DO YOU HAVE ENROLLMENT QUESTIONS?
WE HAVE ANSWERS HERE!
The first step of our admissions process is to read through our website thoroughly to understand what holistic faith-based education is. Additionally, parents & potential students must be enthusiastic about our education model before completing an student admissions interest form below.
Please understand, since we are a small private school, our admin staff wear many hats, which includes actively working with and taking care of our current students. We truly appreciate that you are taking the time to read through our website. Once you have completed our student admissions interest form (providing answers to our questions about your child), we will contact you within 5 working days if we have a spot available. Please make sure you have applied for a choice scholarship or have one in place already. We accept SUFS Choice Scholarships.
25-26 STUDENT ADMISSIONS On December 10, 2024, we will start the reenrollment process for current students. On January 11, 2025 at 11:59pm, reenrollment will close. On January 12, 2024, we offer spots to siblings first before we open up spots to students on our waitlist. Please complete our Student Admissions Interest List Form to be added to our waitlist.
24-25 LIMITED ENROLLMENT OPENINGS This means all classrooms listed have just a few spots available (we update as often as possible):
INCLUSION Due to opening up new classrooms over the summer, we are happy to announce we have one opening in each of the grades listed below:
1st-4th grades & 6th grade
What is an inclusion classroom? At our school, an inclusion classroom means that some students may need additional supports (remedial or gifted) & all students benefit from our faith based, holistic (hands on, project-based learning with lots of outside time for all grade levels-weather permitting) education model. Additionally, our student/staff ratio supports optimal learning opportunities.
ADDITIONAL SUPPORTS CLASSROOM (formerly called the ESE Classroom) At our school, an Additional Supports Classroom (ASC) is comprised of 4th-12th grade students that may have one or more learning disorders, intellectual disability, or just need more academic (not behavioral) support than our inclusion classroom setting can provide. ASC students benefit from our faith based, holistic, hands on, project-based learning model. Most students in our ASC are working at a 2nd to 5th grade level. During core instructional time and other times of the day (as deemed necessary), this classroom will break up into small groups of 6 or less. This classroom has an instructor and a paraprofessional through the entire instructional day (baring sickness, or other issues which do occur from time to time).
24-25 WAITLIST
Kindergarten, 5th, 7th-12th
Additional Supports Classroom (ASC) 4th-12th
REQUIRED TRIAL PERIOD FOR ALL POTENTIAL STUDENTS: All potential students seeking admission must spend (at minimum) one full week "trialing" with us (at minimum) during the instructional year, or two weeks (at minimum) trialing during our half day summer program to make a final admissions decision. Additionally, we will test your child using STAR Assessments by Renaissance.
BEFORE/AFTER CARE We do not offer before and after care, however, Ong's Taekwondo does offer pick up and drop off service to/from their facility for a fee. Please call Ong's Taekwondo at (350) 804-4120 (local company) for more information.
OUT OF POCKET COSTS Please note that there are "out of pocket" parent participation costs associated with admission, even with a School Choice SUFS scholarship. Our admissions process plus our tuition and fee schedules are available for review on our student interest list form. Our 24-25 tuition and fee schedule is included (25-26 tuition and fee schedule will be available soon).
We are unable to provide admission to prospective students with behavioral issues or students that need 1:1 support.*
*Exceptions are rarely made. If an exception is made, it is done on a case-by-case basis, with ABA support in place (contingent for admission and continued enrollment), referred by our staff, utilizing a provider of our choice, noting that severe behaviors are referred out for needed support.
WHAT DO YOU PROVIDE? Ocala Preparatory Academy (OPA) is a holistic, faith-based (Christian) school for children that thrive in a smaller, caring classroom setting or may need additional academic support in our Additional Supports Classroom (ASC-formerly the ESE classroom). See further down this page for more information about our holistic faith-based education model.
PARENT PARTNERSHIP (excerpt from our policy) We believe that a positive constructive working relationship between our staff & a student’s parents/guardians is essential to the fulfillment of our mission. As a community, it is important that we all collectively engage in an affirming, encouraging atmosphere. The expression of negative feelings & even supposedly "constructive" criticism can do much to undermine any school’s atmosphere (end excerpt from policy). All parents/guardians must be in agreement with our parent partnership to start the enrollment process. Furthermore, all parents/guardians need to understand that your conduct/behavior and attitude are considered in the admissions process and at all times in your relationship with us.
