School dossier · Concord, NC
10 research areas
An introduction to Cannon School, in the school’s own words. Press play to watch.
Cannon publishes 12 named curriculum areas per grade for JrK–4 rather than a course catalog. The /academics/lower-school/curriculum path returns a 404.
A literacy block integrating whole-class and small-group differentiated instruction across phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.
Uses Reveal Math to develop number sense and problem solving; Grade 4 works with multi-digit numbers, fractions, and decimals.
Inquiry-driven; by Grade 3 students generate their own scientific questions to test through experimentation.
Uses the Social Studies Alive! curriculum — Regions of Our Country in Grade 3, America’s Past in Grade 4.
Curriculum builds a strong academic foundation in reading, writing, and math through hands-on, collaborative, experiential, and multi-sensory learning.
Combines the Communicative Language Approach with the Foreign Language in the Elementary School (FLES) approach.
Grade 3 onward uses the TAB (Teaching for Artistic Behavior) model so students work and think as artists.
Uses the Orff Approach; Grade 3 introduces the recorder including Recorder Karate.
Motor-skill development including the Cannon Health and Performance (CHAMP) Test.
Robotics and coding with Scratch 3.0 and block-based scripting, using Root Robotics and Edison robots.
Problem solving through an engineering design thinking approach.
Research skills including use of the digital library catalog to locate materials.
Addresses typical challenges and characteristics of children by age and developmental stage.
Cannon publishes Middle School curriculum as per-grade subject descriptions, not a named-course catalog. There is no Middle School equivalent of the 44-page Upper School catalog.
Grade 5 explores genres and writing critically; Grade 6 reinforces grammar with narrative writing; Grade 7 integrates literature, writing, and grammar; Grade 8 builds all four skills.
Grade 5 studies ecology; Grade 6 classification, cells, rocks, plate tectonics, and motion; Grade 7 chemistry, the electromagnetic spectrum, astronomy, and anatomy; Grade 8 the Sun’s impact on Earth.
Grades 5–6 study ancient and Medieval civilizations thematically; Grade 7 covers the origins of the United States; Grade 8 emphasizes modern U.S. history as it becomes a world power.
Soccer, flag football, volleyball, tennis, aerobics, cardiovascular fitness and conditioning, basketball, softball, baseball, and lacrosse.
Human growth and development, evaluating health information, decision-making, family living, nutrition, safety and first aid, and environmental health.
Covers operations, equations and inequalities, ratio, proportion and percent, area and volume, statistics, and graphing linear equations.
Builds on prior knowledge to dive deeper into expressions, equations, inequalities, integers, linear functions, geometry, probability, and statistics.
An accelerated option allowing seventh graders to take Algebra I.
Linear equations, inequalities, polynomials, factoring, graphing, radicals, quadratics, and an introduction to trigonometry.
Parallel and perpendicular lines, congruent triangles, similar polygons, trigonometry, quadrilaterals and circles, area and volume.
Students rotate through all three world languages offered at Cannon — Spanish, French, and Mandarin — before choosing one to pursue.
Daily classes learning basic grammar and vocabulary to describe themselves and the world in the target language.
Students complete one of Spanish I, French I, or Mandarin I, conducted primarily in the target language.
Students select one major performing art class.
A rotation through Visual Art, Theater, General Music, and Small Group Lessons in the major art.
Band, Chorus, Strings, Visual Art, Theater, Photography/Tech Art Fusion, Creative Explorations, and Art Magazine.
Blends 3D printing, virtual reality, drones, robotics, CAD design, and computer programming in the ThinkTank makerspace.
A foundational course cultivating critical thinking, analytical skills, and creative expression across memoirs, plays, novels, poetry, and short stories.
A sophomore seminar-style class reading and discussing influential literary and philosophical works from a variety of historical periods and cultures.
A process-driven sophomore course in which students read, write, and think in service of developing writing and analytical skills.
The study of rhetoric guided by Aristotle’s appeals of ethos, pathos, and logos, culminating in a writing-portfolio presentation.
College-level nonfiction writing with major emphasis on revision, culminating in the Portfolio Defense signature learning experience.
College-level reading and writing emphasizing inquiry, independent research, and multi-disciplinary analysis; optional AP Seminar exam.
A senior course preparing college-bound students through diverse contemporary and canonical texts plus an Independent Reading program.
College-level literary conversation about fiction and poetry, culminating in the Lit Defense signature learning experience.
Students develop individual literary voices through poetry, fiction, and screenwriting, completing a polished peer-critiqued screenplay.
A fast-paced survey tracing cinema from its 1895 origins through the digital revolution across genres and movements.
Introduces basic functions, their graphs, and the rules of solving equations.
Strengthens and applies arithmetic, algebra, and reasoning to measure the world through traditional geometry concepts.
Euclidean geometry with heavy emphasis on notation, justification, and proof at greater rigor and depth than Honors Geometry.
Uses functions to reinforce and extend Algebra I skills, focusing on elementary functions and their properties.
An in-depth exploration of algebraic concepts, preparing students for Accelerated Precalculus and subsequently AP Calculus and AP Statistics.
Further development of advanced algebraic concepts and trigonometry with heavy emphasis on functions and their properties.
Prepares students for college-level mathematics and serves as the prerequisite for AP Calculus.
A research-based exploration of function types modeling real-world phenomena, best suited to students on track for AP Calculus BC.
Introduces the topics of a semester of college calculus at a less intense pace and depth than the AP courses.
Exposes juniors and seniors to statistics through graphing data, normal probabilities, linear regression, and experimental design; no AP exam.
Major concepts and tools for collecting, analyzing, and drawing conclusions from data, preparing students for the AP exam.
Explores mathematics as it relates to the social sciences plus the mathematics behind money in everyday life.
A rigorous course covering a semester of college calculus through limits, differential calculus, and integral calculus.
An intense course covering two semesters of first-year college calculus including parametric equations, infinite series, vectors, and polar functions.
A student-centered seminar for students who have completed AP Calculus BC, using Phillips Exeter Academy’s Mathematics 4C and 5 curricula.
A hands-on, inquiry-based introduction to physical science covering matter, energy transformations, motion, forces, and waves.
A challenging ninth-grade physical science course covering a broader range of chemistry and physics topics at an accelerated pace.
A comprehensive foundation in biological and environmental principles including cell biology, genetics, evolution, and ecology.
In-depth life science emphasizing application-based learning and analytical reasoning from molecules to ecosystems.
A guided-inquiry course developing the properties, composition, and structure of matter plus energy’s role in changing matter.
Covers Honors Chemistry at a faster pace plus molecular geometry, periodicity, and acid-base chemistry.
An experimentation-driven course covering chemistry and physics concepts not included in the Honors and Accelerated courses.
Introductory biology connecting key concepts through lab work and guided research, culminating in a third-trimester research project.
Major principles of biology at deeper level and faster pace, with additional lab experiences and a third-trimester research project.
The scientific principles behind the interrelationships of the natural world, culminating in an independent research project.
A year-long general chemistry equivalent covering nine major topics from atomic structure to thermodynamics.
The equivalent of a college introductory course for biology majors, built around student-directed, inquiry-based labs.
Algebra-based introductory college-level physics covering kinematics, dynamics, energy, momentum, torque, and rotational motion.
A calculus-based mechanics course equivalent to introductory college physics for engineering or physical science majors.
Studies the animals inhabiting the world’s oceans, including setup and maintenance of saltwater aquariums.
An introductory study of the anatomical structures and physiological processes of key human body systems.
An asynchronous fully online course building appreciation for scientific phenomena relevant to scientifically literate adults.
Surveys prehistory through the twentieth century while equipping ninth graders with core humanities skills.
The ancient world through circa 1450 CE using the skills, practices, and methods employed by historians.
Introduces the fundamental principles of democracy, citizenship, and economics in historical and modern contexts.
