SEA GIRT — The Garden State Classical Academy (GSCA), a tuition-based private Christian school, has recently announced that it will be opening inside St. Uriel’s Church school facility this coming fall, and enrollment is now open.
The GSCA has leased space inside the St. Uriel’s Church school facility and will be starting operations for the 2025-2026 school year.
Through its affiliation with the Hillsdale College K-12 Education Office, the academy will offer a classical education focused on academics, faith and traditional learning styles.
The school will be open to pre-kindergarten through fourth-grade students.
“We believe that a classical curriculum is the best way to restore the purpose of K-12 education, which is to develop a citizenry capable of personal and political self-governance,” said Anne Poppen, the GSCA’s Head of School in a press release. The school will offer an education that is grounded in moral formation and academic content, she added.
“There is a rapidly growing movement back to a limited and strategic use of technology with traditional, teacher-led classrooms, a firm grounding in objective truth, and a respect for parental authority in education and health decisions,” she said.
For each year going forward, one grade will be added until it serves all grades, when pre-K through 12 is reached in 2033.
“It’s really important that we build a strong culture of our school, and if we start small, we’re really able to build an academic and cultural foundation with the families that begin with us, and then they’ll grow over time,” Poppen told The Coast Star.
“If we had the space I would love to open K (kindergarten), five, six, but we’re starting small, and intentional,” she added.
The academy is following the Hillsdale College model through the K-12 Education Office.
“They’re one of the oldest traditional liberal arts colleges in the nation and they’ve never accepted a dollar of funding, and they have opened the K-12 Education Office, which is helping open these classical schools across the nation,” said Poppen.
“We were accepted through a very competitive application process to join in their network, so they are supporting our founding, and providing training for our leadership team, as well as teachers, and we’re using their K-12 curriculum,” she said. “That partnership has been really pivotal to get our doors open.”
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