August 3, 2018 (Louisville, Ky.) –Jefferson County Catholic elementary schools in the Archdiocese of Louisville will begin the first official day of instruction on August 15, 2018. Although this is the first “official” day of school, some Catholic schools choose to begin on a day other than August 15. Parents should consult their school’s handbook to determine when their particular school will begin instruction.
Catholic elementary and secondary schools outside Jefferson County generally follow the calendar of the public school district in which they are located.
Catholic secondary schools have a variety of start dates:
Assumption High School: August 13
Bethlehem High School (Bardstown, Ky.): August 2
DeSales High School: August 15
Holy Cross High School: August 13
Mercy Academy: August 15
Presentation Academy: August 13
Sacred Heart Academy: August 15
Trinity High School: August 14
Saint Xavier High School: August 17
There are 49 Catholic elementary and secondary schools in seven counties of the Archdiocese of Louisville. Last year nearly 19,500 students attended grades PK-12 in Catholic schools. Included on the following pages is a sampling of new initiatives of the Archdiocese and of individual schools for the coming school year.
Religion Standards for Catholic Elementary Schools
Catholic elementary schools will implement new religion standards based on the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the tasks of catechesis in the National Directory for Catechesis. Anchor standards, consistent across Grades K-8, identify the specific content each grade level will be learning in religion. Catholic schools also may be using new religion instructional materials to implement the new standards. The new standards include a strand on Theology of the Body so students will recognize the dignity and worth of each individual.
STEM and Robotic Initiatives
Several schools are adding renovated or updated learning spaces to better accommodate STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) initiatives in schools. Spaces are more flexible for student activities and contain additional technology (3D printers) to support the initiatives. Several schools are adding or enhancing programs in the area of robotics in the curriculum or in extra-curricular activities.
CATHOLIC SCHOOL INITIATIVES
St. Albert the Great School (1395 Girard Drive, Louisville) 502/425-1804
St. Albert the Great Parish School is thrilled to announce a preschool expansion. Two years ago, there were 32 preschool students. Last year, the school increased the number of preschool classrooms and accepted 59 students. For the 2018-2019 school year, the school added a fourth classroom, and 72 students enrolled in the 3-year-old and 4-year-old programs.
St. Aloysius School (122 Mount Mercy Drive, Pewee Valley) 502/241-8516
The school worked with the “Card My Yard” company to place big letters in front of the school that say “Welcome Back Eagles!”
DeSales High School (425 W. Kenwood Drive, Louisville) 502/368-6519
DeSales has fully embraced STEM in every classroom through the utilization of project-based, hands-on and student-led learning partnered with technology. This fall, the school is excited to announce that it is adding a fantastic maker space, the DeSales STEM Center, housing 10 state of the art Z-Space computers, which enable students to use the latest AR/VR technology to dissect and build objects in 4D. The STEM Center also will house 50 Edison Bots, four programmable Bioloid 16” Premium Robots and a Vex Robotics competition design and programming center. The space will be adorned with full-wall idea boards and dry-erase countertops, allowing students to create, brainstorm and collaborate freely. The DeSales STEM Center, which is also equipped with a green screen media room, 3D printer, Sphero, VR headsets, MacBooks and a student-built drone, will be open for all class usage as well as for workshops, camps and other community events.
Holy Cross High School (5144 Dixie Highway, Louisville) 502/447-4363
Holy Cross High School is proud to launch the Corporate Internship Program, a co-curricular component of the 21st century approach to Catholic education. Junior and senior students at Holy Cross will engage in a variety of real world and authentic experiences to deepen their liberal arts education. Designed to bring together the core components of learning in the classroom with skills development for today’s economy, this program gives students a complete educational foundation for success in the rapidly changing world with two major components that ensure success of this program: robust curriculum and engaged corporate partners. The Holy Cross High School Corporate Internship Program curriculum focuses on competencies in nine key areas: technical skills, business etiquette and ethics, communication, complex reasoning strategies, precision and accuracy, teamwork and collaboration, initiative and self-direction, productivity, and persistence.