Investigates world history from circa 1450 CE to the present, culminating in the Colloquium research project and policy proposal.
Examines the development of equality, liberty, democracy, rights, and opportunity in American society.
Hones analytical skills across themes in U.S. History, culminating in the Symposium signature learning experience.
Uses current events to explore economics, psychology, sociology, political science, and history; students teach mini-lessons in Lower and Middle School.
Introduces psychological science while diving into topics especially relevant to high school life.
The scientific study of human behavior and mental processes mirroring an introductory college psychology course.
An analytical perspective on U.S. government and politics, culminating in an Oral Arguments Supreme Court simulation.
A hybrid senior course investigating European history from approximately 1450 to the present across seven themes.
Foundational communication, comprehension, and presentation skills on highly familiar topics.
Progresses to Novice-High and Intermediate-Low proficiency across a broader range of familiar topics.
Students participate in exchanges and present on a variety of topics using familiar vocabulary and learned grammar.
Refines skills and broadens exposure to diverse accents from Spanish-speaking countries.
Uses Spanish for communication and leadership through institution visits and conversations with native-speaking professionals.
A rigorous interdisciplinary course taught exclusively in Spanish, building proficiency toward advanced-low.
Acquires vocabulary and skills to start communicating in French across simple communicative tasks.
Builds on French I with daily routines, past events, and future plans plus francophone cultures and current events.
Immersive oral and written exchanges within the context of culture, connections, and comparisons.
Deepens advanced grammar and vocabulary with exposure to accents from various French-speaking countries.
An intensive class equivalent to a fourth-semester college course developing all four language skills.
An intensive class preparing students for the AP French language examination in the spring.
Introductory Mandarin covering functional communication plus Pinyin and Chinese characters.
Students discern language patterns and forms to create complete sentences and short spontaneous conversations.
Expands characters and compound usages with emphasis on verbal usage and circumlocution.
More complex structures and current events, designed to prepare students for the AP language class.
Emphasizes natural colloquial usage, idiomatic phrases, Hanzi writing, and essay writing.
Comparable to fourth-semester college Mandarin, deepening immersion in the Chinese-speaking world.
A one-year introductory course and the prerequisite for all Studio Art and Media Arts courses.
Examines how art across two-dimensional media communicates ideas through a choice-based classroom model.
Hands-on exploration of clay, wire, wood, plaster, and found objects to create sculptures, installations, and functional designs.
An introduction to deep studio practice, creating a series of work based on the student’s own artistic voice.
A continuation of Studio Arts II with more independent research and out-of-class project work.
An intensive portfolio course for students seriously interested in the practical experience of art; portfolios replace a written exam.
A journey across continents and centuries pairing art analysis with hands-on studio projects; prepares for the AP Art History exam.
Explores fundamental skills of realistic acting plus basic principles of directing and designing for the stage.
Further develops acting, directing, and design through more challenging projects and greater artistic ownership.
For experienced students committing to public acting, directing, or production design including Fall One-Acts and Arts Jam.
Students sing a wide variety of literature composed for mixed choirs while learning healthful vocal production.
Accommodates experienced instrumentalists performing traditional orchestra and chamber repertoire with rising technical mastery and leadership each year.
Builds on middle school band across Concert Band, Big Band, and small classical Chamber Ensembles.
Explores modern jazz in the small combo format with daily focus on jazz theory and improvisation.
Performs American Pop, Rock, R&B, and Rap with heavy use of multi-track recording via Soundtrap.
Learns the language and mechanics of music through composition using the latest music technology; designed for the music novice.
Deepens compositional skills through Ableton Live and the Ableton Push MIDI controller.
Advanced self-driven projects using industry-standard DAWs such as Ableton Live and Logic Pro.
Project-based exploration of the Iterative Design Engineering process across woodworking, sewing, electronics, and CAD.
Further develops idea curation, project planning, design, and fabrication through increasingly challenging design prompts.
An open-block studio for independent maker projects, evaluated through portfolio development and project check-ins.
Introduces the breadth of computer science, covering algorithms, programs, the internet, and AI and their consequences.
Fundamentals of computer science through object-oriented design in Java, including data structures and algorithms.
College-level microeconomics examining supply and demand, market structures, and market failure alongside public policy.
A year-long project-based course where students develop and launch a business model, culminating in a Shark Tank-style pitch to investors.
A hands-on exploration of the esports industry and entrepreneurship; students intern for the Collective Esports Company.
An immersive service-learning exploration of global and local perspectives; required for the Global Education Certificate.
Leadership training in which students read leadership literature and collaborate to chart the curriculum.
Produces Cannon’s yearbook, The Flashback, covering graphic design, copywriting, photography, and publication business.
A holistic wellness and athletic development course informed by kinesiology, exercise physiology, and biomechanics.
Cannon's global program centres on the Upper School, with a Global Studies Certificate awarded at Senior Night and Winterm trips abroad for grades 9–11, on a base of world-language study that begins in Junior Kindergarten. Recent travel includes TECHO service builds in Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic, a summer in China, and a Middle School trip to Costa Rica in summer 2026.
Upper School travel runs mainly through Winterm, a week each January after winter break, whose Trips and Certifications track is open to grades 9–11. Middle School students traveled abroad in summer 2026, and the school has run Upper School TECHO service builds two years running.
The International Program aims to promote global competency by broadening the experiences of students through travel, summer exchange, study and service. Language study runs from Junior Kindergarten to AP, and global themes reach into Lower School Spanish.
The Global Studies Certificate is designed to recognize students who demonstrate a global mindset and embody the qualities of a global citizen, and is awarded at Senior Night. Since the Class of 2024, students meet its requirements through the Global Studies Mastery Credits.
The program's links run through Charlotte's World Affairs Council, UNC's World View and student competitions, and its mission includes "thinking globally and acting locally." Teachers can earn a Global Education Badge through 100 hours of global professional development, and some travel abroad on awards and grants.
Cannon's global program is small and centred on the Upper School, but it offers something most Charlotte schools do not — a Global Studies Certificate with published requirements — and global language learning from Junior Kindergarten.
Cannon’s Learning Support Program “helps students with diagnosed learning differences become successful learners and confident self-advocates,” with a learning specialist in each division from Junior Kindergarten through 12th grade. The school publishes no fee for learning support.
The policy requires that the student “must be a current student enrolled at Cannon School,” that parents “complete a request for Learning Support Services,” a “history of academic difficulty,” and a learning difference “diagnosed and documented by a certified professional in a recent (last 3 years) formal psycho-educational evaluation” done “by a licensed clinical psychologist.”
The school’s pages do not mention 504 plans or IEPs. Accommodations need documentation: “No accommodation will be provided unless a disclosure with appropriate documentation has been made to the school,” and “No official Learning Plan will be constructed without a complete psychological-educational evaluation.” The request form asks what accommodations the student has had in the past.
“Acceptance of a student into Cannon School does not imply that the school will assume the responsibility for all of the special learning needs of the child, especially when such needs may require a modification/alteration of the school’s curriculum or when the child’s needs are beyond Cannon’s present resources.”
For a hearing, speech/language or vision impairment without a full evaluation, accommodations “will be considered on a case-by-case basis.”
In special-education law (IDEA), speech, OT, PT and counseling are called “related services.”
No therapist appears in the school’s staff directory. Ask whether an outside therapist can see your child on campus during the school day.
No single head of learning support is named. Tracy Wade leads the Middle School’s Dovi Academic Resource Center; Jennifer Ridenhour leads the Upper School’s.
Research current as of October 24, 2026.
Cannon confirms affinity groups run in the Upper School — but never names a single one. Everything below is what the school does publish; the roster itself is the gap, and it is the most useful thing a parent can know before a tour.
Service is explicitly not a graduation requirement — and Upper Schoolers still log almost 10,000 hours a year. The school frames this as evidence of commitment rather than compliance, and backs it with a universal senior capstone and a week-long experiential program.
