Holdheide Academy is set to break ground on a $60 million facility on 87 acres in Woodstock in less than two years. The goal isn’t to teach the next set of Cherokee County or Georgia or even national leaders, but to develop the world’s next leaders.
Holdheide Director Tammy Dorsten said Holdheide blends three schools of thought on education—traditional, Montessori and Reggio Emilia—into hands-on and child-centered lessons. That approach, plus the resources available to execute it, will make the school unique in the United States.
“We allow the kids to use their imagination and things around them to create art,” Dorsten said.
Additionally, she said, the hands-on curriculum will focus on finding their passion and helping students to “discover what they were meant to do” for a profession.
The school has 50 pupils, ranging from infants to second-graders, in a building dating to the mid-1800s. Within 36 months, Holdheide intends to have 300 students in a state-of-the-art facility in Downtown Woodstock as the school gradually expands through 12th grade.