About Our School

Established: 2003
Principal: Gillian Wilson M.Ed.
Vice Principal: Tracey Johnson B.Sc.
Enrollment: 150+ students
Grades: K2- Grade 7 (Fall 2011)

Upon graduating, the majority of our students attend:
St. Andrew’s School
Lyford Cay School
Queen’s College
U.S. Middle Schools (Public & Private)
U.S. Boarding Schools

A leader in small school education in The Bahamas.

Summit Academy is a co-educational, independent school offering a program of academic excellence to both Bahamian and international students. We are currently in our eighth year of operation with an enrollment of 150 students. The school is located on beautiful Lake Waterloo in Nassau, Bahamas and serves students in pre-school through grade seven (beginning in the fall of 2011). Students applying for our K2 class must be 24 months old by September 1st.

The school achieves academic excellence by having well-trained, experienced educators teach an innovative curriculum in a student-centered environment. Our class sizes are intentionally kept small as we are committed to offering a nurturing environment designed to optimize the learning potential of each student. The principal of the school, Mrs. Gillian Wilson, M.Ed. is a hands-on principal, often seen spending time in many of the classroom getting to know the learning styles and needs of each child. Mrs. Wilson also spearheads the individual testing of each child in the school to ensure that each child is making significant progress.

Summit Academy was born out of the genuine desire of the Principal to create a school that offered everything that parents wanted for their children, but could never quite seem to find in the traditional school setting. Small class sizes, individualized learning opportunities, highly trained and enthusiastic teachers, along with a well-balanced academically challenging program all combine to make Summit Academy a national leader in small school education. Each student enrolled at Summit Academy is afforded the rare opportunity to experience the true meaning of personalized education. Rather than applying a “one size fits all” standard, Summit Academy is founded on the principle that learning systems have to be sufficiently flexible and adaptable to meet the individualized needs of its student population.

You will be pleased to note that all of our faculty members hold academic degrees in either Early Childhood Education or Elementary/Middle School Education. Most of our faculty have been trained in The United States. We were also pleased to welcome Mrs. Sayaka Sweeting last year, a Japanese trained early childhood educator, to our faculty line-up. We continue to be proud of the fact that over 1/3 of our faculty members possess a  Master’s Degree in Education. In addition to our full-time faculty members we have part-time specialists in Music, Spanish, Physical Education.  We also boast an expansive after-school program ranging from Judo to Choir to Sports.

Summit is extremely proud of its music program which began in the fall of 2006. All students participate in the music program and learn, at minimum, how to play the recorder. Younger preschool students receive weekly instruction in Music and Movement. We applaud the success of many of our students who are making excellent progress in learning the Violin under the tutelage of Joanne Connaughton. Many students from of this group have since joined an extremely talented youth orchestra. There is also an after school music program available for students who desire to play the saxophone, flute, keyboard or clarinet. Private voice lessons are also available from preschool teacher Mrs. Shantell Richardson who is a  recording artist.

We are proud of the recent improvements made to our school’s Physical Education program. Ms. Wandalee Harris, one of the country’s leading athletes assumed the position of Summit’s Head Coach in January 2010 having just returned from The United States where she completed a full four-year degree in Human Development and Health Education. Ms. Harris will implement a new program aimed at developing the athletic talent in each and every student at our school. She is also concerned about educating our student population about health and wellness. We are pleased to add basketball, netball, volleyball and T-ball to our already expansive line-up of Sports and have increased the offering of Sports to our children to ensure that each child in the school receives an adequate amount of exercise. Ms. Harris is a member of the National Softball and Volleyball teams.

At Summit Academy, we attend not only to the intellectual but also to the emotional, physical and artistic needs of each child. We aspire to help each child embrace a cheerful and healthy life. At Summit, we have created a multi-cultural, non-denominational, Christian-values based environment that teaches children to respect themselves and the differences of others. Parents should note that Summit Academy offers an academically challenging program specifically designed to ensure that our students have a smooth transition into the secondary schools of their choice. Our program, when pooled with an expansive base of elementary experiences and an encouraging environment, makes for a rich school experience. The school is therefore unable to accommodate students in the elementary school who demonstrate severe grade level deficiencies or behavioral/emotional problems.

Embracing and encouraging diversity, Summit Academy admits students of any race, religion, color and national or ethnic origin.