New Tampa families looking for a private, Christian education for children in grades pre-kindergarten (Pre-K) through high school will soon have another option — thanks to the Florida Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists.
Scheduled to open for the 2018-19 academic year, the still-unnamed school will be located on County Line Rd., on the New Tampa (south) side of the road. A groundbreaking ceremony for the school was held at the school’s future location on Nov. 6.
The Florida Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists has hired Georgia-based School Growth to manage all aspects of the school’s opening, aside from the design and construction of the building.
“We work with the Department of Education and the Florida Conference to design everything from the structure of the school, its operation, brand, and curriculum, to human resources strategies,” explains Scott Barron, the founder and CEO of School Growth.
The campus will occupy about 43 acres of land. In the fall of 2018, it is expected to be open to students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade, although Barron says the school would enroll a ninth grade class if there is enough demand for it. Higher grades will be added in subsequent years.
“We expect to attract families looking for a more personalized approach to learning,” says Barron, who explains that the school will emphasize project-based learning and will provide, “awareness and support for each student as an individual.”
Barron says his company works with public and private schools all over the world and can take best practices from these schools — as well as the best professional development strategies — to impleme
nt one of the most advanced schools anywhere. “It’s kind of like a dream school,” he says.
The school will integrate outdoor learning as an essential focus of its curriculum. Barron says his company is working with an ecological architect to create an estuary and outdoor classroom, and take advantage of retention ponds on the property, so that students will be able to learn about birds and other wildlife that are attracted to the campus.
“We can do this in a way you can’t in many other locations,” says Barron. “First of all, because of the weather, and then also because of the natural features of the land.”
Barron says Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel, which is owned by the Adventist Health System, part of the worldwide organization of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, is supporting the school by providing resources for its development.
Architects for the project are Fielding Nair International, a global firm that builds schools worldwide, which has an office in Lutz, and St. Petersburg-based Wannemacher Jensen Architects, Inc.
The new school will be located at 5814 E. County Line Rd., Tampa. For more information, visit SchoolGrowth.com/tampa-new-school.
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