"Although service is not a graduation requirement at Cannon, students' deep sense of commitment and personal responsibility is evidenced by the collective completion of almost 10,000 service hours each year through school-wide projects and individual efforts."
A service project letting every senior immerse in a philanthropic cause they care about, ending in a presentation to faculty, staff, peers and community members with time for reflection and questions. Listed among the school's Signature Learning Experiences.
A week-long experiential program after winter break that "challenges students to think critically and practically, to serve others," across local-community, professional-skills and trips-and-certifications tracks. Service offerings include a Sea Island Habitat for Humanity trip and a food-bank week studying food insecurity.
A grade-level service-learning model has students investigate topics, identify needs in teams and build action plans, with guest speakers from more than eight organizations including Special Olympics, the Society of St. Andrew Gleaning Network and the Cabarrus County Soil & Water Conservation District. Off-campus work runs to the Share the Harvest community garden, Salvation Army food drives and the Cabarrus County Bilingual Preschool.
Twelve honor societies — the widest span in this comparison, reaching social studies, mathematics, English, journalism, three arts and three world languages. These are outcomes of achievement elsewhere in the program — a student earns their way in; nobody signs up.
| Society | Division | What it recognizes | Feeds from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cum Laude Society | Upper School | Overall academic excellence | the classroom |
| Maggie Coleman Chapter of Rho Kappa | Upper School | Social studies achievement — the national social studies society | social studies |
| Mu Alpha Theta | Upper School | Mathematics achievement — the national mathematics society | mathematics |
| National English Honor Society — Golden Quill Chapter | Upper School | English achievement | English |
| Quill and Scroll | Upper School | Journalism — the international honorary society for high school journalists | journalism & yearbook |
| The National Art Honor Society | Upper School | Visual-arts achievement | The Arts |
| Tri-M Music Honor Society | Upper School | Music achievement and service | The Arts |
| International Thespian Society | Upper School | Theatre achievement | The Arts |
| National Chinese Honor Society | Upper School | Chinese language achievement | world languages |
| National French Honor Society | Upper School | French language achievement | world languages |
| National Spanish Honor Society | Upper School | Spanish language achievement | world languages |
| National Honor Society | Upper School | The national high-school honor society · chapter awarded in 2025 | the classroom |
A robotics-led slate; the Brainy Yaks reached the FLL World top 100. Open any row for the full research note and its source.
Cannon’s standout: a FIRST LEGO League team that won the NC Champions Award and finished top 100 of 32,000+ teams at the FLL World Championship in Houston, in back-to-back years (2024 and 2025). Its coach earned one of only four FLL Coach/Mentor Awards.
DECA students reached finalist standing at the 2026 CDC (entrepreneurship, marketing, personal finance). The Model UN team attended Duke’s DUMUNC among 400+ delegates, earning Outstanding Delegate and Verbal Commendation.
Cannon School Gaming launched in fall 2020 and runs from a dedicated lab (converted 2021); titles include Fortnite, League of Legends, Rocket League, and Overwatch, alongside a "Business of Esports" course.
The Middle School fields several academic-competition teams; a full multi-year results history is not centrally published.
One consolidated view of every student organization Cannon names directly, across Upper, Middle, and Lower School — the school publishes no chartered directory, so this is representative, not exhaustive. Filter the named spine by interest; the full roster shifts year to year and is not fully disclosed.
Every one of the 22 Upper School arts courses is Honors, AP or Advanced Topics — there is no regular-track arts course, behind a two-year arts graduation requirement. Choice-based (TAB) visual art in every division since 2016-17, piloted in the Lower School back in 2011. A purpose-built 2014 performing arts center whose lobby is the student gallery.
Ten Blumey finalist placements across 2023 and 2025, from a four-part season that runs NCTC festival play → Blumey musical → Arts Jam → Cabaret. Concord’s location does not exclude Cannon — the Blumey footprint is regional, and the school competes every winter.
Who runs it: Andy Macdonald, Director of Theater Arts since 2012, teaches all three Upper School theater levels and directs both the fall one-acts and the winter musical. Rob Burlington, Director of Music Arts, is music director for the winter musical — so the Blumey-competing show is co-led by the theater and music directors. No technical director is named publicly. The tech story is instead structural: the catwalk above the stage lets students assist on rigging lighting, and the AV control room at the rear of the house was, in the school’s words, "specifically designed for students to assist in the technical side of productions." Note the catalog has no course titled "Acting" or "Stagecraft" despite the website naming them — the real sequence is Honors Theater I, II and Theater in Performance, which can also be entered by doing three company productions instead of the prerequisite.
All of it happens in the Cindric Performing Arts Center on the Leck Family thrust stage, which extends into the audience on three sides. The hardwood deck is painted black and lets crews securely anchor multiple sets; a structural grid overhead handles set changes and curtain reconfiguration.
Honest context: Two things a parent should hold together. The record is real and consistent — a full sweep of all five performance categories in both 2023 and 2025 — but every located line sits under a "Finalists for…" heading, and no Cannon winner line was found in any year checked. Treat this as ten finalist placements, not ten awards. On NCTC, participation is structural and every-year, but no year-by-year regional placement, state advancement or named award could be found, so no ledger is shown for it — the festival draws 3,500+ students from 100+ schools across 130+ productions, with select plays advancing from regionals to state. The director’s own framing is notably not trophy-focused: he says the judges’ feedback and seeing other schools’ work is what makes the festival special. Blumey involvement appears to reach back to at least 2019, but that page is no longer readable.
A four-year strings ladder, a Hip-Hop-inclusive Modern Ensemble, and a novice-to-portfolio production track on Ableton and Logic Pro — but no documented external honors pipeline. All nine Upper School music courses carry an Honors designation and most are repeatable, with the academic record reflecting rising rigour under a consistent course name.
Rob Burlington directs Music Arts (since 2012) and teaches Middle and Upper School chorus; no band, strings, jazz or music-technology instructor is named publicly, and the catalog names no instructors. Two offerings are unusually contemporary for a K–12 department: Modern Ensemble takes "any combination of rhythm section, winds, strings, vocalists, or Hip-Hop MCs" across rock, R&B and rap, working heavily in multi-track recording via Soundtrap — a named Hip-Hop MC role in a for-credit honors ensemble is genuinely rare. The Jazz Combo is audition-only and requires a year of "Jazz 1," a course that does not appear in the Upper School catalog.
That last rung is the honest finding rather than a research failure, and it is worth stating plainly: Cannon’s public arts presence documents participation and facilities in music, not an external-honors pipeline. Theatre carries the school’s entire verified external-recognition load. If your child’s goal is All-State selection, ask directly whether students audition and how they fare.
Three visual pathways behind one mandatory gateway course — studio art, media arts, and a design-engineering track running CNC, laser cutting and electronics. Choice-based practice is written into the catalog itself, not just the marketing: both Studio-2D and Studio-3D are described as choice-based classrooms where students pursue themes they develop independently.
Krista Johns directs Visual Art — she joined in 2007, piloted TAB in the Lower School in 2011 and became director in 2022. Her framing of why choice-based works: "when you're creating work that's based on your own experiences and interests, and you're not comparing yourself to anyone next to you, you're more willing to try new things." No CDE or Media Arts instructor is named. Two caveats worth carrying to a tour: Media Arts is promoted on the website and cited as an AP prerequisite but has NO course entry in the 2025-26 catalog, and AP Studio Art's stated prerequisites name "Studio Arts I" and "Media Arts I," neither of which exists as a catalog course — so ask which courses actually satisfy AP entry. No external visual-arts recognition (Scholastic Art & Writing or otherwise) could be found for any year.
