The Ascension Classical Academy

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A new Christian educational option for families in southern San Luis Obispo County and northern Santa Barbara County is in formation now. We are planning to open in the Autumn of 2025 serving students primarily in the 3rd - 8th grades with the possibility of adding grades should we receive interest from families with older or younger students.

We invite you to explore our website. If you are interested in learning more and/or partnering with us this Fall, please fill out the contact form. We will be scheduling information sessions soon so that we can discuss your questions in person. Thank you for your time!

Coming, Fall 2025

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This Fall, The Ascension Classical Academy plans to begin classes for grades 3-8; the actual grade levels will depend upon the families who participate. As a new institution, we will be focused upon establishing our school’s culture and the daily and annual rhythms of our life together. All of this must be done while maintaining excellence in academics and cultivating devotion to God in the school community. God is doing great things in the Five Cities area, and we are excited to begin! You and your students are cordially invited to join us!

Amice, Ascende Superius

Core Values and Emphases

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Integrated and Decidedly Christian Perspective to Education


  • All Truth is God’s Truth
  • God is One and thus His Creation is real, consistent, and unified
  • Transformation of our hearts and minds to align with God's revelation is our goal

Application of the Traditional Seven Liberal Arts as the Tools of Learning and of Creativity


  • Trivium: Grammar, Logic, Rhetoric
  • Quadrivium: Mathematics, Music, Geometry, Astronomy

Emphasis Upon Christian Moral Formation Highlighting


  • Proverbs 1:7, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge.”
  • The Four Cardinal Virtues: Prudence, Justice, Fortitude, and Temperance
  • The Three Theological Virtues: Faith, Hope, and Love

Who We Are

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The Ascension Classical Academy is a ministry of Christ the King Anglican Church in Grover Beach, California. Many educational options exist in the Five Cities and surrounding areas, but for many families, these options don’t provide everything that they wish their children to have.

They understand that as Christian parents and communities, we must prepare our young people both to stand against an increasingly anti-Christian culture and also to embrace God’s calling for their lives, whatever that may be.

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Our Mission

The mission of Ascension Academy is to cultivate in our students a desire for wisdom, a delight in creation, and a devotion to the Creator, that in knowing God and His world, they may serve Him and their fellow man with compassion, virtue, and strength.

Our Leadership

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Bartel, Kent 2024-12
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Rev. Kent Bartel

Headmaster

Fr. Bartel is a Cal Poly graduate and has worked in aerospace engineering for most of his career. For the past 16 years, he worked at Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, where he designed rocket engines and components. His main project at SpaceX has been the Raptor engine, designed to one day take humans to Mars. Prior to joining SpaceX, Fr. Bartel worked as a propulsion design engineer for Rocketdyne, a division of Boeing at the time.

From 2004 – 2008, he was assistant headmaster at St. Andrew’s Academy in Lake Almanor, CA. In November 2022, he became vicar at Christ the King Anglican Church in Grover Beach. Fr. Bartel has a B.S. in Aeronautical Engineering from Cal Poly, an M.S. in Aerospace Engineering from USC, and an M.Div. from Cranmer Theological House, the seminary of the Diocese of Mid-America of the Reformed Episcopal Church.

Mrs. Allison Bartel

Humanities

Mrs. Bartel has a B.A. in Liberal Arts and Culture from New St. Andrew’s College in Moscow, ID, and a Masters in Professional Counseling from Amberton University in Garland, Texas. She has twenty-one years of teaching experience, beginning with St. Andrew’s Academy in Lake Almanor, CA, and later at The St. Timothy School in Dallas, TX. She is also a Licensed Professional Counselor in the state of Texas. Besides part-time teaching and counseling, Mrs. Bartel also tutors students in Latin and English.

Bartel, Allison, 2024-12
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evelyn, eslinger, websized, 2022-2023
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Mrs. Evelyn Eslinger

Dean of Students and Lead Grammar School Teacher

Mrs. Eslinger has a B.A. in Political Science with a Minor in Education from the University of California Irvine, and a Masters in Education from the University of California Los Angeles. She is credentialed in the state of California with a multiple subject teaching credential including a bilingual/BCLAD in Spanish, and certifications in GATE, ELD and ECE. She has twenty years of teaching experience in both public and private Christian/classical schools, most recently teaching at Christ Classical and Coastal Christian School here on the Central Coast.

Frequently Asked Questions

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In short, classical Christian education is the educational tradition which looks to the synthesis of classical and Christian thought as found in the middle ages in the West, as its model for education. This tradition is based upon the classic thought and texts of Greece and Rome as transformed by the Word of God, revealed in Jesus and practiced in the Church.

Click here to read more about the essential elements of classical Christian education.

Contact Us to Learn More

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Thank you for your interest in The Ascension Classical Academy. We hope that you find this to be a refreshing and hopeful beginning, and that you will want this education for your children.