Enrollment
Ivy Academy’s Skillern Elementary is a public charter school serving grades K-4 for the 2025-2026 academic year. We will add a grade each year until we reach 5th grade. All Hamilton County families are eligible to apply. Skillern Elementary does not require entrance testing, and there is no tuition.
Skillern’s application and lottery process are conducted by the Hamilton County Office of School Choice. Applications for 2025-2026 will open in November. The lottery results will then be posted in February, 2025. Check the Hamilton County School’s Choice Education page for updates as to exact dates.
Application Process
Make an Informed Choice
Attend a Discovery Day
First Steps! If you want to learn more about our school, attend a Skillern Discovery Day, which we offer on Saturday mornings from 9:15 - 11:00. To register for a fall Discovery Day, click here.
We offer these Discovery Days as a way for families to learn more about the Skillern model to decide if we are the right fit. As a charter school, we are a school of choice and are able to offer a unique educational model that may not suit everyone. We take the responsibility of informing prospective families about who we are very seriously, as it is so important that families make this choice with a full picture of the program they are choosing.
Who We Are
Skillern Elementary offers an academically rigorous course of study featuring phonics-based reading instruction, structured math, and a study of the classics. In this way, we look more like the traditional classrooms of the past, where teachers directed the learning rather than allowing students’ inclinations to be the guide. Students are exposed to the wonders of every discipline and grow in their love of learning while being held to a high standard of virtue and responsibility in their academic pursuits.
That’s not all that makes us unique, however. We are also a hybrid indoor/outdoor program, where students have frequent opportunities to learn outside and to study the natural world around them. We believe that this merger of nature education with top-tier academics and a culture of high expectations is a beautiful blending that fosters lifelong growth in students.
Who We Aren’t
Because we offer a model that is unique in Tennessee, misconceptions about who we are have arisen, so it is important to go over some things that we are not. Skillern Elementary is not a forest school where students are outside all day. We are also not a play-based learning program or a setting designed for behavior needs. Families looking for those options are often faced with discouraged students, surprised at the amount of structure in our day. If a mainly child-guided model is what you are seeking, other choices could better accommodate your needs.
As a public school, we serve all students that come to us, providing them with the very best we have to offer within our model. Come and learn all that Skillern Elementary has to offer.