An arts department that weights the arts like academics — 22 courses all at honors or above, a two-year requirement, and a documented strategic mission. The asymmetry is the thing to understand: theatre carries hard third-party validation, while music’s external recognition is undocumented and its strength lies in production instead.
47 teams across 13 sports, serving more than 300 student-athletes. Middle School teams begin in grade 7, and 8th-graders do reach varsity — an eighth-grader scored 12 points in the 2026 state final.
Middle School basketball splits into Maroon and Gold squads to widen participation. The "47 teams" figure is the school’s own count; enumerating the published teams list yields roughly 45–50 depending on how co-ed Middle School teams are counted. Cannon has no on-campus pool — the swim team’s home venue is not published.
Three straight NCISAA 4A girls basketball state championships — four titles in six years, and the state’s dominant girls program. Cannon also won three titles in 2023–24 alone: girls basketball, volleyball and boys lacrosse.
What they didn't win: football, girls soccer, girls lacrosse and girls swimming (Providence Day) · boys basketball (Forsyth Country Day) · baseball, in the D1 series (Covenant Day) · volleyball (North Raleigh Christian) · both golf titles and wrestling (Charlotte Latin) · girls tennis and field hockey (Charlotte Country Day) · boys soccer, boys XC and boys track (Christ School) · boys lacrosse, boys tennis, girls XC and girls track (Durham Academy).
Girls Basketball: 2024 beat Providence Day 62–51 · 2025 beat Wesleyan Christian 71–55 · 2026 beat Providence Day 47–37, with eighth-grader London Truesdale scoring 12. Four NCISAA 4A titles in six years (2021, 2024, 2025, 2026).
Volleyball: 2023: 23–2, sweeping North Raleigh Christian 25–21, 25–18, 25–23 to end an eight-year title reign. Both losses came to Davidson Day (the 2A champion) and Hoggard, a 2,000-student public school.
Boys Lacrosse: 2024: 19–3 and the NCISAA D1 title over Providence Day 8–7, finishing No. 1 in HighSchoolOT’s final statewide top 25 with six wins over top-10 finishers.
A documented floor of six college commitments across 2024–26, three of them Division I — but Cannon publishes no consolidated signing list. This is the most honest number available, not a census: the school’s athletics news portal renders client-side with no indexable article text, so classes of 2024 and 2026 are almost certainly undercounted.
Treat every figure on this card as a floor. Unlike its CISAA peers, Cannon does not publish an "alumni at the next level" roster, so these names come from a regional signing-day roundup rather than the school. The recruiting story here is better told by its ranked underclassmen than by its commit count.
With only six documented commitments, the by-sport split is too thin to read as a pattern. What is visible: the single Power 4 commit is a swimmer, not a basketball player, despite basketball being the school’s flagship — a reminder that title-winning programs and recruiting pipelines are not the same thing.
Cannon’s strongest recruiting signal is its underclassmen. JaKaila Gaskin (’28, 6'3" center) is ranked No. 30 nationally by Prep Girls Hoops and No. 3 in NC for her class, a four-star with a USA Basketball profile and offers from Ohio State, Tennessee, Alabama, Auburn, Florida and Louisville. Brooke Busby (’27) has committed to Princeton. Earlier: Jaden Bradley was a five-star, No. 18 nationally, and Reigan Richardson ’21 was a McDonald’s All-American.
Brooke Busby is Class of 2027 and is listed here because her commitment is already public. Level labels and conferences were added by the researcher from each college’s NCAA status. Two athletes’ sports are not published in the source roundup and are marked as such rather than guessed.
A Daytona 500 winner, a PGA Tour golfer, an NBA three-point champion and a trophy-winning pro footballer — an unusually wide set of professional paths. Cannon’s pro alumni run well beyond the traditional stick-and-ball sports, into NASCAR and professional golf.
A 500-win college head coach running boys basketball, and the girls dynasty built by his own former player. Athletic Director: Chris Satterfield. Cannon’s continuity anchor and its marquee hire are former player and coach, now colleagues.
Twenty seasons as an NCAA head coach at Catawba — six SAC regular-season titles, six conference tournament titles and nine NCAA regional appearances — then back-to-back NCHSAA 3A state championships at Central Cabarrus with a 65-game winning streak. Very few high schools at any level hire a coach with a two-decade college head-coaching record. His 500th win came in January 2026.
A Cannon graduate who played college basketball at Catawba under Jim Baker, then returned to his old school — five seasons in the boys program before taking the girls job in 2015–16. He led Cannon to its first-ever girls basketball state title in 2021 and has since built the state’s dominant 4A program. He also teaches Lower School PE.
Worth knowing: the football staff includes Haruki Nakamura as safeties coach — a former NFL safety who played for the Baltimore Ravens and Carolina Panthers. Head coach Jamaal Birch arrived in 2025 from Providence Day, First Baptist School of Charleston and Oceanside Collegiate, where he was part of back-to-back state championships and coached six wide receivers to Division I scholarships.
A two-floor strength center open to every student, a turf stadium with a three-booth press box, and a Novant Health partnership staffing the training room. Athletic training and strength & conditioning explicitly "operate as one team" here.
Broadcast & game day: LocalLive and the NFHS Network carry Cannon events, with Hudl also listed; the Randy Marion Field House holds a three-booth press box for calling, video and scoring. Craig Reynolds serves as Assistant AD and Sports Information Director. The ticketing platform is not published.
Cannon is a clinical education site for UNC Charlotte’s Master’s in Athletic Training. Note the contrast worth probing on a tour: Cannon and Charlotte Christian outsource to Novant and Atrium respectively, Charlotte Country Day uses OrthoCarolina, and Providence Day keeps care fully in-house. Seating capacities are not published for any Cannon venue.
Across the six top-ranked NC public universities, Cannon School’s applicants were admitted at a pooled 60.8% over the last five entering classes — 479 acceptances from 788 applications. UNC-Chapel Hill is the hard one: 31.7% in Fall 2025 — 20 of 63 — against far higher rates at the less-selective universities. These are UNC-system figures published by the state, not the school’s own.
| Rank | University | Applied | Accepted | Admit rate from this school | 5-yr avg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | UNC-Chapel Hill Flagship · Chapel Hill · the most selective of the six | 63 | 20 | 31.7% | 37.4%273 applied · 102 in |
| #2 | NC State University Flagship STEM · Raleigh | 52 | 34 | 65.4% | 58.1%236 applied · 137 in |
| #3 | UNC Charlotte Hometown campus · largest admit rates of the six | 25 | 25 | 100.0% | 96.0%99 applied · 95 in |
| #4 | East Carolina University Greenville · eastern NC | 12 | 12 | 100.0% | 96.8%62 applied · 60 in |
| #5 | UNC Wilmington Coastal · mid-selectivity | 17 | 12 | 70.6% | 64.9%94 applied · 61 in |
| #6 | UNC Greensboro Piedmont Triad | 8 | 8 | 100.0% | 100.0%24 applied · 24 in |
Read each row as a joint figure: the rate at which that university admitted this school’s applicants — not the university’s overall admit rate, and not a measure of the school’s own selectivity. Applied/Accepted are the Fall 2025 entering class; the 5-yr column pools Fall 2021–2025 as sum(accepted)/sum(applied), so a heavy year counts more than a light one. Counts travel with every rate because several cells are single-digit.
Cannon publishes something almost no peer does — an explicit maximum AP/AT load by grade, capping a four-year transcript at twelve advanced courses and barring freshmen entirely. That ceiling is the key to reading a Cannon transcript: “most rigorous” here has a hard, published limit, and the 90% scoring 3+ comes from students who chose to sit an optional exam.
Cannon promises something structural that most schools do not: a student keeps the same college counselor for all four years, rather than being handed off in junior year. Five staff, the same four directors across three published profiles, and a co-director model — plus the regional case-studies programme it physically hosts.
