Academic Programs for Troubled Teen Boys & Girls
Fully Accredited Private Academy
One challenge many parents face when considering residential care for their troubled teen is deciding how their child will continue or thrive in their academic studies. Shepherd’s Hill Academy provides an on-campus, fully accredited, private school to meet your student’s academic needs. SHA is accredited by the Georgia Accrediting Commission.
There’s no reason to decide between residential care and a good quality education. At Shepherd’s Hill Academy your teen will have both! We understand how peer pressure can effect teens in a public school setting. Shepherd’s Hill Academy provides your family with a worry-free solution by offering an on-campus, private academy as part of the residential program! With a student to staff ratio of 5-to-1, your teen receives an individualized, quality education. Students completing the requirements earn a fully accredited high school diploma at Shepherd’s Hill Academy.
Our Georgia state accredited Junior and Senior High School provides teens with a strong education by our certified teaching staff. The learning environment takes place without all the distractions, temptations and pressures of public schools. Shepherd’s Hill Academy is a highly structured and well-disciplined atmosphere that is conducive to academic remediation and advancement. We also work with our students to prepare them for college by assisting them with SAT/ACT prep, scheduling SAT/ACT testing, as well as scholarship and college applications.
All courses are transferable and commensurate with the requirements of the State of Georgia, and therefore credits transfer to other states and colleges. Our courses are standards-based and are listed on the Georgia Department of Education website. We are able to accommodate a variety of Individualized Educational Plans (IEP) adjustments.
Academic Opportunities
From junior high classes to graduating seniors, Shepherd’s Hill Academy meets your child’s individual educational needs. Upon enrollment, our principal and faculty work with you and your teen to design a classroom schedule for your child’s academic goals, and they help them advance in areas where he or she may have fallen behind.
Our faculty offers your child a wide variety of courses. If we cannot provide the specific class needed for appropriate advancement, Shepherd’s Hill Academy provides Georgia Virtual School, which offers advanced opportunities for students to engage in Advanced Placement classes, college preparatory, career and technical courses and other electives to enhance their learning experience.
If your teen is a high school senior and scheduled to graduate from Shepherd’s Hill Academy, our academic team helps him or her prepare for college by providing college prep, ACT and SAT prep, as well as providing them opportunities to take the SAT or ACT as needed. In addition, we help students apply for the Georgia HOPE Scholarship, and when possible, we search scholarship opportunities for students from out of state.
Shepherd’s Hill Academy is sanctioned by the NCAA Eligibility Center. This means that courses successfully completed at Shepherd’s Hill Academy are accepted by the NCAA for collegiate athletic eligibility.
Intramural Sports and Electives
Shepherd’s Hill Academy offers students extra-curricular activities and the ability to participate in competitive sports within our local communities. Soccer, basketball and cross-country are events Shepherd’s Hill Academy students often participate in.
In addition to sports, Shepherd’s Hill Academy offers your child further studies in music, art and drama. Once enrolled, your teen has access to musical instruments, art supplies and an enriching environment for creative thought and artistic expression.
Shepherd’s Hill Academy is a Christ-centered residential school. Because of this, we are able to offer biblical classes that range from a historical understanding of the Scriptures to more intensive apologetic curriculum.
Other extra-curricular classes offered during summer school sessions include: shop class, automotive class and physical/health education. Shepherd’s Hill Academy offers a wide range of electives on campus and through Georgia Virtual School.
SHA Academic Mission
In February, 2010 the faculty of Shepherd’s Hill Academy began the task of developing a new mission statement and academic crest. We decided the mission statement should be brief, but include fully our desires and goals as a therapeutic environment and academy. We also wanted to involve all of our stakeholders: including students, parents, faculty and staff.
We conducted surveys of students in the classroom, parents at our parent conferences and the Shepherd’s Hill Academy faculty members. Over the course of this project we accumulated a vast array of creative inputs and ideas.
We ultimately adopted a student phrase as our mission statement and then embarked on the idea of presenting our mission visually. This also included much student and faculty input. In March of 2011, we adopted the final product.
We included the Latin term (Modus De Deus) for our mission in the final version of the academic crest. We believe our mission statement, although very short, has breadth and depth of meaning which fully captures our intentions as we embark on the challenges of spiritual and academic pursuits.
At Shepherd’s Hill Academy, we have been committed to developing a Mission and Goals that are short and precise. We attempt to refrain from verbalism in favor of content. Thus, our Mission statement is “Living and Learning God’s Way” and we employ a short version in Latin of “Modus de Deus” — Way of God.
As Christians, we believe that our God possesses infinite knowledge and is a loving and forgiving God. Shepherd’s Hill Academy students should aspire to be this way — Way of God.
