The Oaks School, which launched in the Fall of 2023, is the culmination of years of prayer and planning by the leadership and members of Redeemer Church. “When the church bought the property on William Few [in 2009], we had a prayer walk to dedicate the land,” shares Winter Stakely, whose late husband, Charlie, was pastor of Redeemer Church for over twenty years. “There were stations along the way where we would pray for different aspects of the church and one of the stations was for a future Christian school.”
From the beginning, the vision focused on providing students with a Christ-centered Classical Education in partnership with parents. When a student enrolls, parents are asked to enter a covenant with the school agreeing to take an active role in their child’s education.
"Many people have asked why a Classical Education model and the reason we give is that the evidence is overwhelmingly positive,” explains DeWayne Davenport, The Oaks School Committee Moderator. “There is a report from a study the University of Notre Dame conducted in 2019 called the Good Soil Report. The study looks at outcomes of the various kinds of educational systems and the results are just astounding. Graduates from the Classical Christian Education System led every one of the categories and excelled in each of the topics surveyed.”
“What makes our curriculum different from most schools is that there is really an effort to infuse rigor through great works of literature, art, and music into learning and a strong focus on American history,” says Cindy Beatty, Curriculum Support. “In addition to an art teacher, we have a music teacher and a physical education teacher who enriches her outdoor classes with science. Students attend enrichment classes daily. Also, there is more engagement in learning with the children about nature and God's creation. We do this by striving to get the children outdoors two to three times a day.”
Anne Luckey, the school’s art teacher, guides the children as they learn about great artists and replicate their work. “I want them to walk away with a love of art and having art as part of the curriculum is a great way to teach children about looking at certain things from different perspectives,” says Anne. “We have done some really fun projects. For one project, I brought stand-up easels so all the kids got to use easels while each student recreated Claude Monet's Water Lily Pond,” she shares. “I also created a Kandinsky cube out of wood and it had different line patterns on each side – one might be zigzag, the other a stack circles, things like that. We took turns rolling the cube and once it landed, we had to draw that set of lines on our canvases. Then we painted the canvases and at the end of class, we had a collection of adorable paintings.”
Ben Couch, The Oaks Head of School, shares that the school currently offers classes for kindergarten through second grade, with a commitment to add at least one additional grade each year. Class sizes are intentionally kept small to ensure quality instruction. The long-term vision is to ultimately have a K-12 school complete with enrichment activities such as sports, clubs, and organizations. Students can enroll for admission mid-year if desired. Enrollment for the 2024-2025 school year opened in January.
The school will host two Open Houses in February: Friday, February 9th at 9:30am and Thursday, February 22nd at 6:30pm. The evening session will include an art gallery display. For more information about the school, visit theoaksevans.org, call 706-513-7518, or email admin@theoaksevans.org.
The Oaks School is a ministry of Redeemer Church and is located at 2540 William Few Parkway. “That they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD.” Isaiah 61:3b
Having art as part of the curriculum is a great way to teach children about looking at certain things from different perspectives. - Anne Luckey
What makes our curriculum different from most schools is that there is really an effort to infuse rigor through great works of literature, art, and music into learning and a strong focus on American history. - Cindy Beatty