History of Riverbend Academy

Riverbend Academy grew out of a dream of Dr. Roy Hargrave, the senior pastor of Riverbend Community Church in Ormond Beach, Florida. Seeing the need, he desired for the church to offer high quality and thoroughly biblical Christian education to Ormond Beach and the surrounding areas of Volusia and Flagler counties.

The preparations began in 1999. The churchs pre-school, the Promise Land Enrichment Center, opened a Kindergarten class. For several months, a research team of parents and educators prayed and explored how to launch the school. At the heart of this effort was an exploration of the classical and Christian approach to education through reading Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning by Douglas Wilson and other writings on the subject, through the Association of Classical and Christian Schools, and through the kindness of other classical Christian schools and their administrators in allowing themselves to be studied as models.

In the fall of 2000, Riverbend Academy began its first year, offering kindergarten and first grade, with a student body of 23. The school has continued adding grades each year and has continued to refine its classical and Christian approach to education, now offering kindergarten through 12th grade.

"Riverbend Academy is not an afterthought. I believe it was a divine directive from the Lord to manifest the excellence of His glory through the minds and hearts of our children. It is our intention to raise up, by the grace of God, a generation of young people who are excellent in intellectual pursuits and mighty in the holiness of life."

Dr. Roy Hargrave

Vision of Riverbend Academy

Lord willing, Riverbend Academy will continue our K-12 school with the highest quality of classical academic training, with an exceptional fine arts program, with competitive sports teams and, through it all, with a solidly biblical worldview.

We graduated our first seniors in May of 2010!

Our Vision for the Ideal Riverbend Graduate:

"Our prayer is that, Lord willing, the graduate of Riverbend Academy will contend earnestly for the faith revealed in Gods Word, the Bible (Jude 3). He or she will do so with great integrity of heart and with great skillfulness in thinking and communicating in whatever vocational pursuit and sphere of life the providence of God places him or her. He or she will have a Christ-centered biblical worldview, genuinely thinking and living biblically."

Jason Karr, Headmaster


	History of Riverbend Academy Riverbend Academy grew out of a dream of Dr. Roy Hargrave, the senior pastor of Riverbend Community Church in Ormond Beach, Florida. Seeing the need, he desired for the church to offer high quality and thoroughly biblical Christian education to Ormond Beach and the surrounding areas of Volusia and Flagler counties. The preparations began in 1999. The churchs pre-school, the Promise Land Enrichment Center, opened a Kindergarten class. For several months, a research team of parents and educators prayed and explored how to launch the school. At the heart of this effort was an exploration of the classical and Christian approach to education through reading Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning by Douglas Wilson and other writings on the subject, through the Association of Classical and Christian Schools, and through the kindness of other classical Christian schools and their administrators in allowing themselves to be studied as models. In the fall of 2000, Riverbend Academy began its first year, offering kindergarten and first grade, with a student body of 23. The school has continued adding grades each year and has continued to refine its classical and Christian approach to education, now offering kindergarten through 12th grade. "Riverbend Academy is not an afterthought. I believe it was a divine directive from the Lord to manifest the excellence of His glory through the minds and hearts of our children. It is our intention to raise up, by the grace of God, a generation of young people who are excellent in intellectual pursuits and mighty in the holiness of life." Dr. Roy Hargrave Vision of Riverbend Academy Lord willing, Riverbend Academy will continue our K-12 school with the highest quality of classical academic training, with an exceptional fine arts program, with competitive sports teams and, through it all, with a solidly biblical worldview. We graduated our first seniors in May of 2010! Our Vision for the Ideal Riverbend Graduate: "Our prayer is that, Lord willing, the graduate of Riverbend Academy will contend earnestly for the faith revealed in Gods Word, the Bible (Jude 3). He or she will do so with great integrity of heart and with great skillfulness in thinking and communicating in whatever vocational pursuit and sphere of life the providence of God places him or her. He or she will have a Christ-centered biblical worldview, genuinely thinking and living biblically." Jason Karr, Headmaster