Big Walnut High School

Set in Sunbury, Ohio, Big Walnut High School is an expansive senior high, one of the schools within Big Walnut Local. It educates 1,299 students across grades 9 through 12. Enrollment runs roughly 130% larger than the state mean of about 565.

Big Walnut Local runs 8 schools in total, collectively educating 4,298 students. Big Walnut High School is one of those campuses.

In terms of who attends, Big Walnut High School lists that 88% of students identify as White, making the school strongly White-majority. Other groups include 5% Hispanic, 3% multiracial. The wider county runs roughly 80% White, putting the school's mix visibly more White than the area baseline.

On the resource side, Big Walnut High School logs 63 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 20.5:1. That figure is higher than the state norm's 17.7:1 average. An estimated 18% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment.

With demographic context factored in, Big Walnut High School sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 81.8%; this one delivers 73.3%.

In the broader community, community-level numbers for Delaware County indicate the typical household earns roughly $133,540 per year, roughly 59% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 3%. Big Walnut High School is one of 59 public schools in Delaware County (combined enrollment of about 44,100 students).

Prairie Run Elementary School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.1 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Big Walnut High School. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Big Walnut High School at 8th of 8; the average score across the group is 80.0%.

The school occupies a small-town site.

Trend over the last 7 years. Over the past 7-year window, the student count expanded 33%: 980 students in 2018 compared to 1,299 in 2025. The White share of enrollment edged down from 93% to 88% over that span. The student-to-teacher ratio grew from 18.3:1 in 2018 to 20.5:1 today.

On the community side, posts here usually surface around school events, parent volunteer needs, and clubs. The community welcomes input from current and former families.