All Holy Cross High School students are engaged in the Corporate Internship Program at various levels, and all students participate in a Summer Bootcamp Intensive. Freshmen develop basic job-related skills, career exploration, and engage with businesses and professionals in a variety of ways. Sophomores deepen specific career-related skills, serve in the world of non-profits and participate in the job search process, including resume development and interview skills. Both freshmen and sophomore students will spend much of the year focusing their efforts on the STREAM curriculum, e.g. science, technology, religion, engineering, art and math.
Junior and senior students will continue to deepen their understanding and discernment of a variety of careers by interning one day per week in a corporate environment, developing an understanding of workplace safety, participating in authentic evaluation and the assessment of performance and mentorship engagement with real-world leaders.
“We are excited to launch the Corporate Internship Program this fall, and we believe that our students will experience an authentic 21st century education combining the classroom experience with real world experience,” said Danielle Wiegandt, President of Holy Cross High School.
Saint Leonard School (440 Zorn Avenue, Louisville) 502/897-5265
Saint Leonard School is expanding its award-winning problem-based learning model throughout the school. The library has been fully remodeled due to the efforts of students and teachers working all summer to finalize the space. Students will have the opportunity to work on real-world problems according to their interests and individual pacing.
Mercy Academy (5801 Fegenbush Lane, Louisville) 502/671-2010
Mercy’s first day of school is Wednesday, August 15, a day that is extra special for incoming freshmen. The day begins with the freshmen tunnel. Sophomores, juniors and seniors line the halls as the new students run through the building. (The tunnel will be repeated on the last day of school when these freshmen are seniors.) Once the tunnel is complete, the school year begins with a prayer service.
Mercy welcomes new principal, Sarah Peace and a new Director of Service Learning and Leadership, Kari Sims, who will work with Mercy students to ensure they have the best service opportunities during their four years at the school.
Saint Michael School (3703 Stone Lakes Drive, Louisville) 502/267-6155
Saint Michael School has been hard at work this summer preparing for a new 1:1 program for grades five to eight. Fifth grade students are going 1:1 with iPads while students in grades six to eight are each receiving Google Chromebooks. Mrs. Amy Fears joined the faculty as our new Research & Innovation Specialist and has been working all summer long to head up the 1:1 program and guiding faculty and staff in preparing for this new technology.
The school also has transformed the library space in order to provide a research space with 10 iMacs and multiple working spaces, including a magnetic wall, a Lego table and items for student innovation. The book catalog is in the process of being inventoried and reorganized. The back room has been transformed into a teacher library and share space, as well as a green screen room for students to create media projects. The library is now a place for innovation, research and development!
The purchase of iPads for the fifth grade would not have been possible without a generous donation from a Saint Michael grandmother, Mrs. Margaret Evans, whose gift allowed the purchase of devices for every 5th grade student and enabled the distribution of previously purchased devices to other grades. Mrs. Evans is the grandmother of Saint Michael students Thomas, Lucy and Violet. The school named the technology lab “The Bill and Margaret Evans Technology Center” in honor of Mrs. Evans and her late husband.
Saint Nicholas Academy (5501 New Cut Road, Louisville) 502/368-8506
Saint Nicholas has been invited to perform at Fourth Street Live for Give for Good Louisville on September 13 between 11:30 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. The school will put together a percussion ensemble for the celebration.
Notre Dame Academy (1927 Lewiston Drive, Louisville) 502/447-3155
Robots have invaded all classrooms, with one robot for every two students in the school. The primary grades utilize the BeeBots in Math and Science. The middle grades use Dot and Dash to complement their curriculum. Then the upper grades, 6th-8th, learn to program with the Ev3s. Notre Dame also will be adding Google Expeditions to expand the curriculum, which will allow students to experience places they may never get to visit. For example, students learning about the Catholic faith can take a virtual reality field trip to the Vatican. In addition to these programmatic changes and technology integration, the Notre Dame Academy Parent Teacher Organization will conduct a “Color Run,” on Friday, August 24 at 6:30 p.m. This is a fantastic Notre Dame community-building event for new families and students to meet other families in a fun environment.
Saint Patrick School (1000 North Beckley Station Road, Louisville) 502/244-7083
Saint Patrick Catholic School is welcoming more than 65 new kindergartners this school year, but one new addition has captured the hearts and minds of the entire community. Meet Ariel – the first ever Saint Patrick Catholic School service dog who helps Hadley Jo Lange, a student with a rare condition called cryptogenic localization related epilepsy. Hadley Jo’s seizures are not well controlled with medication alone. Thanks to Ariel, who is a certified professionally trained seizure alert service dog, Hadley Jo can get the medicine and care she needs, because Ariel can alert the trained adults in the room before a seizure happens.
