Headmaster Richard Gehman with Students

Oak Hall is more than just another school. It is a learning community where students, with the support of their teachers and parents, have rich and abundant opportunities to grow as people, to challenge themselves in academics, the arts, and athletics, and to learn to care for others.

The centerpiece of our mission, of course, is academics. Oak Hall offers a broad and rigorous curriculum for all our students. Our Lower School program is appropriately accelerated, ensuring that our younger students attain real fluency in fundamental skills across the curriculum. In the Middle School those skills are developed further with a course of study that begins their serious exposure to the liberal arts, but also offers flexibility to meet the needs of the individual. The Upper School is entirely college preparatory, with a multitude of Advanced Placement, honors, and elective courses.

Much of our advantage derives from a very low student-teacher ratio, about 10:1, which allows for a great deal of individual attention. Our relatively small overall size and small classes create an atmosphere where academic achievement is universally supported, and where personal success is appreciated.

We believe no school can call itself excellent unless it blends great academics with a commitment to the whole child. Oak Hall offers extensive co and extracurricular programs that address a young person’s needs beyond the classroom: aesthetic, athletic, and character development. We believe exploration in the fine and performing arts is an integral part of an excellent education, and there are numerous opportunities in those areas. Our award-winning athletic and physical education programs fill the need for students to develop healthy bodies as well as learn the lessons that sports can teach so successfully.

Possibly the most important program that underlies everything else we do is our Character Education program. We take special care to teach our young boys and girls about honesty, integrity, kindness, good manners, tolerance, and a host of other important traits that will help them to become exemplary citizens and good people.

Finally, we value service to the community. Our commitment to serving the needs of Gainesville and the world is a vital part of our mission. While community service is required in the Upper School, we provide endless service learning opportunities for all our children.

Richard H. Gehman, Headmaster