That is the published scope. Note what is absent from it: essay coaching or brainstorming workshops, a teacher-recommendation coordination process, interview preparation, and any scholarship-search service are none of them explicitly claimed — consistent with the absence of a scholarship-dollar headline.
Cannon’s college acceptance list spans the Classes of 2022 through 2026 — 352 colleges, with Class of 2023 enrollments in bold.
| Tier | On list |
|---|---|
| Ivy League — Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Penn, Princeton, Yale; absent Harvard | 7 / 8 |
| “Ivy Plus” | 16 / 17 |
| Top-75 National Universities | 75 / 75 |
| Top-75 Liberal Arts | 45 / 75 |
| Power Four | 61 / 68 |
| HBCUs — Historically Black Colleges & Universities | 11 / 107 |
Cannon’s differentiator is a set of course-embedded research experiences that end in a public defence — including one judged by an external committee of science professionals and business leaders. The spike here is built inside the curriculum rather than bolted on: take the course, and the defensible artefact is a requirement rather than an option.
Entrepreneurship and Engineering exist as course tracks with real depth — Honors Design Thinking & Entrepreneurship Lab, Creative Design and Engineering I–III, The Mill makerspace — but there is no published distinction or credential for either, so they should be read as tracks rather than certificates. No required internship or externship programme is published.
Cannon publishes a top-10% band and a middle-50% band for both tests and both GPAs — a genuinely useful shape, reported in a format that is not percentiles. The most informative figure is the unweighted middle 50% of 3.76–3.94: the median Cannon student sits in the A-minus range before any weighting.
| Percentile | 10th | 25th | 50th | 75th | 90th | Mean |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SAT total | — | 1290 | — | 1410 | 1510 | — |
Cannon publishes a middle-50% band and a top-10% band only. The middle-50% endpoints conventionally ARE the 25th and 75th percentiles, so those columns are real; the top-10% figure is shown in the 90th column as the floor of that band (1510–1560). No mean, median, section subscores, or tester counts are published for either test.
| Percentile | 10th | 25th | 50th | 75th | 90th | Mean |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ACT composite | — | 25 | — | 31 | 33 | — |
Same reporting format: the 90th column shows the floor of the published top-10% band (33–36). Without a tester count there is no way to tell what share of 105 seniors sat either exam, which materially limits how far these bands can be read.
These are bands, not a quintile table — no full quintile or decile breakdown, median GPA, or per-band student count is published. The modest weighted ceiling follows directly from the 1.0-quality-point cap and the twelve-course AP/AT maximum, which is a transparency point in Cannon’s favour but needs context for readers used to heavier weighting schemes. As printed, the weighted top-10% band (from 4.08) begins below the top of the middle 50% (4.11), and the profile does not explain the overlap.
A stable, structurally honest programme — four-year counselor continuity, a published load ceiling, real research defences, and a genuine matriculation list — wrapped in thinner outcome disclosure than its larger peers. Most of what is missing here is publication rather than practice, which makes almost every gap a question a tour can answer.
One uniform program covers JrK through grade 8 from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. — no age-based cutoff, no split between Lower and Middle School, and a genuine drop-in option. Upper School has nothing. Every division dismisses at 3:00, so the coverage question here is simply whether a child is in grade 8 or below.
The price on the bar is the full-time annual rate — 5 days a week, and Cannon publishes a single annual figure rather than a monthly one. 1–4 days a week runs $1,018–$3,290, or skip the contract entirely at $11.50 an hour; open The Cost Planner below for the full ladder. These are 2025-26 rates — no 2026-27 card is published.
PUBLICATION GAPTeacher-workday and holiday coverage is not published at all — only early-dismissal days are addressed.
PUBLICATION GAPJrK and Kindergarten dismissal is not published separately; both are grouped under Lower School’s 3:00 p.m.
Cannon prices After School as a single annual contract by days per week — with a real drop-in alternative at $11.50 an hour and no contract at all. These rates are 2025-26, the most recent published, and they survive only on an orphaned backup page — the live fee pages carry no dollar figures whatsoever.
| Grade · pickup slot (per year) | 1 day VERIFIED | 2 days VERIFIED | 3 days VERIFIED | 4 days VERIFIED | 5 days VERIFIED |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $1,018 | $1,904 | $2,658 | $3,290 | $3,784 |
Registration runs through Veracross. The $1/minute late fee applies to drop-in families too — 20 minutes late is $20, nearly double the hourly rate. The registration waiver was tied to enrolling before 1 August in 2025-26; whether it repeats is not published.
STALEEvery figure above is 2025-26, not 2026-27. No current rate card is published anywhere — the live Back-to-School Center was emptied and now simply points families to the My Cannon Portal. Treat these as a one-cycle-old floor and expect an increase.
PUBLICATION GAPThe pricing is effectively hidden from prospective families. The rate card exists only on an orphaned backup URL inside a collapsed accordion; the program page, the tuition page and the official Non-Tuition Fees PDF all omit it — that PDF even lists "After School Program" and "Beyond the Bell" as fee-bearing while assigning them no amount, though it prices everything else down to a $98 AP exam.
PUBLICATION GAPSibling discounts, financial-aid applicability to After School, and the billing cadence — annual up front, per semester, or monthly — are all unpublished.
The school describes homework help, sports, art, cooking, nature and a garden — but never says when any of it happens. What Cannon does publish in real detail is Beyond the Bell: three 10-week enrichment sessions a year, with a genuine day, grade band, provider and fee for every class.
"Cannon School’s After School Program (ASP) provides students in grades JrK - 8 with a safe, nurturing environment. Students have the opportunity to receive assistance with their homework, play sports, participate in art activities, cook, discover and explore nature, and experience cultivating and observing our garden." The school adds that experiences "foster their individual, developmental, social, and emotional needs" so that "the students truly become adaptive experts". The Admission FAQs stress the flexibility: care "can be used on an as-needed, drop-in basis".
Three 10-week sessions run each year for JrK–grade 8, plus private music lessons. The 22 classes below are the most recent published catalog, 9 March to 22 May 2026 — recovered from the school’s own session brochure. Fees are shown per class and per session. Note that Beyond the Bell is a separate purchase from ASP: a 3:00–4:00 class does not cover you to 6:00.
| Class | Day | Grades | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 v. 3 Basketball Small-sided games with Kelli Waller | Mon | 2–6 | $22/class · $176 |
| Jr. Cannon Cheer Cheer fundamentals with Nash & Colacion | Mon | JrK–2 | $25/class · $200 |
| Engineering Design Build-and-test challenges run by BrickEd | Mon | K–2 | $25/class · $200 |
| Kaleidoscope of Crafts Mixed-media making with McKinsey & Raphael | Mon | 2–4 | $25/class · $200 |
| LEGO Robotics Team Team build-and-program with Lisa Nussbaumer | Mon | 3–5 | $23/class · $184 |
| Puppet Playhouse Puppet making and performance with Rhiannon Bresalier | Mon | JrK–2 | $20/class · $160 |
| Baking with Chef Craig Kitchen skills and recipes with Craig Rosekrans | Tue | 1–3 | $25/class · $250 |
| Art on The Go Run by AR Workshop Concord; 3:00–4:30 | Tue | 3–8 | $25/class · $250 |
| Motion Makers Dance with Art in Motion Dance | Tue | K–2 | $20/class · $200 |
| Nature Games Outdoor exploration and games with Kelli Waller | Tue | JrK–4 | $22/class · $220 |
| CSF Soccer Academy Coached by Carolina Soccer Factory | Tue | K–6 | $25/class · $250 |
| Wonder Lab: Art & Science Cross-disciplinary making with Mayo & Cavicchi | Tue | JrK–1 | $25/class · $250 |
| Ballet Class Taught by Le Petit Ballet Co. | Wed | JrK–2 | $30/class · $300 |
| Beginner String Orchestra Ensemble strings with Anne Marie Samuel | Wed | 1–8 | $30/class · $300 |
| Golf Academy Run by Better Golf for Kids | Wed | K–5 | $25/class · $250 |
| Junior Sculptors Three-dimensional art with Alex Bresalier | Wed | JrK–2 | $20/class · $200 |
| Let's Get Organized Executive-function skills for Middle School, with Sherrill & O’Brien | Wed | 5–8 | $25/class · $250 |
| Young Athlete Performance (YAPP) Athletic development with Donnie Hayes | Wed | 2–4 | $18/class · $180 |
| Hands On History Object-based history with Stephanie Lee | Thu | 4–8 | $20/class · $200 |
| Introduction to Photography Camera basics and composition with Danielle Sandlof | Thu | 3–6 | $20/class · $200 |
| Make It Melt! Perler Beads Bead art with Dobbins & Fox | Thu | K–4 | $25/class · $250 |
| Masterpiece Makers Painting and drawing with Danielle Lucas | Thu | K–3 | $25/class · $250 |
STALEThis is the 2025-26 Session 3 catalog — the newest published. No 2026-27 Beyond the Bell catalog has been posted yet, so the specific classes will change even though the price band and structure are likely to hold.