BEFORE COMPLETING OUR STUDENT ADMISSIONS INTEREST FORM Please read through our website to ensure that you, the student you are seeking admission for, and your family, are enthusiastic about our faith-based education model, and you understand what OPA offers our prospective students. Finally, please make sure that you understand the out of pockets costs associated with enrollment at OPA even with a choice scholarship.
PLEASE NOTE We are a small private school and are actively working with our students so we do appreciate you completing our form so that we can contact you and give you our undivided attention. If you call, you will be referred to our website. Thank you!
TO BE CONSIDERED FOR ENROLLMENT You must submit our Student Admissions Interest Form filled out completely to be considered for enrollment for openings now or in the future. Also, all students seeking admission must spend at minimum one week "trialing" in a classroom and complete STAR assessments to determine if Ocala Preparatory Academy is a good fit. During the summer, a minimum of two weeks trialing is requirement. If your child has a 504, IEP (noting we are not required to follow IEPs), or any other supports needed, this must be disclosed on our form.
PLEASE COMPLETE THE FORM BELOW AFTER READING THROUGH OUR WEBSITE BEFORE ADDING YOUR CHILD'S NAME TO OUR WAITLIST OR TO REQUEST ADMISSION
We actively engage our students with holistic, hands-on, activities and science experiments.
Who We Are
Ocala Preparatory Academy is a K-12 private school located in SW Ocala, FL, founded in 2016. We provide holistic education: development & engagement of all aspects of the learner, including mind, body, and spirit. Our students enjoy hands on learning and learning with their peers. We are a faith based (Christian) private school.
We believe that physical activity, during the instructional day, assists with the learning process. Consequently, all K-12 students go outside, either to enjoy learning in a different environment or to participate in various intramural sports, activities, and games. As a result, our students are inspired to learn and excel!
Our students thrive in our small classes, offering hands on, project based and holistic options whenever possible. Students are offered opportunities to work independently, in peer groups, or on team-based projects. Student-centered learning is a focal point of our education model. Furthermore, we believe in teaching students to be self-directed, enthusiastic and invested in the learning process.
What is Holistic Faith Based Education?
Holistic Faith Based Education means that we educate children to become well-rounded and confident adults. Our caring staff focuses on the development of the emotional, social, spiritual, and cognitive wellbeing of each student. Educating the whole child means that our focus is not just on students passing tests or getting smarter (though that does occur in an environment where student's social and emotional development is key).
Our focus is on creating well-rounded, happy, and spiritually uplifted students. We educate and develop the whole student. Educating our students is important, but it is equally important to focus on overall good health (eating healthy foods, drinking water, getting lots of outside time/sunshine, positive affirmations, and more), spiritual development and positive relationships (friends, family, our caring staff).
We embrace a caring classroom culture and engage our students with experiential learning. See below for information on our curriculum.
Lab School/Lab Classroom
From our inception, we have always considered ourselves a “Lab School”. What is a Lab School?
“A Lab School is designed to test and develop new educational models and incubate new ideas. The concept is that we are creating new schools that themselves are laboratories of innovation,” says Brian Greenberg, chief executive officer of the Silicon Schools Fund, a nonprofit that funds lab schools. These schools “pilot new approaches to teaching, create new curriculum and work on increasing students’ autonomy and agency of their own education,” he says.
Our continued commitment is to offer our enrolled students the opportunity to learn and grow in the least restrictive environment (whenever possible). Moving into the 24-25 Instructional Year, we have created a “lab classroom” to start this process. Once we have perfected this method in our lab classroom, our goal is to offer this opportunity to more classrooms in the 25-26 Instructional Year and moving forward. Our goal for our lab classroom is that students needing additional academic supports will be included with peers working on the same grade level. A paraprofessional will be in the classroom to provide these supports alongside the classroom teacher. Our long-range goal is that students of all academic abilities will have the opportunity to participate in the least restrictive classroom, and be included in meaningful activities, and social events. Research has shown that inclusion enhances the overall learning experience for all students by promoting empathy, understanding, and collaboration. By embracing students that need additional academic supports,(alongside those that are working on grade level or are working above grade level), we are opening the door to endless possibilities, where your child can thrive and reach his/her full potential in a supportive environment.
