Great Valley Academy is still on a roll four years after it opened in Manteca.

The K-8 charter school campus, located in the former Manteca Christian School on Button Avenue, is starting the school year 2014-2015 on Aug. 19 with a total enrollment of 700. That’s 80 students more than last year.

On the waiting list are 272 students. The school has consistently had triple-digit numbers on its waiting list from the time it started.

To keep up with the enrollment growth, they have added five teachers plus two additional teacher’s aides. Two full-time music teachers and two full-time Spanish teachers, plus “one and a half Physical Education teachers, are also coming on board, said Principal Russell Howell.

Five additional portables also have been added to the 20 that have been put in place in the previous years as demanded by the increase in student population.

The school has four classes in every grade level up to fourth grade. In fifth grade, there are three classes. In both sixth grade and seventh grade, there are two classes. Eighth grade has only one class.

There will be two weeks of staff training in August prior to the first day of school. Back-to-school night is set for Aug. 15 starting at 6 o’clock.

Howell said they keep the waiting list open throughout the school year until February, so there’s still opportunity during the course of the year for a student to be enrolled in the event of an opening.

All GVA teachers are credentialed.

During its first year, Great Valley distinguished itself academically by posting an 800 mark in the 2012 STAR testing. It was a significant accomplishment for a school whose charter was denied twice – first by the Manteca Unified School District, and then by the San Joaquin County of Education – before New Jerusalem welcomed the Modesto-based charter school into its district fold. For the subsequent school years, the school reached this bench mark in the STAR Testing.

The Manteca GVA, a branch of the Modesto GVA which was the first campus established, was chartered under the New Jerusalem School District in Tracy.