PUBLICATION GAPNo hour-by-hour daily rhythm and no staff-to-child ratios are published for the After School Program itself, and Middle School has no separate program description — grades 5–8 sit inside the same JrK–8 program.
The most flexible program here for occasional users, with the deepest published enrichment catalog — wrapped in pricing that is technically public but practically invisible. The rate card survives only on an orphaned backup page, the figures are a year old, and grades 9–12 get nothing.
251 camp-week offerings across seven weeks — roughly 180 distinct titles, sorted into the school’s own five categories. The season runs June 8 to July 31, 2026, closed for Juneteenth and for the whole week of June 29–July 3. Week 2 is a four-day week and every tier is priced down for it.
60 of the 251 offerings are listed below, sampled across all five categories, every price tier and all seven weeks. The full catalog is the "Camp Planning Workbook" on pp. 5–11 of the school’s 2026 brochure, linked in the sources. Camp Cannon indexes by age, not grade, except for a handful of school-readiness camps that name a rising grade.
| Camp | When | Grades | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adventure CampSports & Games The premium all-day outdoor camp — $490.00 in a five-day week and $392.00 in the four-day one. | Mon–Fri 9:00 - 4:00 Weeks 2, 5 | 10-15 | $490.00 |
| NarniaPerformance Arts The other $490.00 premium all-day camp — a full-scale theatrical production. | Mon–Fri 9:00 - 4:00 Week 7 | 8-15 | $490.00 |
| Musical Theater in a WeekPerformance Arts A full-day musical staged inside a single week. | Mon–Fri 9:00 - 4:00 Weeks 1, 3 | 7-11 | $450.00 |
| Charlie & The Chocolate FactoryPerformance Arts Full-day production camp. | Mon–Fri 9:00 - 4:00 Week 4 | 8-15 | $450.00 |
| How to Train Your DragonPerformance Arts The four-day-week production camp, priced at $392.00. | Mon–Thu 9:00 - 4:00 Week 2 | 8-15 | $392.00 |
| Play With Clay: Ceramics CampVisual Arts Full-day ceramics, offered to two age bands in different weeks. | Mon–Fri 9:00 - 4:00 Weeks 1, 3 | 8-12 | $450.00 |
| Engineering DesignSTEM & Academics Full-day engineering, offered to two age bands. | Mon–Fri 9:00 - 4:00 Weeks 1, 3 | 9-12 | $450.00 |
| Rockin' RoboticsSTEM & Academics Full-day robotics. | Mon–Fri 9:00 - 4:00 Week 3 | 9-12 | $450.00 |
| Aeronautics & RocketsSTEM & Academics Full-day rocketry, offered to two age bands in consecutive weeks. | Mon–Fri 9:00 - 4:00 Weeks 4, 5 | 5-8 / 9-12 | $450.00 |
| Stop Motion AnimationVisual Arts Full-day animation, offered to two age bands. | Mon–Fri 9:00 - 4:00 Weeks 4, 5 | 5-8 / 9-12 | $450.00 |
| Crime Scene InvestigationSTEM & Academics Full-day forensics, offered to two age bands in the final two weeks. | Mon–Fri 9:00 - 4:00 Weeks 6, 7 | 9-12 / 5-8 | $450.00 |
| Creative Writing CampSTEM & Academics Full-day writing for the older band. | Mon–Fri 9:00 - 4:00 Week 6 | 11-14 | $450.00 |
| College Essay BootcampSTEM & Academics Rising seniors only, offered morning and afternoon in two separate weeks — the school’s one $350.00 tier. | Mon–Fri 9:00 - 12:00 & 1:00 - 4:00 Weeks 1, 7 | Rising 12th | $350.00 |
| SAT & ACT Score Boost Boot Camp: Math MasterySTEM & Academics Test preparation for rising grades 9 to 12. | Mon–Fri 9:00 - 12:00 Week 4 | Rising 9th-12th | $245.00 |
| SAT & ACT Score Boost Boot Camp: Reading & English MasterySTEM & Academics The verbal counterpart, in the same week. | Mon–Fri 1:00 - 4:00 Week 4 | Rising 9th–12th | $245.00 |
| Literacy CampSTEM & Academics Reading support for rising 5th to 8th graders, offered in four consecutive weeks. | Mon–Fri 9:00 - 12:00 Weeks 3, 4, 5, 6 | Rising 5th–8th | $245.00 |
| Jump Into CannonSTEM & Academics A school-orientation camp — offered to rising JK/K and to rising 1st–4th in different weeks. | Mon–Fri 9:00 - 12:00 Weeks 5, 6, 7 | Rising JK & K | $225.00 |
| Ready, Set, First GradeSTEM & Academics First-grade readiness. | Mon–Fri 9:00 - 12:00 Week 6 | Rising 1st | $225.00 |
| Leadership Launch!STEM & Academics The oldest camp in the catalog — leadership for teens. | Mon–Fri 9:00 - 12:00 Week 6 | 14-17 | $225.00 |
| Cannon SoccerSports & Games Soccer with the school’s coaching staff, across the widest age band in the sports catalog. | Mon–Fri 9:00 - 12:00 Weeks 1, 3, 7 | 5-15 | $225.00 |
| Cannon BaseballSports & Games Baseball, offered in four of the seven weeks. | Mon–Fri 9:00 - 12:00 Weeks 2, 3, 6, 7 | 4-13 | $225.00 |
| Cannon Basketball Hoops AcademySports & Games Basketball skills. | Mon–Fri 9:00 - 12:00 Weeks 1, 4 | 6-14 | $225.00 |
| Cannon Track & Field CampSports & Games Track and field. | Mon–Fri 9:00 - 12:00 Weeks 1, 7 | 10-14 | $225.00 |
| Cannon Lacrosse--BoysSports & Games Boys lacrosse in the closing week. | Mon–Fri 9:00 - 12:00 Week 7 | 6-13 | $225.00 |
| Cannon Lacrosse--GirlsSports & Games The girls’ edition, run the same week. | Mon–Fri 9:00 - 12:00 Week 7 | 6-13 | $225.00 |
| Cannon SoftballSports & Games Softball. | Mon–Fri 1:00 - 4:00 Week 1 | 7-14 | $225.00 |
| Intro to Cannon FootballSports & Games Football in the four-day week. | Mon–Thu 9:00 - 12:00 Week 2 | 8-12 | $180.00 |
| Girls Flag FootballSports & Games Girls flag football in the four-day week. | Mon–Thu 9:00 - 12:00 Week 2 | 8-13 | $180.00 |
| Boys Flag FootballSports & Games The boys’ edition. | Mon–Fri 9:00 - 12:00 Week 1 | 8-11 | $225.00 |
| Cannon CheerSports & Games Cheerleading in the four-day week. | Mon–Thu 9:00 - 12:00 Week 2 | 4-10 | $180.00 |
| GolfSports & Games Golf instruction; $180.00 in the four-day week and $225.00 otherwise. | Mon–Fri 9:00 - 12:00 Weeks 1, 2, 6 | 5-13 | $225.00 |
| Busy Bees Active AdventuresSports & Games Active play for the youngest campers, offered in three weeks. | Mon–Fri 9:00 - 12:00 Weeks 1, 2, 3 | 4-9 | $245.00 |
