Students at The Bolles School's Middle School Bartram Campus returned to class Thursday, Aug. 13, kicking off a school year that will bring a $4 million arts and innovation center to the Mandarin-area campus.

All four Bolles campuses opened the same day, the school announced. Duval County Public Schools began classes Monday, Aug. 10. The school enrolls about 1,800 students across its campuses, according to the school's website.

Alban Arts and Innovation Center to house band, robotics and visual arts programs

The biggest change on the horizon for students in sixth through eighth grades on Bartram Road is the Alban Arts and Innovation Center, a renovation of historic North Hall. The project will house visual arts, band, chorus and robotics programs while adding an innovation lab, a science classroom and student gathering spaces, Jacksonville Magazine reported in an Aug. 5 feature on private school expansion in Northeast Florida.

The school has not announced a completion date for the project, which was described as having "plans moving forward" as of early August.

The Bartram campus is also hosting auditions for the fall musical, "Matilda," on Aug. 25. The production is open to all Bolles students in sixth through 12th grades, with performances scheduled for Nov. 12, 13 and 14, according to a school newsletter.

Alumni donations fund eight campus projects, including new arts center

Faculty returned to campus earlier this month for a pre-planning kickoff on Aug. 5 in McGehee Auditorium. Alumnus John Bacon, a 2004 graduate who entered the Bartram Campus as an eighth-grader in 1999, spoke to staff about the impact teachers and coaches had on his life, according to the school's website.

The Alban center is one of eight campus improvement projects school-wide, all funded by alumni donations. Other projects include a renovated baseball complex unveiled in February, the new Chappell Fieldhouse, the Hunt Soccer Complex under construction, a golf practice facility with simulator technology and softball complex upgrades, Jacksonville Magazine reported.