Saint Patrick has spent a great deal of time planning with the Archdiocese of Louisville, school faculty and staff and the Lange family to make their dream a reality – for Hadley Jo to go to kindergarten like a regular kid. Hadley will join her 8th grade sister, Hannah, at Saint Patrick. The Saint Patrick community has embraced Ariel and Hadley Jo, and the students will have a wonderful opportunity to learn about living with compassion, inclusion and grace.
Sacred Heart Academy (3175 Lexington Road, Louisville) 502/897-6097
Sacred Heart Academy (SHA) achieved International Baccalaureate (IB) World School status in 1997 with the Diploma Programme and is currently a candidate school for the International Baccalaureate (IB) Middle Years Programme, which will further enhance the IB curriculum for all SHA students.
As an International Baccalaureate World School, Sacred Heart Academy provides an international education for all students at all grade levels. The IB approaches to teaching and learning are deliberate strategies, skills and attitudes centered on a dynamic cycle of inquiry, action and reflection.
SHA aims to develop internationally minded citizens and educate the whole person through a comprehensive approach that empowers all students to become leaders. IB focuses on action that moves beyond awareness and understanding of content to engagement, action and bringing about meaningful change. SHA Principal, Mary Lee McCoy states, “IB learning is concept-based and promotes inquiry and experimentation rather than simply teaching content and then testing on it; therefore, students are more engaged in their learning. IB requires collaboration, interdisciplinary learning and taking risks, all of which prepare students for college and for life. The best part of IB is that it promotes curiosity and a love of learning.”
IB classrooms are active, student-centered, inquiry-based environments where students are challenged to take academic risks to develop their research, writing and critical-thinking skills. SHA provides the “classroom of the future” atmosphere needed for this collaborative learning approach. Through innovative, dedicated small group
discussion rooms, interactive touch screen panels, flexible room arrangements and designated teamwork periods, SHA proves its commitment to the 21st century learning principles of collaboration, communication, critical thinking and creativity.
IB is forward thinking, future looking and worldwide. It is more than schooling; it is life preparation. IB offers world-class learning for world-ready leaders.
Sacred Heart Model School (3107 Lexington Road, Louisville) 502/896-3931
Sacred Heart Model School (SHMS) is the first Catholic and private school in Kentucky to achieve certification as an International Baccalaureate (IB) Middle Years Programme (MYP) and is currently a candidate school for the International Baccalaureate (IB) Primary Years Programme (PYP). As an International Baccalaureate World School, Sacred Heart Model School provides a continuum of international education for all students at all grade levels. The internationally recognized programs begin in the preschool years with the PYP and continue through high school with the MYP. The IB Programme approaches to teaching and learning are deliberate strategies, skills and attitudes that guide and focus educators and transform students into critical, creative and reflective thinkers.
IB classrooms are active, student-centered, inquiry-based environments where students are challenged to take academic risks to develop their research, writing and critical-thinking skills. To further this educational paradigm of collaboration, communication, critical-thinking and creativity, no two classrooms at the Model School look the same. These flexible, dynamic classrooms of the future have everything from mini-trampolines, balance balls, standing desks and stationary bicycle pedals to innovative collaboration spaces and comfortable reading nooks.
According to Dr. Michael Bratcher, Principal of SHMS, “The International Baccalaureate (IB) Programme allows our students to see the bigger picture in their learning. It moves them from memorizing facts and statistics to a deeper dive into the material. Students love it because it makes learning come alive. Teachers love it because of the creativity it allows. Parents love it because it prepares students for the next level and life beyond SHMS.”
The IB program aims to develop internationally minded citizens and educate the whole person through a comprehensive approach that empowers all students to become leaders by developing a principled, caring and knowledgeable response to the world around them. IB is forward thinking, future looking and worldwide. It is more than schooling; it is life preparation. IB offers world-class learning for world-ready leaders.
For information, call: Cecelia Price at 502/585-3291 (office) or 502/417-7187 (cell).
