Nashville Christian School (or simply Nashville Christian) is a private school

Private school

Private schools, also known as independent schools or nonstate schools, are not administered by local, state or national governments; thus, they retain the right to select their students and are funded in whole or in part by charging their students' tuition, rather than relying on mandatory...

 located outside of Bellevue, in Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...

.

History

Nashville Christian School opened on September 20, 1971 in the West Nashville Heights Church of Christ building. Initially, 266 students, ranging from first

First grade

First grade is a year of primary education in schools in the United States and English-speaking provinces of Canada. It is the first school year after kindergarten...

 to seventh

Seventh grade

Seventh grade is a year of education in the United States and many other nations. The seventh grade is the seventh school year after kindergarten. Students are usually 12–13 years old. Traditionally, seventh grade was the next-to-last year of elementary school...

, attended the school, supported by 19 faculty members. Nashville Christian added higher grades successively in the first five years, and after the school moved to its current location on Sawyer Brown Road in Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...

 outside of Bellevue in September 1976, twenty-two students became the first graduates in June 1977. Kindergarten

Kindergarten

A kindergarten is a preschool educational institution for children. The term was created by Friedrich Fröbel for the play and activity institute that he created in 1837 in Bad Blankenburg as a social experience for children for their transition from home to school...

 classes were also added in 1981.

Nashville Christian became accredited with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools

Southern Association of Colleges and Schools

The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools is one of the six regional accreditation organizations recognized by the United States Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation...

 in 1986. The same year, the school added the Gibson Center, a fieldhouse with a gymnasium, locker rooms, and classrooms. Financial problems in 1992 caused the school to be temporarily closed, but the school quickly rebounded under the leadership of a new administration. The campus continued to expand in 2004, as a new elementary and middle school building opened, allowing Nashville Christian to expand its enrollment and school-related programs.

Academics

Nashville Christian serves as a college preparatory

University-preparatory school

A university-preparatory school or college-preparatory school is a secondary school, usually private, designed to prepare students for a college or university education...

 school to its high school students. The curriculum features twenty-seven college credits in English, math, history, and speech. Honors, dual enrollment

Dual enrollment

In education, dual enrollment involved students being enrolled in two separate, academically related institutions. It may also refer to any individual who is participating in two related programs, but such a general form of usage is uncommon....

, and Advanced Placement

Advanced Placement Program

The Advanced Placement program is a curriculum in the United States and Canada sponsored by the College Board which offers standardized courses to high school students that are generally recognized to be equivalent to undergraduate courses in college...

 classes are also offered.

Athletics

Nashville Christian's athletic teams, which were added within two years of its establishment, originally bore the nickname "Pioneers", until the student body voted to change the nickname to the "Eagle

Eagle

Eagles are members of the bird family Accipitridae, and belong to several genera which are not necessarily closely related to each other. Most of the more than 60 species occur in Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just two species can be found in the United States and Canada, nine more in...

s" in 1972. Today Nashville Christian fields athletic teams at both the middle school and high school levels. They include:

• Middle School Baseball
• Middle School Basketball
• Middle School Football
• Middle School Softball
• Varsity Baseball
• Varsity Basketball
• Varsity Football
• Varsity Softball
• Golf
• Track
• Wrestling
• Cross Country
• Soccer