Nicaea Academy of Cape Coral is now accepting students for the upcoming school year, and has already opened its Early Learning Academy. The facility’s elementary and middle schools will be opening for the 2012-2013 school year.

The campus is located in Cape Coral at 3221 Chiquita Blvd., S.

Cape resident Erica Scheall is the director, and has been with the school group since its inception, but in Naples. She is thrilled to be at the new location in her hometown area.

The academy is an interdenominational, independent Christian school dedicated to providing its students with the winning tools necessary to build a firm foundation of academic and moral excellence, officials said.

“What I love is the educational Christian environment,” she said. “Our philosophy is we build minds for the future with quality educational, with quality values equaling quality citizens.”

Nicaea Academy was founded in 1996 by Faith education missionaries, through the efforts of its director, the Rev. Barton McIntyre and his wife, Wendy.

“I’ve been with Nicaea Academy since it opened in 1996 in Naples. There are now three campuses with this new one in Cape,” she said. “We actually started looking for the opportunity to open in Cape for well over a year.”

At that time, there was nothing available to fit the school’s campus needs, she said.

“This building kind of fell into our lap, Our preschool building alone is 22,000 square feet and can hold 158 students,” she said.

They are still going through the official process of determining the capacity of the elementary and middle schools components.

“Our headmaster Rev. Barton McIntyre started in a one-room schoolhouse and now has been able to open the other facilities,” she said. “I respect his philosophies and am looking forward to bringing these philosophies to our Cape Coral location. I’m very excited to bring this Christian school to the Cape.”

His wife Wendy was instrumental in the development of the school, she said. “They are both very dedicated to the daily activities in the school, making sure we uphold the philosophies of our school. She helped him build it from the ground up.”

Jobs will also be brought to the area.

“We’re also here to help the community, bringing 40 jobs.”

Not all positions are filled. Those interested can go to the school to apply.

“We also have six scholarships we offer,” she said. “We have our in-house scholarship which will help families with their tuition, we accept 4CS and VPK, the Step Up For Students, McKay and a MacIntyre scholarship which is sports and academic.”

Scholarship information is available on their Facebook page – facebook\NicaeaCape Coral.com.

Sports will also be offered in the future.

“Our Naples locations already have football and cheerleading and play a lot charter schools in the Cape,” shes said. “We’re hoping to bring those here to the Cape.”

One interesting thing they do is daily media for parents.

“On our Facebook page, we upload pictures and videos of our children’s activities throughout the day.”

Nicaea Early Learning Academy is now open 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday.

The Nicaea Academy of Cape Coral is located at 3221 Chiquita Blvd., S., near Gleason Parkway. For information, call 540-9400.