| We're Going to the ParkSports & Games A different Concord park every day — the school’s most-repeated outdoor camp. | Mon–Fri 9:00 - 12:00 Weeks 1, 3, 5, 7 | 4-10 | $225.00 |
| Super Sports SamplerSports & Games A multi-sport sampler, offered morning and afternoon across four weeks. | Mon–Fri 9:00 - 12:00 & 1:00 - 4:00 Weeks 1, 3, 4, 6 | 5-11 | $225.00 |
| Classic Summer FunSports & Games The closest thing Cannon has to a traditional day camp — classic camp games and activities. | Mon–Fri 9:00 - 12:00 Weeks 5, 7 | 6-10 | $245.00 |
| FishingSports & Games Fishing on the school’s 65-acre Coddle Creek campus, four weeks running. | Mon–Fri 9:00 - 12:00 Weeks 4, 5, 6, 7 | 7-13 | $245.00 |
| ChessSports & Games Chess, offered in the final four weeks. | Mon–Fri 1:00 - 4:00 Weeks 4, 5, 6, 7 | 5-14 | $225.00 |
| Esports - SilverSports & Games The entry esports tier. | Mon–Fri 9:00 - 12:00 Weeks 1, 6 | 7-12 | $245.00 |
| Esports - GoldSports & Games The older esports tier, running to age 17. | Mon–Fri 1:00 - 4:00 Weeks 1, 6, 7 | 10-17 | $245.00 |
| Dungeons and DragonsSports & Games Tabletop roleplaying, ages 10 to 17. | Mon–Fri 1:00 - 4:00 Week 4 | 10-17 | $225.00 |
| KarateSports & Games Martial arts instruction. | Mon–Fri 1:00 - 4:00 Week 5 | 8-12 | $225.00 |
| Street HockeySports & Games Four-day-week hockey for the older band. | Mon–Thu 1:00 - 4:00 Week 2 | 11-15 | $180.00 |
| Veterinary ScienceSTEM & Academics Animal science, offered in three consecutive weeks. | Mon–Fri 9:00 - 12:00 Weeks 1, 2, 3 | 9-12 | $245.00 |
| Science in the ForestSTEM & Academics Field science in the campus wetlands. | Mon–Fri 9:00 - 12:00 Week 1 | 6-8 | $245.00 |
| Farm CampSTEM & Academics Agriculture and animal care. | Mon–Fri 9:00 - 12:00 Week 3 | 5-9 | $225.00 |
| Chicken CampSTEM & Academics Poultry keeping — one of the more unusual camps in any of these catalogs. | Mon–Fri 9:00 - 12:00 Week 4 | 6-9 | $225.00 |
| Exploradores: Cultural Competence Through Spanish ImmersionSTEM & Academics Spanish immersion, offered in the first two weeks. | Mon–Fri 9:00 - 12:00 Weeks 1, 2 | 8-14 | $225.00 |
| Intro to RoboticsSTEM & Academics Entry-level robotics. | Mon–Fri 1:00 - 4:00 Weeks 3, 7 | 6-10 | $245.00 |
| Robotics: FLL Competition ExperienceSTEM & Academics Competitive FIRST LEGO League robotics. | Mon–Fri 9:00 - 12:00 Week 6 | 9-13 | $245.00 |
| Robotics: Robo-Wrestling StyleSTEM & Academics Combat robotics in the closing week. | Mon–Fri 1:00 - 4:00 Week 7 | 9-13 | $245.00 |
| Flight SchoolSTEM & Academics Aviation and flight principles. | Mon–Fri 9:00 - 12:00 Week 4 | 10-14 | $245.00 |
| Race School: From the Garage to the TrackSTEM & Academics Motorsport engineering — fitting for a Concord campus. | Mon–Fri 1:00 - 4:00 Week 4 | 10-14 | $245.00 |
| Minecraft: Modding MastersSTEM & Academics Game modding for the older band. | Mon–Fri 9:00 - 12:00 Week 5 | 8-15 | $225.00 |
| Roblox: 3D World BuildersSTEM & Academics World-building and scripting. | Mon–Fri 9:00 - 12:00 Week 7 | 8-15 | $225.00 |
| NASA: Journey Into Outer SpaceSTEM & Academics Space science. | Mon–Fri 1:00 - 4:00 Week 6 | 7-11 | $245.00 |
| Music Tech for BeginnersSTEM & Academics Music production, offered in three weeks. | Mon–Fri 1:00 - 4:00 Weeks 2, 4, 6 | 10-14 | $225.00 |
| Open Art Studio: Create Your WayVisual Arts Unstructured studio time, offered in four weeks. | Mon–Fri 1:00 - 4:00 Weeks 3, 4, 5, 7 | 4-11 | $225.00 |
| Watercolor WondersVisual Arts Watercolour painting, offered in three consecutive weeks. | Mon–Fri 1:00 - 4:00 Weeks 1, 2, 3 | 6-12 | $245.00 |
| Art: The Teen SeriesVisual Arts The oldest visual-arts band — ages 12 to 17. | Mon–Fri 1:00 - 4:00 Week 1 | 12-17 | $245.00 |
| Barn Quilt Design PaintingVisual Arts A regional craft tradition, offered in two weeks. | Mon–Fri 1:00 - 4:00 Weeks 5, 7 | 10-15 | $245.00 |
| Photography BasicsVisual Arts Introductory photography. | Mon–Fri 1:00 - 4:00 Week 4 | 11-15 | $225.00 |
| Mosaic MakersVisual Arts Mosaic craft. | Mon–Fri 9:00 - 12:00 Weeks 1, 3 | 8-11 | $245.00 |
| Girls Beauty CampVisual Arts Offered in two weeks, ages 9 to 16. | Mon–Fri 1:00 - 4:00 Weeks 3, 6 | 9-16 | $245.00 |
| Irish DanceVisual Arts Traditional Irish dance, offered in the first two weeks. | Mon–Fri 1:00 - 4:00 Weeks 1, 2 | 7-14 | $225.00 |
| Wicked Dance CampPerformance Arts Themed dance. | Mon–Fri 9:00 - 12:00 Week 3 | 7-14 | $245.00 |
| Improv ComedyPerformance Arts Improvisational theatre. | Mon–Fri 9:00 - 12:00 Week 6 | 8-12 | $245.00 |
| Intro to PodcastingPerformance Arts Audio production for the older band. | Mon–Fri 1:00 - 4:00 Week 5 | 11-15 | $225.00 |
| Short FilmmakingPerformance Arts Filmmaking for the older band. | Mon–Fri 1:00 - 4:00 Week 1 | 11-14 | $225.00 |
| Cooking with Chef CraigCulinary Cooking with a named chef, offered in two weeks. | Mon–Fri 1:00 - 4:00 Weeks 1, 5 | 9-13 | $245.00 |
| Baking with Chef CraigCulinary The baking counterpart. | Mon–Fri 1:00 - 4:00 Week 3 | 9-13 | $245.00 |
| Little Chefs: Dessert AcademyCulinary Desserts for the younger band. | Mon–Fri 9:00 - 12:00 Weeks 1, 4 | 6-10 | $245.00 |
| The Candy ShopCulinary Confectionery. | Mon–Fri 1:00 - 4:00 Weeks 1, 4 | 8-12 | $245.00 |
| The Bakery ShopCulinary Bread and pastry, offered in two weeks. | Mon–Fri 9:00 - 12:00 Weeks 3, 5 | 8-12 | $245.00 |
| The Confectionery ShopCulinary Sweets for the oldest culinary band. | Mon–Fri 1:00 - 4:00 Week 5 | 10-14 | $245.00 |
| Deliciously Homemade & From ScratchCulinary Scratch cooking. | Mon–Fri 1:00 - 4:00 Week 3 | 10-14 | $245.00 |
| Cooking Around the WorldCulinary International cooking for the youngest culinary band. | Mon–Fri 1:00 - 4:00 Week 6 | 4-7 | $245.00 |
Camp Cannon is the only one of these programs that takes a deposit — 50% at registration, the balance due May 15. Seven weeks are available. Week 2 is a four-day week and every tier drops for it: $180.00 and $196.00 half-day, $392.00 all-day.
