The mission of St. Thomas Catholic Elementary School is to provide academic excellence permeated with Catholic Christian beliefs and practices.
By modeling Christian values, providing a current and enriched curriculum with the opportunities to live out the faith in acts of service, the child's development is encouraged.
The discipline and advantage of this solid academic program provided by the faculty and staff with the support and cooperation of the parish community will encourage students to attain their full potential.
Arts and Music Programs: Band, Bucket Drumming, Choir
School Notes
What really sets St. Thomas apart?
First, to meet each child's particular needs, we provide
differentiated instruction through small class sizes, schoolwide
blocks of time for core instruction in reading and math, and
additional time each day for extra reading and math instruction for
students and with those needs.
Second, many varied opportunities are available for a child to
expand his or her interests. Each week every child is given
the opportunity for instruction in health, physical education,
technology, and music. Additionally, students in grades 4
through 8 may choose to participate in band and/or choir. St.
Thomas also offers many extracurricular activities beginning in 4th
and/or 5th grade(s), such as cross country, track, basketball,
volleyball, bucket drumming, and speech. Our smaller size
ensures that every child has the opportunity to try something
new.
Third, children are given many opportunities to go beyond
themselves and "love their neighbor." Not only does this take place
in the classroom and during recess, but it also manifests in some
rather unique ways. For instance, older students "buddy-up" with
younger students to provide a kind of mentoring for the youngers
and allowing friendships to develop across grade levels. Our
students show their love for Christ and others each day by treating
others with respect, working to their fullest ability, and helping
one another as we strive to Live, Love, and Serve as Christ.
Fourth, students' relationship with their Creator is
strengthened through daily religious instruction and schoolwide
opening prayer every morning and classroom closing prayer each day,
as well as weekly Mass and devotional time in our church.
While we emphasize the Catholic faith tradition, such encounters
are offered in such a way as to make everyone feel comfortable. Our
non-Catholic students feel right at home and even enjoy learning
about Catholicism.
Last, but certainly not least, we recognize that parents are
the primary educators of their children, and we are happy to have
the opportunity to partner with so many wonderfully engaged
families. We are also fortunate to benefit from the time,
talent, and treasure our parish families provide, helping us
continue thriving and serving our community. Such generous and
loving support ensures that every St. Thomas student is provided a
quality Christian formation.
At last we have a dedicated phone number for suicide and crisis support. The Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is 988. More about it and suicide prevention here.
Seemingly never-ending school shootings prompted me to find out whether private schools were safer than public schools. Some answers and opinions on the matter here.
