The Geneva School is named for the city of Geneva, Switzerland, which played a pivotal role in the Protestant Reformation in the 1500s. The transforming effect of the Reformation was felt throughout the city of Geneva, which in turn wielded cultural, social, religious, educational, and political influence over its region and over other parts of Europe. Christian classical education flourished there and contributed to the changes brought about by the Reformation. The city of Geneva adopted as its official motto the expression post tenebras lux (“after darkness, light”) as a testimony to the transformation that God had brought about.

At its founding, the board of The Geneva School adopted the name Geneva and post tenebras lux as the motto of our official crest. It is our goal to foster the growth of the Christian classical movement, so that its transformative effects will be as enduring and widespread as was the city of Geneva.

While being a Christian is not a requirement for entrance to Geneva, about 90% of our students attend a Christian church regularly.

Our youngest children are K4 students.
K4: Children should be 4 years old by June 1
Kindergarten: Children should be 5 years old by September 1.
Please note that all students applying to Geneva will be assessed in order to determine their readiness for the grade for which they are applying. Please refer to the Apply Now page.

The Geneva School believes that uniforms play an important role in maintaining a culture conducive to cultivating virtuous scholars. In many respects, the uniform is the face of Geneva. Uniforms encourage a sense of school identity and cohesion and also help to raise the standards of the school’s academic and cultural pursuits.

In addition to cohesion and identity, uniforms also serve to minimize distractions in the classroom thus contributing to a stronger learning environment. Non-conformity to the uniform code is a distraction we seek to avoid. This principle applies equally to distractive hair styles, hair color, makeup, and also to distractive behavior. Minimizing distractions allows us to maximize learning.

For specifics about the uniform guidelines and where to purchase uniforms, please visit the Uniform Guidelines Book.

At Geneva, engagement in learning does not stop at the end of May. Each summer, Geneva offers a variety of summer camps for students of all ages.

Information about the Summer Camp Program can be found HERE.

Field trips are integral to Geneva’s ideal of an incarnational and experiential education. The best education appeals to all five senses. Experiencing on some level what they are studying will contribute more substantively to the students’ learning than merely reading something in a book or acting something out in a classroom. Students, particularly in the grammar school, participate in age-appropriate, curriculum-related field trips and in-school events.

More information on the overnight field trips offered to students in grades 5–12 can be found on the field trip pages.

Geneva’s curricular objectives are determined not by publishing companies but by what comports best with the western liberal arts tradition—the humanities, mathematics, and the sciences—and with the fine and performing arts. We employ the best texts, materials, and resources that we can find in order to accomplish these objectives. For more information, please visit the academic pages of this website. Specific details about the curriculum at each grade level can be found on the grammar school pages, dialectic school pages, and rhetoric school pages.

One of the hallmarks of the Christian classical model of education is that it provides deep and foundational training to every student. And we believe that all true education begins in wonder and depends on the imagination to flourish. Therefore, we are intentional about the electives offered, ensuring that they provide opportunities to teach the whole person so that students can learn to think for themselves and live God-honoring lives of purpose and meaning.

Beginning in seventh grade, students choose their performing arts elective (choir, orchestra, band, or drama). In eighth grade, students may choose to continue to pursue art instead of choir, orchestra, band, or drama. In the ninth–twelfth grade, students choose their foreign language course (Latin, Greek, French, or Spanish), their fine/performing arts elective (drama, stagecraft, yearbook/journalism, digital photography, studio art, choir, guitar, or orchestra), and an additional half-credit elective (see the rhetoric curriculum page for what is offered this year). In eleventh and twelfth grade, students choose from several options in math and science. For further information, please consult the rhetoric curriculum page.

All students in 2nd–8th grade take the ERB CTP (Comprehensive Testing Program) assessment test in the spring. CTP is a reasoning/achievement test battery that is available to more than 1,600 ERB-member public and independent schools. It is designed as a challenging test to measure learning and distinguish achievement even among the higher-level students.

For more information about the ERB test, visit the ERB website.

All 9th–11th grade students take the College Board’s PSAT test in October. When taken in their 11th grade year, this test also serves as the National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (NMSQT). The PSAT/NMSQT is a standardized test that provides firsthand practice for the SAT®. It also gives 11th grade students a chance to enter NMSC scholarship programs and gain access to college and career planning tools. The PSAT/NMSQT measures critical reading skills, math problem-solving skills, and writing skills.

In many instances, if a student comes in from an academically rigorous college preparatory and/or a liberal arts preparatory curriculum, the answer is generally “yes.” Over the last number of years, we have done our best to accommodate students who are transferring from other schools or homeschool but which do not conform to our “classical distinctive requirements”—especially with regard to the teaching of logic, Latin, philosophy, theology, and rhetoric—thus still allowing them to graduate from The Geneva School. The closer a student is to graduation, the more difficult it is to make accommodation. All of our graduates, however, need to meet or exceed the requirements for Florida Bright Futures Scholarship, which we believe to be the bare minimum.