| Camp tier | Per week |
|---|---|
Week 2 only (June 15-18, closed for Juneteenth). | $180 |
Week 2 only. | $196 |
The base half-day rate. | $225 |
The premium half-day rate. | $245 |
Its own tier, for rising seniors. | $350 |
The standard full-day rate. | $450 |
Adventure Camp and Narnia. | $490 |
Before and After Care together are $90 a week — the school’s combination rate, $20 less than the two toggles above separately.
Lunch Care and Lunch Service are alternatives, not additions — $25 to stay and eat a packed lunch, or $35 for the hot meal plus the same supervision. Turning both toggles on would over-count. Pizza Fridays are free for anyone registered for lunch that day, and snacks are $1.00 each.
Camper shirts are an optional $15 at registration, and changing or transferring a camp on or after May 15, 2026 costs $25 per transaction.
STALETwo things changed between 2024 and 2026 that older camp-directory listings still get wrong: the lunch hour itself is now a paid add-on (it used to be free, with only the food charged), and the $25 "registration fee" became a $50 membership fee.
PUBLICATION GAPCannon publishes no sibling discount, no multi-week discount and no camp financial aid. The only price break in the 2026 brochure is the structural one for the four-day Week 2.
Unpublished ≠ deficient. "Not published" flags a transparency gap — never a judgement that the aid programme is small or unwelcoming.
Published ≠ current. Every dollar figure carries the school year it applies to. Undated school figures are flagged, not guessed.
K–12 aid only. Tuition assistance while enrolled — not college aid. Not financial advice. Roughly 81% of this series' questions could be answered from published sources.
Meters show how fully each section could be answered from published evidence — a disclosure score, not a rating of the school.
Five bands, priced by band rather than by individual grade. What tuition includes is not stated affirmatively. The live site publishes only current rates, but archived copies of the tuition page carry 2021–22 through 2025–26 — every band rose about 4.5% into 2026–27.
A narrow miss: the estimate is built only where at least two-thirds of components can be priced. For the Lower School the question does not arise — the 2026–27 fee document lists cost categories with no dollar figures at all, though the 2024–25 edition did price them.
$2,000, or $650 for families applying for aid — both non-refundable, both applied toward tuition. Because both are credited against the bill, the deposit is not an additional cost; it is the first instalment.
Round-trip $1,990 first child · $1,890 each sibling. One-way $1,270 · $1,200. Activity bus $290 per athletic season. Drop-in $12.00 daily one-way, plus a new $200 one-time annual registration fee.
Clarity Tuition · $65 per household, non-refundable, charged by the platform · waivers applied automatically for qualifying incomes. Flat regardless of how many children or schools. Decided by a committee of the director of financial aid, the director of business and finance, and an associate director of admission.
Both custodial and non-custodial parents must each complete a Clarity application. Remarriage creates a new family unit — step-parent income and assets are treated as relevant, though obligations to a new family are considered. Cannon will not allocate a grant proportionally between two households.
No appeals or reconsideration process · no mid-year change-of-circumstance policy · no release date for aid decisions. Hazard: the total awarded appears only in the Student Profile, a document written for college admissions offices — a family reading the financial aid page top to bottom would never encounter it.
Scale $0–26,000. No grant covers full tuition. The school also states that maximum-grant families pay $3,000 per student per year — which does not reconcile with the $26,000 ceiling against $32,070 Grades 9–12 tuition, a difference of $6,070 rather than $3,000.
On two separate pages Cannon states plainly that it offers no merit scholarships, and specifically no academic, arts or athletics scholarships. All grants are strictly need-based, and a grant is not a loan — it is not owed back to the school.
No sibling tuition discount · no employee remission · no clergy, military or first-responder discount · no indexed or variable tuition. The pages are silent rather than negative — silence is not a stated "no". A sibling rate *is* published for bus service ($1,890 vs $1,990 round-trip).
North Carolina Opportunity Scholarship participation concludes after 2025–26. Recipients ran 11 ($45,000) in 2020–21 to 149 ($654,168) in 2024–25; the 2025–26 figure is not published in a retrieved source.
Accepted for any plan except the ten-month bank draft. American Express, Discover, MasterCard and VISA — VISA credit cards only, no VISA debit. 3.5% convenience fee on all card transactions.
What a family owes on withdrawal before the year begins · what is owed on mid-year departure · whether any tuition is refundable and on what schedule · late-payment consequences · arrears and enrolment. No prepayment discount and no third-party lender is named. The Tuition Refund Plan's cost, and whether it is required, sit in a document that is not publicly readable.
Awarded aid moved $2,700,000 to 23% of students (2024–25) to $3,000,000 to 24% (2025–26). Tuition over the same span rose about 4.5%, so aid grew roughly in step with price.
The live site publishes only the current year, but archived copies carry 2021–22 onward. Most bands track 2–4.5% a year, with one exception: Grades 5–8 jumped 8.5% in 2023–24 and 7.5% in 2024–25, well outside the pattern elsewhere in the table — worth asking about if your child is entering middle school.
Senior trip $2,000 → $2,300 · sophomore trip $1,000 → $1,300 · Washington D.C. trip $1,100 → $1,200 · Grade 9 trip $500 → $400 (down) · AP exam, marine science trip, Chromebook fee and Grade 5 trip all unchanged.
Each is unanswerable from published sources and materially affects what a family pays or receives.
| Band | 2021–22 | 2022–23 | 2023–24 | 2024–25 | 2025–26 | 2026–27 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Junior Kindergarten (JrK) | $18,330 | $18,790 | $19,540 | $19,930 | $20,530 | $21,450 |
| Kindergarten | $18,965 | $19,440 | $20,315 | $20,720 | $21,340 | $22,300 |
| Grades 1–4 | $20,350 | $21,160 | $22,535 | $23,830 | $24,960 | $26,080 |
| Grades 5–8 | $22,500 | $23,395 | $25,380 | $27,285 | $28,580 | $29,870 |
| Grades 9–12 | $25,080 | $26,075 | $27,770 | $29,300 | $30,690 | $32,070 |
| Band | 21–22 → 22–23 | 22–23 → 23–24 | 23–24 → 24–25 | 24–25 → 25–26 | 25–26 → 26–27 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Junior Kindergarten | +2.51% | +3.99% | +2.00% | +3.01% | +4.48% |
| Kindergarten | +2.50% | +4.50% | +1.99% | +2.99% | +4.50% |
| Grades 1–4 | +3.98% | +6.50% | +5.75% | +4.74% | +4.49% |
| Grades 5–8 | +3.98% | +8.48% | +7.51% | +4.75% | +4.51% |
| Grades 9–12 | +3.97% | +6.50% | +5.51% | +4.74% | +4.50% |
These percentages are derived arithmetic from the sourced dollar figures and are clearly labeled as such; the dollar figures themselves are all directly sourced. Note the unusually large 2022–23 → 2023–24 jump in the upper three bands.
