diff --git a/spring-data-cassandra/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/cassandra/config/CqlSessionFactoryBean.java b/spring-data-cassandra/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/cassandra/config/CqlSessionFactoryBean.java
index 3f42ae2ec..dff59a893 100644
--- a/spring-data-cassandra/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/cassandra/config/CqlSessionFactoryBean.java
+++ b/spring-data-cassandra/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/cassandra/config/CqlSessionFactoryBean.java
@@ -67,6 +67,7 @@
  * @author John Blum
  * @author Mark Paluch
  * @author Tomasz Lelek
+ * @author Ammar Khaku
  * @since 3.0
  */
 public class CqlSessionFactoryBean
@@ -450,11 +451,20 @@ public void afterPropertiesSet() {
 
 		this.session = buildSession(sessionBuilder);
 
-		executeCql(getStartupScripts().stream(), this.session);
-		performSchemaAction();
+		try {
+			SchemaRefreshUtils.withDisabledSchema(this.session, () -> {
+				executeCql(getStartupScripts().stream(), this.session);
+				performSchemaAction();
+			});
+		} catch (RuntimeException e) {
+			throw e;
+		} catch (Exception e) {
+			throw new IllegalStateException("Unexpected checked exception thrown", e);
+		}
 
-		this.systemSession.refreshSchema();
-		this.session.refreshSchema();
+		if (this.systemSession.isSchemaMetadataEnabled()) {
+			this.systemSession.refreshSchema();
+		}
 	}
 
 	protected CqlSessionBuilder buildBuilder() {
diff --git a/spring-data-cassandra/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/cassandra/config/SchemaRefreshUtils.java b/spring-data-cassandra/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/cassandra/config/SchemaRefreshUtils.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..beb5c144d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spring-data-cassandra/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/cassandra/config/SchemaRefreshUtils.java
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2022 the original author or authors.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.springframework.data.cassandra.config;
+
+import com.datastax.oss.driver.api.core.session.Session;
+
+/**
+ * Utility methods for executing schema actions with refresh disabled.
+ *
+ * @author Ammar Khaku
+ */
+class SchemaRefreshUtils {
+	@FunctionalInterface
+	interface ThrowingRunnable {
+		void run() throws Exception;
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Programmatically disables schema refreshes on the session and runs the provided Runnable,
+	 * taking care to restore the previous state of schema refresh config on the provided session.
+	 * Note that the session could have had schema refreshes enabled/disabled either
+	 * programmatically or via config.
+	 */
+	static void withDisabledSchema(Session session, ThrowingRunnable r) throws Exception {
+		boolean schemaEnabledPreviously = session.isSchemaMetadataEnabled();
+		session.setSchemaMetadataEnabled(false);
+		r.run();
+		session.setSchemaMetadataEnabled(null); // triggers schema refresh if results in true
+		if (schemaEnabledPreviously != session.isSchemaMetadataEnabled()) {
+			// user may have set it programmatically so set it back programmatically
+			session.setSchemaMetadataEnabled(schemaEnabledPreviously);
+		}
+	}
+}
diff --git a/spring-data-cassandra/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/cassandra/config/SessionFactoryFactoryBean.java b/spring-data-cassandra/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/cassandra/config/SessionFactoryFactoryBean.java
index 0f0d838d5..6e5fb8e76 100644
--- a/spring-data-cassandra/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/cassandra/config/SessionFactoryFactoryBean.java
+++ b/spring-data-cassandra/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/cassandra/config/SessionFactoryFactoryBean.java
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@
  * keyspace before applying {@link SchemaAction schema actions} such as creating user-defined types and tables.
  *
  * @author Mark Paluch
+ * @author Ammar Khaku
  * @since 3.0
  * @see SessionFactoryInitializer
  */
@@ -128,9 +129,7 @@ public void afterPropertiesSet() throws Exception {
 			this.keyspacePopulator.populate(getObject().getSession());
 		}
 
-		performSchemaAction();
-
-		this.session.refreshSchema();
+		SchemaRefreshUtils.withDisabledSchema(session, this::performSchemaAction);
 	}
 
 	@Override
diff --git a/spring-data-cassandra/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/cassandra/config/SchemaRefreshUtilsUnitTests.java b/spring-data-cassandra/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/cassandra/config/SchemaRefreshUtilsUnitTests.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ecef2ab33
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spring-data-cassandra/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/cassandra/config/SchemaRefreshUtilsUnitTests.java
@@ -0,0 +1,66 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2022 the original author or authors.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.springframework.data.cassandra.config;
+
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.*;
+
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.extension.ExtendWith;
+import org.mockito.Mock;
+import org.mockito.junit.jupiter.MockitoExtension;
+
+import com.datastax.oss.driver.api.core.session.Session;
+
+/**
+ * Test suite of unit tests testing the contract and functionality of the {@link SchemaRefreshUtils} class.
+ */
+@ExtendWith(MockitoExtension.class)
+class SchemaRefreshUtilsUnitTests {
+	@Mock Session session;
+
+	@Test
+	void withDisabledSchemaRevert() throws Exception {
+		when(session.isSchemaMetadataEnabled()).thenReturn(true);
+		SchemaRefreshUtils.withDisabledSchema(session, () -> {});
+		verify(session).setSchemaMetadataEnabled(false);
+		verify(session).setSchemaMetadataEnabled(null);
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	void withDisabledSchemaDisabledPreviously() throws Exception {
+		when(session.isSchemaMetadataEnabled()).thenReturn(false);
+		SchemaRefreshUtils.withDisabledSchema(session, () -> {});
+		verify(session).setSchemaMetadataEnabled(false);
+		verify(session).setSchemaMetadataEnabled(null);
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	void withDisabledSchemaDisabledProgrammaticallyPreviously() throws Exception {
+		when(session.isSchemaMetadataEnabled()).thenReturn(false).thenReturn(true);
+		SchemaRefreshUtils.withDisabledSchema(session, () -> {});
+		verify(session, times(2)).setSchemaMetadataEnabled(false);
+		verify(session).setSchemaMetadataEnabled(null);
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	void withDisabledSchemaEnabledProgrammaticallyPreviously() throws Exception {
+		when(session.isSchemaMetadataEnabled()).thenReturn(true).thenReturn(false);
+		SchemaRefreshUtils.withDisabledSchema(session, () -> {});
+		verify(session).setSchemaMetadataEnabled(true);
+		verify(session).setSchemaMetadataEnabled(null);
+	}
+}