Yavneh was named after a now-defunct Jewish school in Cologne, Germany that closed during World War II, which itself was named for an ancient city and academy in Israel.
[5] Yavneh Academy occupied five temporary locations before settling into its permanent home, The Schultz Rosenberg Campus, named after donors Howard and Leslie Schultz and Marcus and Ann Rosenberg.
[5] The school's current campus is at 12324 Merit Drive, covering 3.8 acres (1.5 ha).
The Schultzes had acquired the site and transferred it to the Greater Dallas Jewish Community Capital Campaign of the 21st Century as a donation.
[7] The school, along with Akiba Academy of Dallas, was built with a $19 million bond issued by the Colorado Educational and Cultural Facilities Authority (CEFCA) and underwritten by J.P. Morgan Securities Inc.[8] On September 27, 2004, about 36 boxes of Jewish religious books were ceremonially buried at the school site.
[14] In 2012, Yavneh's student newspaper, The Bulldog Print, was awarded “Best in Show” for broadsheet 13- to 16-page newspapers during the National High School Journalism Conference in San Antonio, Texas.
[15] Its engineering team, under the auspices of CIJE, was also awarded top national honors in 2017.