top » education » school culture » words to describe school

226 Words To Describe a School

John Spacey, updated on October 11, 2024

Schools can be described in terms of their mission, history, reputation, ethics, structure, approach, facilities, staff, students, culture, general environment and results. It is common for school descriptions to include overused cliche vocabulary such as "excellence" and "enable." However, there is a large difference in the message put forth by school descriptions. Some descriptions are obviously cookie-cutter such that they convey no information other than the mediocrity of their author. Others convey a passion for an approach to life and learning -- whether that approach is traditional and disciplined or individualistic and risk-taking. The following vocabulary is commonly used to describe schools.

Abilities	Academics
Accentuates	Accredited
Activities	Admission
Advanced	Adventurous
Affiliated	Ambitious
Analytical	Approach
Art	Aspirations
Athletics	Atmosphere
Authentic	Balance
Best Selves	Beyond
Blend	Broad
Campus	Capacity
Caring	Celebrate
Challenges	Change
Character-building	Choices
Citizens	Classes
Classrooms	Clubs
Co-authors	Co-educational
Coding	Combination
Communicate	Community
Community Service	Compassionate
Competition	Complex
Confidence	Consistently
Continuum	Creativity
Critical Thinking	Cultivate
Curiosity	Curriculum
Cutting-edge	Debate
Demanding	Design
Design Thinking	Determination
Development	Difference
Different	Discipline
Discover	Discuss
Diversity	Emotional
Empathetic	Enable
Encounter	Encourage
Energy	Engage
Enthusiasm	Environment
Ethics	Excellence
Exchanges	Experience
Experiential	Experiment
Expert	Explore
Extend	Facilities
Faculty	Family
Flexible	Flourish
Foremost	Foster
Foundation	Friendly
Friendships	Front and Center
Future	Global Citizens
Goal-setting	Grapple
Grounding	Growth
Healthy	History
Home	Ideas
Imagination	Impact
Impressive	Inclusive
Independent	Informal
Innovative	Inquiry
Intellectual	Interests
International	Interpretation
Joyful	Knowledge
Language	Leaders
Life-changing	Lifelong
Local	Location
Love of Learning	Mastery
Mature	Meaningful
Mind, Body and Spirit	Mission
Modern	Morals
Motivation	Natural
Nimble	Nurture
Open	Opportunities
Options	Outlook
Outstanding	Ownership
Participation	Partnership
Passionate	Peers
Performing Arts	Personal Paths
Personalized	Perspectives
Pillars	Positive
Potential	Power
Preparatory	Prepares
Prestigious	Productive
Programs	Progressive
Projects	Pursue
Question Assumptions	Questions
Range	Real-world
Reasoning	Reflection
Remarkable	Renown
Research	Resilience
Resources	Respect
Responsible	Results
Rigorous	Risk Takers
Robust	Safe
Schedule	School Culture
Science	Selective
Self-confidence	Self-knowledge
Share	Skills
Small	Social
Society	Solid
Solutions	Solve Problems
Spectacular	Spirit
Stewardship	Stimulating
Strength of Character	Strive
Strong	Structured
Student Population	Student-teacher Ratio
Support	Talented
Teachers	Thoughtfulness
Thrive	Tools
Top Rated/Ranked	Top-tier
Tough	Traditional
Unique	United
Unleash	Unrivalled
Voices	Warm
Welcoming	Wellbeing
Whole-child	Wide Range
Wonder	World-Class

Mission

Describing the purpose and goals of the school with words such as future, impact, global, visionary, inspiration, ethical, rigorous and responsible. This is the school's raison d'être -- the reason the school exists in the first place.

History

Capturing the history of the school with words such as founded, established, tradition, evolution and pioneering. You can go into your founding story even if your school is relatively young.

Reputation

Conveying the reputation of the school with words such as esteemed, renowned, prestigious, notable, acclaimed, distinguished, recognized and celebrated.

Ethics & Values

Descriptions of your ethics, values and principles as a school with words such as fair, compassion, honor, inclusive, stewardship, empathy, service, honesty, courage, tolerance and respect.

Approach

Indicating your educational approach with words such as traditional, progressive, experiential, collaborative, interdisciplinary, socratic and adaptive.

Facilities

Describing your school campus and facilities with terms such as modern, well-equipped, state-of-the-art, spacious and safe.

Staff

Characterizing your teaching staff with words such as dedicated, knowledgeable, supportive, professional, caring and passionate.

Students

Describing the students of the school with terms such as diverse, ambitious, accomplished, critical thinkers, creative and talented.

Culture

Characterizing your school culture with words such as inclusive, welcoming, supportive, respectful, collaborative, diverse, positive and inquisitive.

Results

Describing student outcomes and the general results of the school itself with terms such as achievements, accomplishments, success, performance, attainment, rankings and awards.

Summary

Descriptions of a school can cover areas such as mission, history, traditions, reputation and school culture. It is also common to include details of facilities, teaching staff, educational approach and to indicate the overall outcomes and results produced by the school.