Dear Heritage community,
I pray you and your family are experiencing peace and joy as we launch into the new year. As you know, we are nearing the finish line of the admissions season, and this is the period when Erin and I begin conducting parent interviews with every prospective parent. Conversation after conversation, we have the distinct privilege of highlighting the exceptional things taking place in the life of our school, and I would be remiss if I didn't take the opportunity for us as a community to pause and reflect on the unparalleled academic experience that your children are receiving today.
Strategic Advancements at Heritage
Just yesterday, we announced that Heritage was named the top-ranking school with the highest average score in the nation on the CLT10 during the 2022-2023 academic year. This is a remarkable achievement for our current Class 11, and it's a tangible reminder of how we as a school begin with the end in mind in developing the portrait of a graduate. Below are additional advancements that enable us to develop students who reflect our portrait of a graduate:
- Restructuring of our leadership model: This school year marked the first year of incorporating our Lower and Upper School Heads (Mrs. Alyssa Lubbers and Mrs. Michelle Bishop) into the fabric of our leadership, which provided remarkable improvements for consistency and touch points for faculty. We continue to have lead teachers on our lower school campus and department chairs on our upper school campus. These faculty leads support our teachers as questions arise about curriculum, classroom management, maintaining our classical Christian distinctives, and ensuring that our faculty collaborate together. Students experience a much richer educational experience when teachers collaborate and instruction is interdisciplinary. From sidecar courses to the bioethics debates (collaboration between Biology, Christian Ethics, and Rhetoric faculty) that will soon take place for Class 11 students to our students creating art representing those things that they have read about in literature, our students benefit from faculty who join forces to make learning come to life.
- Faculty training and resources:
- The addition of Mr. David Bishop as Director of our Student Support Program has been transformational as we seek to create a model program demonstrating that children with varying learning styles, abilities, and backgrounds can benefit from the rich rigor of a classical Christian education. In addition to his oversight of the student support program, Mr. Bishop is able to provide occupational therapy to Heritage students.
- An organization will not succeed without a healthy, thriving team, and we invest in developing a culture of fellowship and support within our faculty through shared opportunities and events built into and outside of the school day.
- Our added security personnel and security training program for leadership have provided another layer of protection for our team and families.
- Through the hiring of a full-time substitute teacher on our lower school campus, we have ensured that our students are still receiving the same high-quality instruction and care when our faculty become ill and are unable to come to work or when we have a faculty member out on maternity leave.
- Building a rich and unique high school experience:
- This has been a special week for our Class 11 students as they have engaged in job shadowing with their professional mentors who are in place to help students navigate the questions they have about vocation and calling. We had students shadowing in the Attorney General’s Office, University of Georgia School of Veterinary Medicine, Georgia Tech, Atlanta Falcons, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Chick-fil-A, D. Stanley Dixon architectural firm, and with some wonderful, entrepreneurial Heritage parents. After job shadowing on Monday and Tuesday, our Class 11 students spent the remainder of the week with their parents visiting colleges across the country.
- While our Class 11 students were away from campus, our Class 9 and Class 10 students engaged in our annual J-Term experience (which just keeps getting better and better!), an entire week focused on the study of architecture from a variety of disciplinary perspectives. Students kicked off the week on campus at Georgia Tech and concluded the week presenting the culmination of a week-long group project creating design boards for each of the four houses to guest architect Randy Holmes. Throughout the week, these students had the opportunity to visit the State Capitol, Mercedes Benz Stadium, the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), Ponce City Market and more!
- One of our primary goals in high school (the rhetoric phase of a classical education) is to ensure that our students have developed as strong communicators in both the written and spoken word. Mrs. Katie Veal has joined our team and is conducting a writing lab for high school students who wish to gain additional support in these writing skills. Additionally, new faculty member Mr. Dan Hartman is teaching our Class 11 Rhetoric class. These experiences are preparing students for their senior thesis and defense.
- Fostering enthusiasm, community, and excellence for student-athletes, coaches, and Heritage families
- The launch of the Heritage Rambackers has enabled us to come alongside our remarkable coaches and athletes to further bolster our commitment to Heritage athletics.
- Rambackers hosted the Rams’ first Varsity Awards Night during the fall semester honoring our Varsity girls’ volleyball team as well as our Class AA Varsity girls AND boys cross-country team state champions.
- The gym was at capacity for multiple Rambacker-sponsored community events during the basketball season.
I can confidently speak on behalf of the entire faculty, staff, and board in expressing our appreciation to you for allowing us the opportunity to partner with you as we seek to raise up a generation of culture shapers. We know sending your child to Heritage is a significant investment, and we are committed to stewarding your investment well.
Tuition for the 2024-2025 School Year
In anticipation of the fast-approaching 2024-2025 school year, tuition rates and due dates are listed below. The Board is committed to making Heritage accessible to all mission-aligned families by committing to grow our tuition assistance as our tuition increases.

New this year, EduKit school supply packs will be included in tuition, and families will no longer need to purchase student supplies separately.
Please remember that we have a continuous enrollment contract which you have all completed. This contract will remain in place throughout your child’s education at Heritage unless you notify us otherwise. If you are planning for your child to NOT attend Heritage for the 2024-2025 school year, you must notify our Chief Financial Officer, Mrs. Nikia Martin, by noon on Friday, February 16.
To view the total tuition amount for your family, log in to your FACTS account. Tuition payments will be automatically drafted from your payment method of choice on February 28, 2024, and July 29, 2024. If you have any questions regarding FACTS or the payment process, please contact Mrs. Nikia Martin.
Security Update
I wanted to provide each of you with a timely update regarding Heritage Preparatory School’s latest efforts to increase campus security. We continue to diligently and thoughtfully implement security protocols focusing on four pillars: Prayer, People, Practice, and Protection. These pillars ensure all factors are considered as student safety remains our top priority. In the last few years, we have hired additional security and resource officers, continue to educate and role-play protocols with faculty and staff, and have made safety improvements to the Heritage campus. While we want to be aggressive in our efforts to protect the campus, we also rest in the fact that our protection comes from the Lord.
I am excited to let you know that we will begin work on Monday morning on the installation of fencing and gates on our South Campus. Morningside Church has been a great partner in this project, having given us conceptual approval for a perimeter fence last year. We initially wanted to replace the entire perimeter fence with fencing similar to what we installed on North Campus. The cost proved to be prohibitive, so we were unable to move forward. Committed to creating a more secure campus, over the last month, we developed a plan to install new sections of fencing to connect with the existing fencing. Along with the additional fencing, Morningside Church has given approval for the installation of gates to the recently constructed guardhouse. The installation will begin once the fence is installed, but that process will take several weeks given the gates and related parts will need to be manufactured. We appreciate your patience as we work towards a more secure campus.
Heritage Fund Update
As of today, this community has gone above and beyond with your support of the Heritage Fund and raised $819,822! I am overwhelmed with gratitude for this community’s support of the vision of Heritage Prep. A big thank you to our Heritage Fund co-chairs, Mike Parsons and Nick Ayers, who did a fantastic job of rallying our community and working hard to meet, and then exceed, our goal of $600,000. However, they could not have accomplished this without your prayers, your generosity, and your shared belief in the mission and purpose of Heritage Preparatory School. Thank you for leaning in with us in so many ways.
We still have some work to do to reach 100% participation. If you haven’t made a gift or pledge, please give prayerful consideration to doing so. While the amount we raise is important, the 100% participation goal is what communicates so effectively the depth of this community’s commitment.
If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to me directly. Thank you for your continued partnership as we prepare our students to live purposefully and intelligently in the service of God and man.
In Christ,

Matthew H. Skinner
President