Head of School

About this role

The Geneva School

Head of School

About the School Geneva seeks to instill in students a desire to love beauty, think deeply, and pursue Christ’s calling. Founded in 1993, Geneva is a co-educational, Christian classical school that is committed to historic Reformational Christianity, though not associated with any particular church or denomination.

A major goal of The Geneva School is to reinvigorate the liberal arts and thereby promote the lifelong flourishing of its students. Every member of the faculty understands that there is a great kingdom calling on each student’s life and takes seriously the opportunity to shape a child according to his or her calling. The Geneva School not only aims to equip students for college, but also to instill in them a lifetime love of learning and a delight in God’s truth that will allow them to flourish both in life and in their chosen vocation.

Mission Statement The Geneva School seeks to provide students in grades K4–12 an extraordinary education, by means of an integrated curriculum, pedagogy and culture, both distinctly classical and distinctively Christian, that pursues goodness, truth, and beauty in all spheres of life, while viewing these spheres as elements of a divinely ordered whole. Further, Geneva seeks to instill in students a desire to love beauty, think deeply, and pursue Christ’s calling.

Vision Statement The Geneva School seeks to become an educational institution of scholastic and cultural gravitas, of extraordinary and exemplary virtuous scholars, a formidable force in the expansion and enrichment of Christ’s kingdom, in the life both of the individual and of the world.

Values Statement The Geneva School seeks to instill in the educational community it cultivates an enduring love of learning, a commitment to serve others, and a dedication to the pursuit of religious truth, moral goodness, and aesthetic beauty, forged from historical models of orthodox Christianity.

Click here to view Geneva’s Statement of Faith

History In May of 1993, a group of close friends met for dinner to discuss how adults and children are best educated. As the conversation continued late into the night, the group discussed a form of education that was gaining traction in pockets around the country called Christian classical education. Although new to many in the group, it was an educational model whose roots run deep into the soil and bedrock of Western Civilization. From that discussion, the group felt compelled to constitute themselves as the board of what was named The Geneva School. The school officially opened in August of 1993 with thirty-four students and five faculty members.

One year later, Geneva grew to 105 students, requiring the board to find a new campus. An educational building of a local church was secured as the new home and remained so until the school moved into its own property in 2003, which now continues to serve as the lower school campus. However, within three years the school had outgrown this facility, resulting in a second campus being purchased for its early childhood grades (K4¬–1) just a few miles away. Today, The Geneva School boasts a student body of 535 and a faculty and staff well over one hundred strong. In 2008, the school purchased a 42- acre parcel of land in Casselberry (thirteen miles northeast of downtown Orlando) and, in addition to a world-class athletic complex, will open a brand new 55,000 square foot upper school for grades 7–12 in the fall of 2019. Click here for details.

535 $28M #6 students are enrolled Upper School Campus in the FHSAA Sunshine State Cup 2A Private K4-12th grade Opening fall 2019 Schools

Academics Within an overarching goal of renewing minds and re-ordering affections, the education at Geneva aims to move the student toward wisdom, maturity, and eloquence. By encouraging and modeling a proper love and respect for God and neighbor, by cultivating wonder, by training according to developmentally- adapted modes of learning, and by teaching in an integrated cross-disciplinary fashion, the classrooms of The Geneva School are ideally suited for students to become mature, responsible, and faithful. Knowledge must result in understanding, whose ultimate end is biblical wisdom. When wisdom prevails, pride’s power is transformed into humble service to the good of others and the advancement of Christ’s Church.

Grammar School (K4 – 6th Grade) During the Geneva grammar school years, the school seeks to fan the flickers of those early yearnings to learn, discover, and love. K4 through sixth grade is called the grammar stage. Just as the study of grammar provides the foundation for understanding language, these early childhood years develop the essential building blocks necessary for more multifaceted, complex, and analytical learning that will occur later during their school years and throughout life. The Geneva School is committed to a classical curriculum that is intricately woven and integrated across all subject areas. The grammar school years at The Geneva School provide educational experiences full of wonder and growth. Students perform in the Three Piggy Opera, sail across the sea as Pilgrims, plant and harvest Peter Rabbit’s garden, live as Egyptians in the land of the Pharaoh, emerge as Greek warriors from the Trojan horse, live as squires, knights, and ladies in waiting, embark on a field trip to Colonial Williamsburg, and immigrate to the United States through Ellis Island.

Dialectic School (7th & 8th Grade) The liberal art of dialectic is the skill of reasoning, questioning, and arguing in a way that intentionally recognizes grammatical and logical rules, and honestly seeks what is true. In the dialectic school one of the chief aims is to nourish students’ minds by training them to identify compelling arguments and distinguish those that are sound from those that are not. One way of accomplishing this is to provide formal training in Logic, teaching them how to discern fallacies and how to construct valid arguments. Beyond simply asking “Why?” Geneva wants its students to frame and sequence questions that concern more particular categories like definition, comparison, cause, and purpose.

This skill of asking and following questions is prevalent in all of the courses in the dialectic school. In every class, the student is exposed to teachers who model Socratic instruction and to assignments that are intentional in requiring that they find and follow the most significant questions of the discipline. The skills of dialectic are therefore a major source for integration across the curriculum in these grades.

Rhetoric School (9th–12th Grade) Ninth through twelfth grade at The Geneva School is referred to as the rhetoric school, because during these years the liberal art of persuasive speech is highly emphasized among the other verbal arts. As the fundamental skill of speaking and writing, it is taught, practiced, and refined within and throughout every subject and class. Students in the rhetoric school are old enough to begin to understand that life is not simplistic. It is filled with complexity, nuance, and variation. They are ready to engage in deeper thinking and want to express their thoughts with more accurate analysis and more interesting style. Even when pursuing the highest levels of achievement in mathematics and science, these dialectic and rhetoric skills are incorporated into both curriculum and pedagogy.

Student Life As a community of faith and learning, the faculty and staff recognize that their mission is to invest in the lives of students—they are not an “institution” so much as a community. Each student brings his or her unique personality into their class. Every individual young man and young lady contributes in a vital way to the ethos and composition of the class. Student Life at TGS includes Student Support, Spiritual Development, The Geneva School House System, Fine and Performing Arts, Clubs and Organizations, and Community Service. Leadership opportunities for students are being steadily and progressively enhanced. Significant expectations of leadership are presented to students under the mentorship of the faculty and senior administration. Virtuous habits are cultivated in conforming to godly Christian character.

Athletics At The Geneva School, all students—K4 through 12th grade—have the opportunity to participate in sports. Geneva athletes are challenged to practice and play with purpose (to honor God in effort and attitude), with delight (to excel with their God-given abilities), and with respect (towards opponents, teammates, coaches, and officials). The goal is to manifest Christ-likeness, even in the midst of intense competition, as representatives of Geneva, the church, and family. The Geneva School’s athletic programs achieve at a disproportionally high rate of success. Geneva consistently ranks in the top 15 (among 120 2A schools state-wide) in the FHSAA’s Sunshine Cup standings—top 10 four times (#4 overall in

Text from the original posting on carterbaldwin.com. Verify details with the hiring school.