Foundation Academy’s five-year vision takes education to the next level by equipping students in all grade levels with everything they need for success both now and in the future.

At the heart of Foundation Academy is the harmonious culmination of both traditional values and innovative education. With these factors emphasized, the academy is in the midst of a five-year expansion plan to provide even more opportunities for students to explore. The core principles of this strategic vision are an extension of academic space, innovation, content creation, real-word learning approaches and spiritual development.

“Classes apply creative opportunities for project-based learning and working together. In the academia world, we’re learning how much the wonderful thing that’s in my hands right now—the cell phone—isolates this generation. We’re really wanting to be intentional on bringing that generation back together, to work together. Even if it’s remote, you still have to work together and collaborate,” affirms David Buckles, president of Foundation Academy.

In taking a multidimensional approach, a foundation is built for students in the areas of faith, academics and extracurriculars, an approach built on the foundation of spiritual development, with Christ at the center. The modern day student requires a unique set of needs that may include innovative methods of learning and school-provided resources that go beyond the classroom.

Buckles explains that an $18 million construction project consisting of 40,000 additional square feet of specialized classroom space was recently completed. Foundation Academy plans to fill this with production studios and classrooms for podcasting and broadcast journalism. In elevating the innovative academic process, the curriculum prioritizes collaboration.

Another new addition is furniture on wheels befitting of the upgraded learning spaces, designed so that teachers can efficiently rearrange the classroom for lectures one day and a Socratic seminar the next. The furniture has been carefully and purposefully selected through consideration of its agility and ability to aid in varied work environments, from independent study to full collaboration. Teachers are also planning to bring in vocational field specialists to further the immersive learning experience. Buckles strives to give fine arts education the same prominence as athletics, since the arts are often underrepresented by comparison.

“What we do in our strategic plan is make sure that we are investing equally across all [departments] because we want to help a student that has a passion for fine arts with an opportunity to succeed and go to the next level as much as an athlete,” he emphasizes. “We just hired a chief production officer to manage all of our productions that we do. He will teach students how to do sound and lighting during these events at a level that, when they graduate, allows them to enter into the workforce with experience that they can get a job at some of the local theme parks.”

Foundation Academy provides students with the connections, hands-on learning and opportunities to further both their passions and their academics. With the contemporary demand for content creation skills—both inside and outside the workforce—the curriculum has adapted to include the tools needed most for post-graduation success. Students will build a portfolio they can bring to higher education first and then to potential employers.

Inspired by the success of its online learning platforms, Foundation Academy launched a program, Foundation Academy Virtual Learning (FAVL), which invites students to join the tight-knit community, even if they are learning remotely. While this may be the best option for students with extenuating circumstances because it allows equal access to high-quality education from home, the flexible schedule still invites FAVL students to participate in the school’s extracurricular activities and events such as homecoming and graduation ceremonies. If a FAVL student is interested in pursuing classes on campus eventually, they are given first priority when enrollment space opens.

Infused with this technological nucleus is the spiritual development that Foundation Academy offers as a leading Christian school in Florida. Students require guidance and support as they grow, as we all do. Foundation Academy instills in its students and staff the principles necessary to develop their character in the likeness of Christ.

“My goal is to provide an opportunity for my staff to grow spiritually, because that’ll impact them as individuals if I can provide them with a deeper spiritual walk that’ll impact them as a person: as a mother, a father, a brother, a sister, a teacher and a coworker,” explains Buckles.

He adds that he wants Foundation Academy’s families and students, both present and prospective, to know that, most of all, “they are loved and valued.”

“When a family tours our school, at the end of the tour, we are told repeatedly, ‘We could feel something different in this hallway and we really felt like we were part of the family.’ Just walk through the front door, and that’s what we’re known for, is the family feel,” he continues. “You can’t spell family without ‘F-A’: Foundation Academy.”

Foundation Academy

Plant Street Campus
Winter Garden
(407) 656-3677

Lakeside Campus
Orlando
(407) 614-1780

Tilden Campus & Virtual Learning (FAVL)
Winter Garden
(407) 877-2744

FoundationAcademy.net