That being said, we have found our method of holistic, faith-based learning truly works for our enrolled students! We provide brain breaks for kids, hands on activities, reliance on God through prayer and thoughtful introspection, science experiments and more. Our version of a lab school or lab classroom means that we are constantly seeking the best way to connect with our students to create the best learning environment possible. Learning should be enjoyable but reading, writing and arithmetic must be mastered along the way too.
Curriculum
Engaging curriculum and discussion are a part of our holistic approach to education. We use an infusion of different types of curricula to meet the diverse needs of our student population. At the inception of Ocala Preparatory Academy (2016-2018), we asked parents on our admissions application if they would be comfortable with using faith based (Christian) curriculum when this was the best option for our students. In 2023, we became a faith based school officially to reflect our relationship with our God, Johovah.
Choices in curriculum are made based on the diverse needs of our students. There is not one curriculum that works for all our students, so we will always use the curriculum that best suits each classroom, which is geared toward holistic and hands on approaches to learning whenever possible.
If we find curriculum that we feel is a good fit for students that is faith based, we will select the faith-based option.
Some of curriculum choices offered in our classrooms for the 24-25 instructional year are as follows: Abeka, Treasures, Open Court, & Wonders, alongside our hands on, project-based assignments. Please see pictures of the fun learning opportunities we provide our students through our website.
Limited enrollment is offered to allow for this holistic approach to education.
Our History
In December 2015, after lots of prayer and mindfulness, our parent company, OASN started the process to open Ocala Preparatory Academy. After being in two smaller offices, we were excited to move to our current building in March 2016. This move was done as a huge leap of our faith by our board members that our executive director would be able to raise the funds to be able to stay in our current building long term. We have since outgrown this building and need a larger space. We appreciate your prayers and donations to find our build a larger building.
We didn’t have much but we were able to start year one (2016-2017 instructional year) of Ocala Preparatory Academy with books that were purchased (and some donated-we are so grateful!) from a Catholic school in Gainesville that was moving their curriculum to iPads.
Non Denominational Statement of Purpose
Ocala Preparatory Academy (OPA) is a non denominational private school that abides by Christian principles in all that we do:
Believe
OPA students are taught to live out Christian principles at school, home, and in the world.
Learn
We look at our students holistically and ask for God's direction in all that we do. Our small class sizes and holistic approach help us to achieve this daily goal of supporting each student's success.
Lead
OPA students are taught the importance of their character, morality and integrity. We are mindful of this in our daily prayers with our students and in our morning staff meetings.
Serve
OPA students are taught that they have a greater purpose in life. Through mindful prayer and instruction, our staff helps guide our students to learn what their true purpose is.
Student Testimonials
We asked our students what they love about our school and why we need to expand. Here are a few of our student testimonials starting with elementary students and ending with our high school students:
"This school made me realize how much I needed relationships. There is so much support from the teachers and staff. I love them so very much. They have done so much and they need to franchise this school for kids everywhere! Thank you so much, good bye. L.M. (initials) elementary school student that has moved.
