St. Elizabeth Ann Seton School

“Thus it is necessary to pass on something worthwhile to the generations to come, sound rules for behavior, and to point out lofty objectives to which to direct decisively their existence. There is a growing demand for an education that can answer the expectations of youth; an education that is primarily a testimony and, for the Christian educator, a witness of faith.”                  
- Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI

God creates man in His image, endowed with the powers of reason and free will. These gifts set us above all worldly creatures, giving us the ability to know, love and serve God. The purpose of education, therefore, is to guide young souls through experiences that perpetrate growth in the theological, intellectual, and moral virtues. God ordained that this awesome task falls primarily in the hands of parents. We firmly believe that parents are the initial and primary educators of their children. It is through a cooperative, close relationship between parents and school that children are formed and reinforced in their spiritual, emotional, intellectual, and physical capacities. 

The Second Vatican Council, in its document entitled Declaration on Christian Education states, that parents are the first and foremost educators of their children, and that "their role as educators is so decisive that scarcely anything can compensate for their failure in it." Furthermore, we find this same reasoning expressed by our Holy Father of happy memory, Pope St. John Paul II, in his Apostolic Exhortation on the family, Familiaris Consortio, when he states that "the right and duty of parents to give education is essential...it is original and primary with regard to the educational role of others...it is irreplaceable and inalienable and therefore incapable of being entirely delegated to others or usurped by others." It is a parent who teaches a child through exhortation and personal witness the importance of prayer and the sacramental life; it is a parent who answers a child’s continuing flow of questions that develop his understanding of the world; it is a parent who provides prudent counsel to the child, enabling him to do the good things that lead to moral virtue. The importance and nobility of the parental contribution in the education of children cannot be overstated.

Acknowledging these truths, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic School aids parents in the formation and education of their children based on the principle of subsidiarity. It does so by providing an atmosphere that maintains and fosters the Christian spiritual, intellectual, moral, and physical formation that the students receive at home. The school exists primarily to form the intellect of the student and, as such, aids parents in those tasks of education that they are not able to fulfill completely on their own. 

In addition, we believe that it is the responsibility of the family and the school, through mutual reinforcement, to set and maintain high standards of moral conduct for all students. These morals, founded in the Gospel principles, are the basis for developing a life of virtue and the path to live in God's will. It is through the balanced integration of our Roman Catholic faith with our experiences of learning, life, and service that we can form St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic School students into Christian role models and leaders in our secular and church communities. 

In keeping with the perennial philosophy and theology that is the intellectual heritage of every Christian, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic School seeks to carry on the living tradition of authentic Catholic education. Education must not seek simply to impart knowledge of the various disciplines, but more importantly should give students the tools whereby they can live a meaningful life, continuing to gain knowledge through their individual study. These tools will include the ability to reason from premise to conclusion, to distinguish, to articulate well, and to persuade. These educational techniques, which have produced the outstanding men and women who have fashioned our world in the last two millennia, surely will continue to produce graduates who are capable of excellence in all areas of life, fully armed to meet the challenges of the third millennium. 

It is our privilege to assist parents in this educational endeavor by promoting intellectual excellence and developing aesthetic appreciation in a disciplined atmosphere, which respects and instills the virtues of love and respect for others, responsibility, honesty, and integrity. These are the same virtues that are essential to a strong family, to a sense of responsible citizenship, and especially to an ever-deepening spiritual life.

In order to remain faithful to this Philosophy of Education, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic School is committed to the formation of our students in the following areas: 
 

1.    SPIRITUAL FORMATION

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic School aims to help each student fulfill the mission for which he/she was created, developing a personal and intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. Christ becomes the ultimate motive for all the student’s choices and actions. The student’s intellectual and human growth moves closer to perfection through God’s grace and the student’s spiritual efforts. 

Spiritual formation is an ongoing process of conversion. The goal of the spiritual formation program is to help all students develop an authentic spiritual life such that:
•    God, the Church, and the souls of others are a reality in their lives
•    They are convinced of God’s love for them
•    They know God has given them life for a purpose and they strive to know this purpose and fulfill it
•    They know Christ’s supreme commandment is love and strive to love God above all things and their neighbor as themselves
•    They know love without action is sterile and meaningless
•    They love Mary, the saints, the Church, and the Holy Father
•    They know, are faithful to, and are able to explain and support the Church’s teachings
•    They are actively engaged in the ongoing task of forming their intellect, passions and emotions, free will, and conscience
•    They understand that the Eucharist is the “source and summit” of their life
•    They live a sacramental life and participate in opportunities to grow in their spiritual life; they pray and strive to live a life of holiness and grace
•    Their thoughts and actions are influenced by a Christian view of the human person and of the world

 

2.    INTELLECTUAL FORMATION

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic School sets high, yet attainable, academic expectations for its students using a personalized approach to education. 

