Akiva School

🌟 Key Highlights: Akiva School

Akiva School is a private, co-educational Jewish day school in Nashville, Tennessee. It is committed to a dual-language, integrated curriculum of high-quality General Studies and pluralistic Judaic Studies, aiming to pursue excellence, foster critical inquiry, and inspire informed Jewish living.

🏫 Overview

• Type: Private / Independent Jewish Day School

• Location: Nashville, Tennessee (Located on the Gordon Jewish Community Center’s 42-acre campus)

• Grades Served: Kindergarten (K) – 6th Grade (Including a Middle School track for 5th-6th grade)

• Enrollment: Approximately 114 students

• Core Mission: To pursue excellence, foster critical inquiry, and inspire informed Jewish living, educating the whole child—mind, body, and spirit—to become a thoughtful contributor to the world.

• Affiliation: Member of the Independent Schools of the Nashville Area (ISNA) and a leader among Jewish Day schools in the South.

• Accreditation: Accredited by Cognia (formerly AdvancED) and Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS).

• Focus: Elementary education emphasizing academic rigor, pluralistic Jewish identity, and the integration of a STEAM worldview.

✅ What Makes the School Unique?

Akiva School is distinguished by its unique certifications, strong academic outcomes, and integrated dual curriculum:

• STEAM Certified: Akiva is the only elementary school in Tennessee and the only Jewish Day School in the world to be STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, and Mathematics) certified by AdvancED/Cognia. STEAM is integrated across the dual language curriculum.

• Pluralistic Jewish Community: Serves as a community school that welcomes and embraces families from all branches of Judaism (Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, and unaffiliated), fostering an inclusive environment that values Jewish diversity.

• Dual-Language Immersion: Offers a dual-language curriculum with a focus on Hebrew literacy and fluency, ensuring students graduate with an intermediate to advanced level of Hebrew proficiency and a deep connection to their Jewish heritage.

• Exceptional Academic Outcomes: Graduates are consistently accepted into the most selective private and magnet middle/high schools in Nashville and are known to excel academically, with many graduating in the top 10% of their high school classes.

• Social Emotional Learning (SEL): Integrates character development with a focus on Mindfulness and SEL, ensuring students build self-awareness, confidence, and self-advocacy—values expressed through the concept of Menschlikeit (being a person of integrity).

• Small Class Sizes: Maintains an exceptionally favorable student-to-teacher ratio (average class size of no more than 11 students), which promotes individual attention and personalized learning opportunities.

📞 Contact Information