Saint Mary’s School academic curriculum follows the guidelines and academic standards provided by the Archdiocese of Washington Catholic Schools Office. The school is designed for students from Preschool through eighth grade. Since students enter school with a wide range of skills, each student is motivated to explore and develop his/her skills and talents in a variety of academic and extracurricular programs.
Our curriculum focuses on the development of the whole child. The classes are self-contained in kindergarten through third grade. Departmentalization begins in the fourth grade and continues through eighth grade.
Classes are taught in a loving, supportive, Christian environment. There is a strong emphasis on faith development, and Catholic identity is visible throughout the school. Students are encouraged to learn about and practice the Catholic faith and to live this faith through community service and outreach programs.
Teachers use formal and informal assessments at all grade levels. The Scantron Performance Standardized Assessment is used in Kindergarten through Eighth grade and is administered three times a year (beginning of the year, midyear, and end of the year).
Writing portfolios are integrated into the language arts curriculum at all grade levels, allowing students to monitor their progress in writing each year.
ACADEMIC STANDARDS
St. Mary’s school follows Archdiocese of Washington Academic standards.
Please feel free to download these files for reference from the link below.
For a complete list of our Academic Standards please visit the Archdiocese of Washington website.
ELEMENTARY K-4
Saint Mary’s School offers a curriculum of academic and enrichment programs at every grade level. Additional teachers are employed to provide academic support as well as to teach Spanish, art, music, physical education, computer technology, and library skills. CLICK HERE for more information.
MIDDLE SCHOOL 5-8
Our curriculum focuses on the development of the whole child. Departmentalization begins in the fourth grade and continues through eighth grade.
Classes are taught in a loving, supportive, Christian environment. There is a strong emphasis on faith development, and Catholic identity is visible throughout the school. Students are encouraged to learn about and practice the Catholic faith and to live this faith through community service and outreach programs. CLICK HERE for more information
EXTRACURRICULAR – ARCHODIOCESAN MUSIC PROGRAM
Philosophy
The music program seeks to play an equal part with the rest of the educational process in the development of the students so that they will grow into mature, Christian adults. It is not a vocationally oriented program, although many of our students have gone on to become professional musicians and music educators. Our primary position is not that of a “feeder” program for the secondary schools. Rather, we try to impart to as many children as possible the unique experience which can be attained only through an instrumental program; to teach the techniques of performance and the fundamentals of music and music making. The program strives to serve the needs of the schools, the parents, and the students.
This program is a diocesan program. We are as concerned with the schools whose music programs are not successful as with those which are. Schools whose band enrollments have dropped to as low as 8 to 10 students were not abandoned because they were not carrying their own weight or because they were difficult to schedule. The program operates the same way in each school and is committed to making instrumental music available to every student in the Archdiocese.
CLICK HERE for details and registration