Each person is unique, endowed by God with a combination of talents and gifts all his own. Life circumstances for each student are different depending on the student’s family, social, economic, emotional, and moral settings. As such, the education of the student is undertaken on a personal level. The school aims to support personalized education by tailoring student learning goals, curriculum, and educational techniques to needs of each individual student.

Not only is solid intellectual formation an important part of the integral development of a person, it is essential to forming great leaders. As a result of studies in the core academic subjects of English, mathematics, science, history, and the arts, as well as through other academic and co-curricular activities, a graduate of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic School should acquire:
•    A wealth of knowledge in general culture and the particular disciplines; an understanding of the roots and underpinnings of his own national culture, history and western ideals; a firm grounding in math and the sciences, and in the scientific method
•    An ability to think, speak, and write clearly, coherently, precisely, attractively and persuasively
•    Superior thinking, reasoning and communicating skills which are built upon a keen sense of perception and a sharp memory
•    A capacity for reflection and imagination, as well as those technological and inquiry skills intrinsic to the exact and social sciences
•    A critical mind that can tell right from wrong, fact from fiction, truth from opinion
•    Experience and ease in public speaking, debate, and declamation
•    Habits and dispositions essential for ongoing intellectual formation after graduation, including study habits, concentration and critical thinking, perseverance, and a desire to produce high-quality work

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic School has made it a priority to build a comprehensive educational program that provides a Catholic school experience to all God’s children, including those children who have special learning needs. The Second Vatican Council’s document on Christian Education, Gravissimum Educationis, notes that “all children, in virtue of their dignity as human persons, have an inalienable right to education, adapted to their ability.” It is our firm belief that students with special learning needs will flourish at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic School as we offer a nurturing, accepting, faith based environment with a focus on individual strengths and abilities to help each child reach his God-given potential. 

In order to lay a solid foundation to assist students in the formation of their character based in their relationship with Jesus Christ, our curriculum is founded upon four essential parts of all education: ordered basic knowledge, basic skills or tools of learning, development of the moral imagination, and the principle of correlation between subjects. 

Ordered basic knowledge is the knowledge most worth having. It is the knowledge of God and His revelation (theology, which is knowledge by faith as well as reason); of what He has made through His creation (what we can know through science and mathematics and all that is created along with understanding of this knowledge as creation in God’s own image); knowledge of our own humanity, in its thinking (philosophy and the arts), its achievements (history), and its daily acts (moral knowledge). Another way of stating this is: we teach our students to come to know the truth about life, the world and God. God created us "in his own image and likeness" and will not deprive us of the truth necessary to orient our lives. The ability to make judgments about what is true and what is false and to make choices based on these judgments is the goal of learning basic knowledge in the elementary school.

Basic skills or tools of learning are necessary to enable students to learn effectively while in school, and perhaps most importantly, to continue to educate and form themselves throughout life. These include the abilities to listen attentively, to stick to the point, to speak clearly, to write effectively, and to read critically. In addition, they include competency in logical thinking and mathematical computation. In the area of science they include the ability to observe well, to apply the scientific method and the intellectual virtues to solve problems and explore new creative solutions to problems. These basic skills also include proficiency in the elements of art, music and technology. These skills make sense because they are part of an education centered on deeply meaningful values and vision.

The development of the student’s personal aspirations derived through worthy hopes and ideals is the third essential part of learning. The development of the student’s personal aspirations are derived from inspiration and reflection upon the ideals of the good, true and beautiful found within the curriculum and subject content taught. The question is: how does this development of the moral imagination, through the elements of the good, the true, and the beautiful, impact the classroom curriculum? The answer is not very difficult. “In each subject matter, the ideal [true, good, beau1ful] corresponding to that subject matter must be assimilated no less than the corresponding skills, methods and basic knowledge.”