"This school helps me learn without my ADHD stopping me!" J.L. (initials) elementary school student
"The teachers are nice and amazing. The teachers make it easier to get better grades. You get help when you need it. The people (students) are really nice". S.J. (initials) elementary school student
"This school has done a lot for me and in my opinion, I feel like they have done more for me than other schools. I could definitely tell that the teachers care about students' mentality and recognize the balance for what is "too much" and what is "just right". My knowledge certainly went up and I'm shocked to find myself at a point where I have almost straight A's! This is something I have never received before. I understand we need a larger building and I want to expand this place to have more classrooms and educate more students" L.E. (initials)-middle school student
"What I like about being a student here is that I love how the teachers help you with the subjects until you understand. The staff is nice and polite. In other schools, I never got treated with respect or kindness but when I came to this school., I felt safe and treated with respect and kindness. The students here are chill, funny and nice. The staff are always looking after you and asking if you need anything. The teachers and staff are calm and treat you with respect. This is why this is my favorite school. One thing that would be a blessing is that we could get a larger building with more space for a lunch room, activities and a gym." N.C. (initials)-middle school student
"What I like about this school is having a great teacher and people (staff) that like to help us. I like going outside and playing with friends and doing fun things with other people (students). That is why I love this school! " L.M.G. (initials)- middle school student
"What I like about this school is that they have made me feel like you are home, it is like family here. They have the best teachers and staff. I like that it is small, more calm and you feel safe but I do think the school needs to expand. I would really appreciate it if people could donate so that my school can get bigger and provide more academics for more kids. I am so happy I found this school. O.C. (initials) middle school student
"For the past two years I have been here, I have met many great friends along the way and many teachers have taught me a lot of things for my life's future. Without this school. I never would have gotten to where I am now. Thank you so much, Mrs. Karen!" T.J. (initials) middle school student
"The reason I like being here is because it is nothing like my other school. For example: The hours are shorter, the teachers are nice, and when I am not feeling well, Mrs. Karen is here for me and helps me with my homework. I do not know where I would be right now if I was not here." C.D. (initials) high school student
"I like being at this school because my old school did not pay attention to me when I needed help with my work." B.N. (initials)-high school student
Florida Department of Education Requirements
In compliance with Florida statue, our teachers meet one (or more) of the following requirements:
-Three or more years of public and/or private school teaching.
-Special skills, knowledge, or expertise that qualifies them to provide instruction in subjects taught.
-Baccalaureate Degree (BA or BS) or higher.
Ocala Preparatory Academy meets all Florida Department of Education requirements to participate in state scholarship programs. Click here for these requirements. Additionally, Ocala Preparatory Academy meets the requirements set forth by the Department of Education to be listed in their directory of private schools. Click here for these requirements. Below are the graduation requirements for Florida-24-Credit Standard Diploma (subject to legislative changes)
Expansion Plans
We are searching for a larger building with a minimum of 7500 square feet and 2 acres land, zoned B2 or PUD preferably (we would also consider land donation or shared use with a church or faith-based organization). Contact us via email at finance@oasn.info if you are able to donate land or a building in SW Ocala. Until then, we will continue to pray and we appreciate your prayers. 
Ocala Preparatory Academy (a subsidiary of OASN) admits students of any race, color, nationality, and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded and made available. Ocala Preparatory Academy does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in the administration of its policies. Ocala Preparatory Academy is a private institution, reserves the privilege of setting and maintaining its own standards for student conduct, dress, and cleanliness. Ocala Preparatory Academy maintains the right to refuse admittance to anyone who fails to meet the entrance requirements and to suspend or expel any student who violates the standards set down in our policies and procedures handbook. (IRS 26 CFR 601.201: Rulings and determination letters. (Also: Part I, § 501; 1.501(c)(3)-1.)
SPECIAL NOTE: If you are interested in admissions, you must fill out our Student Admission Interest form to be considered for admission at our school (see above). Please do not show up without an appointment or call us, we are busy working with our students. Once you complete the form above, we will call you at our earliest availability noting the following:
HOURS OF OPERATION AUGUST-MAY 8:45am-2:15pm Monday-Friday JUNE 8:40am-12:15pm Tuesday-Friday (we are closed for the entire month of July and the first two weeks in August)
IMPORTANT-WE ARE CLOSED DURING THE FOLLOWING TIMES Spring Break, Good Friday, the last week in May, the entire month of JULY, the first two weeks in August, Thanksgiving Week, Christmas Break, staff work days, all major holidays and inclement weather.
Additional note: Our hours of operation are subject to change.
We are a faith-based Christian school.
Choice scholarships through Step Up For Students accepted & parent financial participation is required.
Ocala Preparatory Academy (a subsidiary of OASN) admits students of any race, color, nationality, and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded and made available. Ocala Preparatory Academy does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in the administration of its policies. Ocala Preparatory Academy is a private institution, reserves the privilege of setting and maintaining its own standards for student conduct, dress, and cleanliness. Ocala Preparatory Academy maintains the right to refuse admittance to anyone who fails to meet the entrance requirements and to suspend or expel any student who violates the standards set down in our policies and procedures handbook. (IRS 26 CFR 601.201: Rulings and determination letters. (Also: Part I, § 501; 1.501(c)(3)-1.)