent of teachers. In 2019–20, Durham Academy awarded more than $2,200,000 in financial aid (not including tuition remission and need-based financial aid for faculty and staff); the average award was $14,682. History Durham Academy was founded in 1933, as the Calvert Method School, by George Watts Hill and his wife. The couple established the school as a private, independent school to educate their children. The school's teaching philosophy (and its name) were based on the Calvert School in Baltimore, Maryland, which Ann McCollough Hill attended as a child. The Calvert Method School's first home was in Durham's Forest Hills neighborhood, with the neighborhood's clubhouse serving as a classroom for seven students and one teacher. In 1937, the Calvert Method School moved to John Sprunt Hill's former home at 815 S. Duke Street. In 1959, the school ended its affiliation with Baltimore's Calvert School and changed its name to Durham Academy. Durham Academy also became a member of the National Council of Independent Schools and added an eighth grade. In May 1965, Durham Academy broke ground on a new campus on Highway 751 (later named Academy Road). Students and teachers moved into the new facility in March 1966. In 1971, Durham Academy purchased and broke ground on 42 acres of land on Ridge Road to launch the Upper School. The Upper School opened in September 1973, and Durham Academy's first senior class graduated in June 1975. In 1977, George Watts Hill, Fred Brooks and Bill Friday founded the Learning Development Center (now known as The Hill Center), for children with learning differences. The LDC, located on Durham Academy's Ridge Road campus, had a link to Durham Academy, but had its own faculty and a separate facility for its 13 students and four teachers. The Hill Center currently operates as an affiliate of Durham Academy in its facility on Pickett Rd. The center's focus is on intensive remediation and tutoring for students with learning differences and training teachers to help students with learning