The skill or methods give the efficiency, the basic knowledge gives the content or truth to be known, but the ideal gives the force, the drive, and the hunger. Skills, [methods and content knowledge] without ideals flicker out and die. Ideals, on the contrary, give life and motivation to learn the knowledge, skills and methods. They make us more of who we are as humans created in God’s image. Best of all, they better prepare us to encounter Christ: the True, the Good, and the Beautiful. It is necessary, then, to derive from the study of any and all subjects the intellectual, moral, and aesthetic ideals which shall be capable of giving intellectual, moral, and aesthetic force to our students’ minds. 

The final essential element is the principle of correlation between subjects. The common experience of primary teachers is to teach through units which constantly make connections for their students across the subjects. For example, when teaching a unit about a particular time in American history, our primary level teachers will look for the witness of faith through biographies of saints of this period, literature, art, music, politics, Church history (etc.), knowledge that relates to the theme of the unit, and include it. Other examples of these relations between subjects include the subjects of math and physics which are related to art and music; or when asking a question about the geography of a place, showing relation to the historical and natural history of the place as well. Language Arts are related across all disciplines since we know all subjects through reading, writing, and hearing about them. Religious instruction occupies a central position in the correlation of the curriculum. When we study Christian doctrine through Scripture texts, Bible history, and Church history, the moral law and the forms and ceremonies of public worship we can make direct connections with literature, history, philosophy, poetry and music. In summary, we design our curriculum aiming to make the principle of relations between the different subjects more transparent to our students.
 

3.    Human Formation

Human formation pertains to the psychological, social, and physiological aspects of the person. It involves character formation and learning to live one’s life in ways that most dignify human nature. This involves the formation of a disciplined will, learning to be master of oneself; acquiring virtue; the development of the conscience, and adherence to moral principles and values.

Character is at the core of authentic leadership. Character allows one to master oneself so as to be faithful to his/her personal convictions. Human formation is the development of a strong and virtuous character. This process involves assisting students to grow in virtue, self-confidence, and leadership skills while building personal convictions based in truth.

True formation cannot be imposed. Educators need to consistently and positively motivate their students to respond freely, internalize ideals, and become convinced of their actions based in truth. Internal conviction begins by forming the students in moral principles, guiding them to know, love, and desire the goals set out before them. An educator does not demand from a student without motivating first, and this motivation has to be grounded in love for God, the student, and others.


Human formation cultivates a person’s sensibility to what is good, just, and beautiful, recognizing the harmony of creation in relation to man, nature, and society. It also includes social etiquette, an appreciation for the arts and physical fitness, resulting in a healthy mind in a healthy body. Graduates of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic School are persons of character and integrity:
•    Their behavior reveals that they possess principles based in truth that govern their actions and passions. As mature individuals they show firmness of will and self-control.
•    They value and cultivate the virtues of justice, sincerity, fidelity to their word, commitment, honesty, and a well-formed conscience.
•    They have a healthy self-confidence and respect for others.
•    They present themselves appropriately in all situations, being neatly groomed and attired.
•    They are articulate, capable of convincing others of the truth with charity and consideration.
•    Because of their generosity, perseverance, trustworthiness, sense of duty, and responsibility, they are valued members of their community.
•    Their charity, integrity, honesty and compassion make them good and loyal friends.
•    They value good health, hygiene, physical fitness, and the benefits of putting these into practice.
 

4.    APOSTOLIC FORMATION

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic School considers the apostolic life of the student to be the most evident result of the student’s integral formation and relationship with God. Apostolic formation enables the students to go into society to serve as Christian leaders and apostles, actively responding to the needs of the Church and humanity, creating a civilization of justice and love. Through serving others and a vibrant apostolic life, each student discovers Christ, becomes more like Christ, and experiences His love more profoundly. By serving others in various activities, the students are brought into contact with the realities of life, thus awakening in them a sense of responsibility that will grow throughout their lives.

In conclusion, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic School sets Christ as our model. He is at the center of all of our efforts. All of our actions, programs, initiatives, goals, and work – the whole school program – exemplifies our desire to know, love, and imitate Christ. He is the ideal for our students and all those associated in the education of the students. In Gravissimum Educationis, loosely translated, “the paramount importance of education,” the Fathers of Vatican II insist that we embark on something quite significant when we educate a child. If education was simply preparing a child for a career, if it was simply the transferring of data, then, one might chide the Fathers for such lofty language; but children are eternal souls, and education is nothing other than preparing them for their life with God. With these sacred souls in our care, we look to the constant intercession of our dear patron, Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton and Saint Faustina. May God bless us in this great ministry of Catholic Education!