Holy Nativity Episcopal School
Who We Are
Our Mission
It is the purpose of Holy Nativity Episcopal School to provide a nurturing Christian environment where students with promise receive challenging academics, enriching opportunities, and a solid foundation for developing their potential as good, caring, and responsible citizens.
Our History
Over 50 years ago, members of Holy Nativity Episcopal Church embarked on a mission to create a school and in 1959 the mission became a reality. A kindergarten program, Holy Nativity Episcopal Day School, was opened with the intent of educating children in a loving, Christian environment.
During the years that followed and into the 1990s, the school continually expanded, growing to a school serving 3-year-olds through 5th grade. At first, the school utilized the church’s two-story Sunday school building, over the years it acquired 8 houses in the residential neighborhood surrounding the church, and in 1996 purchased a two-classroom portable building. Attempts were made to add a 6th grade to the school a few times and, during this period, the name was changed to Holy Nativity Episcopal School.
As the academic reputation of Holy Nativity grew, it was decided to pursue the highly regarded accreditation from the Florida Council of Independent Schools (FCIS) and the Florida Kindergarten Council (FKC). The application process began in 1992 by providing documentation that Holy Nativity met the superior instructional standards, financial stability, safe and child-appropriate environment, and sound administrative and board policies required by FCIS and FKC. Passing the intense evaluation process was a long but rewarding self-examination culminating in our 1993 FCIS initial accreditation. Holy Nativity Episcopal School has continuously maintained the rigorous standards of FCIS, passing each accreditation inspection since.
In 1998 the Holy Nativity School Foundation purchased Cove Elementary School, the beautiful and historic school originally established in 1937 and one of the first public schools in the area. The generosity of the Foundation’s purchase provided the opportunity for future expansion of Holy Nativity. The 3K through 5th grade school could now add grades 6 through 8 for the long requested HNES middle school. After a year of renovation, a portion of the Cove school building was restored to its original beauty and the 5th and 6th graders attended classes on the highly polished hardwood floors in the classic high-ceiling classrooms.
The addition of the Cove campus created a two-campus school referred to as “the lower campus” and “the upper campus.” The lower campus, the original campus, was located at Holy Nativity Episcopal Church and served all the kindergartens and, at first, the first through fourth grades as well; the upper campus, the Cove campus, became the 1999 home of the 5th grade, plus the initial 6th grade class of Holy Nativity Middle School.
Right after school recessed for the summer of 2000, second grade student William Charles Hall was fatally injured in a boating accident. William was an outstanding athlete who excelled in sports and had many friends. His mother, Rebecca Hall, led the way in a fundraising campaign in which William’s friends gave some $25,000 to develop William’s Field, a new soccer field that quickly became a joy and asset in the school and to the community. A plaque in memory of William is on the side of the kindergarten room facing William’s Field.
Each year a middle school grade was added until the 6th - 8th middle school dream was completed. In 2001 Holy Nativity Episcopal Middle School celebrated its first 8th grade graduation. Over the next few years, additional grade levels were transferred to the Cove campus, so that by 2007 the Upper School consisted of 3rd – 8th grades.
Planning for the future, in 2006 the Board of Directors had purchased three houses on Hamilton Avenue across the street from the Cove campus. Meanwhile, the houses on the lower campus were in need of costly renovation, leading to the next big change: consolidating the HNES campuses. Throughout the summer of 2009, the monumental task of not only moving all the classrooms from the lower to the upper campus, but also re-purposing areas of the upper school to accommodate the entire kindergarten and 1st and 2nd grades, was accomplished.
At the beginning of our next 50 years of history, Holy Nativity Episcopal School was once again on one campus, and celebrated the first 50 years of educational excellence by hosting a 50 Year Celebration. In 2010, the original Cove School Building, now the home of HNES, was named The Bill Lloyd Building, to honor William (Bill) Lloyd, Sr. who had not only spearheaded saving the beautiful and historic building from destruction, but also spent every day for over a year on the back-breaking work of her renovation.
Exciting expansion continued throughout the 2010s. During the summer of 2011, HNES’ portable building was moved to the campus and, with tremendous help, renovated so that “the cottage” became two lovely classrooms. The summer of 2012 saw the complete renovation of one of HNES’ properties - 214 Hamilton Avenue, now the "Lynn Ferren Library" (thus named in 2022 in honor of Lynn Ferren's 40th anniversary of service to HNES) and a light-filled art room in the back. During the fall of 2012, Holy Nativity hosted a 75th Birthday Party and Cove School Reunion for all who had attended Cove School from 1937 until its closing in 1988. In 2014, our auditorium was named in honor of Head Mistress Emeritus Beverly McDaniel who had served as our Headmistress from 1988-2008. Our "Holy Pavilion" was completed in the spring of 2017. Completing our northwest corner of the campus, a modular was added to house our 4K preschool students (later our two 5th grade classes).
Hurricane Michael, on October 10, 2018, fully tested the resiliency of the school. Head of School Judy Hughes (served 2011-2020) went well beyond what was expected and worked tirelessly, around the clock, for two years to ensure that the school would recover. HNES students finished the 2018-19 school year on the church campus as the historic schoolhouse was rebuilt under Mrs. Hughes' leadership.
Shortly after "getting back to normal" in Bay County, COVID-19, the global pandemic, drastically altered every hope and plan for the school. On March 17, 2020, the governor of Florida closed all schools through April 15th (later extended to the end of May) with the hope of limiting the spread of the virus. HNES teachers gathered (6-feet apart) to plan how to implement the "HNES@home" ZOOM online curriculum. The program launched on March 26, 2020, and was the exclusive instruction through the end of school on May 27th. Graduation ceremonies for kindergarten, 5th grade, and 8th grade were held outdoors and included parades of graduates in their decorated cars around the perimeter of the school campus.
The school year 2020-2021, ushered in the leadership of a new Head of School - Cynthia Fuller. Mrs. Fuller oversaw the return of in-person instruction at HNES in the schoolhouse, where the curriculum protocol included: spaced seating, outdoor chapel and lunch, daily temperature checks, and full-time masking by students and faculty.
A new season began in 2021. The school re-built the Brian Sharp Memorial Outdoor classroom on the south end of the campus. Originally located on the Church campus, the "BSharp" was badly damaged during Hurricane Michael, thus offering the perfect reason to rebuild the amphitheater platform on the current school campus.
The future is waiting. 2023 saw the kickoff of the largest capital campaign in the school's history. Buoyed by a naming pledge from Carolyn Cramer, the $2 million Linda & Tom Weller STREAM Building will open its doors in 2026. The facility will focus on: Science, Technology, Robotics, Engineering, Arts, & Mathematics for all students at Holy Nativity.
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