Annistown Elementary School

In the early 1900s the area around Annistown Elementary School was known as Annie’s Town. The site for Annistown Elementary School, located at 3150 Spain Road in Snellville, was previously a wooded hill covered with pines, dogwoods, and other hardwoods. Today, from the top of the hill, Stone Mountain can be viewed by students and faculty as they come and go.

The need for Annistown Elementary School came as a result of rapid growth in the Snellville/Stone Mountain area. As a result, a 1979 Gwinnett County bond referendum included this school in its plan. The 23-acre site was selected in February of 1980. Construction, using a self-contained classroom concept, began in May of 1980, and was completed in August of 1981.

Since the original building was constructed, two additions have been completed. In 1982, an activity building was constructed behind the southeast end of the facility. In 1988, a 12-room addition was added to accommodate rapid growth which also provided music and art classrooms, additional office space, and small group instruction settings.

Approximately 87 percent of Annistown’s student population was drawn from Centerville Elementary, and eight percent was drawn from Mountain Park Elementary. Approximately five percent of the population was due to growth in the area.

The school’s original mascot was the Annistown Tiger, which was chosen by the school’s first principal and a group of teachers. They also selected the school colors blue and gold.

Annistown prides itself on providing multiple opportunities for students to extend their learning through clubs and enrichment classes. This focus on student learning has allowed the school to earn recognition from the Georgia Department of Education as a Reward School in the “High Progress” category in 2015–16. This award honors schools among the top 10% of Title I schools in the state making the most progress in improving the performance of the “all students” group over three years on statewide assessments. The school’s efforts in environmental education also have earned kudos from Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful.

In 2014–15, the school was one of three elementary schools selected to pilot a Dual Language Immersion program. Our Kindergarten–5th Grade immersion program is a 50/50 model that provides students the opportunity to learn Math, Science, and literacy in the target language, Spanish. Language Arts and Social Studies are both taught in English. Through this collaboration, students develop language skills and proficiency in both English and Spanish.

In 2019, the school’s mascot and colors were changed to align with the cluster high school’s mascot, the Generals. The school colors are black, silver, and white. Traditions, such as the wax museum of famous Americans, Annistown Idol talent show, and a host of parent events continue to support a successful home-school connection.

Our Parent Center engages with parents to support student success. It gives parents opportunities to learn how to help their child improve with reading, mathematics, and writing skills, and provides resources to help with building student success. Additionally, our Parent Center facilitates the learning in our Play 2 Learn program, which assists families in how to prepare their children ages birth to four years old for a successful school experience.

In 2020, Annistown continued to provide students with rich learning experiences during the pandemic, serving students digitally and then offering digital and in-person instruction in 2020-21. As a result, Annistown was a recipient of the Walton EMC grant which was utilized towards building a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) Innovation Lab. The Annistown mission is to create a thriving school community where students, teachers, and parents pursue academic excellence which continues to support our vision to become a world-class school of confident, motivated, lifelong learners.