As we begin celebrating Catholic Schools Week this week, this is a good time to reflect on the gifts of Catholic Schools, and especially on the gift of St. Mary’s School. St. Mary’s School has been providing an outstanding education to children in Prekindergarten to 8^th grade for the past fifty years. It is a loving, caring community that sees many of its graduates return to enroll their children at St. Mary’s School.

As the Farmington Valley’s only Catholic elementary school, St. Mary’s remains committed to its mission to provide each child with a moral compass for the journey of life. The core values of faith in God and service to others are the heart and soul of our curriculum. At St. Mary’s, we understand that preparing students for the future includes more than assuring academic success or future economic prosperity. We believe a successful life is measured in what we give to God, to our nation, and to the world.

At St. Mary’s School, students live their faith daily. Our students begin each day with Morning Prayer. They learn their Catholic faith in daily religion class, and they practice gospel values in their words and actions. St. Mary’s emphasizes the message of Christian love and community, particularly service to others. Our students visit Governors House, serve a community Thanksgiving luncheon every year and reach out to those in need through food banks and shelters.

St. Mary’s School focuses on educational excellence, helping students to succeed through challenging classes, creative and innovative instruction and cutting edge academics. With the help of our iPad technology, our students receive differentiated instruction. Students are challenged in their classes daily, including honors level math and English in the middle school. Our music, band and art programs help our students grow in creativity. Currently, St. Mary’s middle school students are participating in a Shakespearian internship in which they are learning about Shakespeare and performing one act plays. Every day at St. Mary’s brings exciting ways for our students to learn and grow.

Beginning in 2012, St. Mary’s embraced mobile device technology and cloud based information management and collaboration with our iPad project. Every St. Mary’s student’s educational tool kit includes an iPad for daily use and our curriculum has been energized and transformed as our proficiency and expertise with the device has grown. In Science, we made great use of our photography skills for experiments by using the camera to record plant growth over time and earthworm movement, etc. Students are enjoying experimenting with new apps and sharing smart ways to work independently and collaboratively. As today’s technologies emerge and evolve, St. Mary’s remains committed to an environment that embraces and integrates every type of learning tool.

St, Mary’s School is family-centered and we partner with parents to support all students as they learn. A Catholic School education fosters a strong sense of community and a special bond among the students, the home, the school and the Church. I invite you to stop by our Open House on Tuesday, January 28^th at 6:30 to learn more about St. Mary’s School and the gift of a Catholic School education.