Welcome to St. Mary’s School Welcome to St. Mary’s Episcopal School. Our students begin their educational journey in preschool and continue through the fifth grade. One of the best things about living in the Oklahoma City Metro area is that there are so many wonderful private schools that provide an excellent education for your son or daughter. This makes the job of selecting the “right” school a challenge, as each school has its own distinct culture. Schedule a visit and experience the reality of The St. Mary’s Way. I invite you to watch our students and engage with them as they go about the important work of growing up to become thoughtful, capable and responsible future leaders. Listen to them as they look you in the eye and tell you what they are learning. Marvel as master teachers bring out the full human potential in the students they both know and love. Realize that our carefully designed program prepares students to thrive in a changing, increasingly complex world. Know that St. Mary’s is a place where great Christian and educational lives begin. I trust you will have this type of experience, like I do whenever I walk the halls of our school. We look forward to the opportunity to become your partner in education. Let the untold stories of your child be told. Sincerely, Pamela Dockter Head of School
Mission and Philosophy Our Mission To Provide Quality Academic Programs in an Environment Fostering Respect for Faith, Family, Others and Self Our Philosophy St. Mary’s educational philosophy is founded on the Episcopal tradition of academic excellence, regular worship, service learning, and physical well-being. Our purpose is to foster an education that seeks to develop each student academically while providing a valuescentered, character-building education to prepare each student to live a creative, humane, and compassionate life worthy of a child of God. Our curriculum combines the best of educational applications offering an ideal learning environment capable of stimulating the fullest potential within each child. Special care is taken to challenge each child’s unique abilities and interests while guiding all students to be respectful, responsible, and resourceful.
Culture At St. Mary’s, we believe children grow through positive reinforcement and a creative approach to the basics. Our school culture is reflected in our worship, our high standards of expectation, through service projects and our parent involvement. The climate of St. Mary’s School is reflective of a commitment to our stated mission. Students, their families, staff members, and all those who enter our doors are valued and respected. From the preschool years to upper elementary, teachers take the time to set examples of how classmates, parents, and staff should be treated. We have found that taking extra time to discuss and model these behaviors during the younger years sets the stage for respectful attitudes later. There is a “St. Mary’s Way” to guide all of our students to become responsible, caring people in this world. We teach to the whole child, allowing the spiritual, social and emotional aspects of our students’ learning to sit side by side with academics. At St. Mary’s School, it is very important that all children and adults respect the dignity of others. Many parents, whose children leave St. Mary’s School upon completion of their time here, state that it is this quality of respect for all people, instilled in their child as a result of their St. Mary’s experience, that constitute the greatest benefit to their child.
The intellectual, spiritual, social and physical development of a child is a complex journey. At St. Mary’s Episcopal School we believe that each year of the journey provides students the lifelong tools needed to succeed as adults.
The Five Tenants Intellectual Wellness The focus of our curriculum at St. Mary’s is to build a strong foundation. We specialize in implementing lessons so that skills are mastered across subject areas. This allows students to learn new skills and use this knowledge in a realworld setting. St. Mary’s is proud to have produced National Merit Scholars, Honor Roll members, and class presidents. Spiritual Wellness Chapel worship and religious studies allow students the unique opportunity to strengthen their relationship with Christ. Younger students participate in roleplaying while others learn to prepare lessons, lead worship, and serve as acolytes. Social Wellness St. Mary’s is a caring, supportive community with a dedicated faculty that promotes accountability, responsibility, and respect while managing relationship skills. These skills are promoted through our daily activities as well as extracurricular and summer programs. Physical Wellness Our award-winning physical education program places its emphasis on strengthening the body through cardiovascular exercise, coordination skills, and team-building activities. Our 51-acre campus provides a perfect environment for students to grow, play, and learn. Service Learning St. Mary’s recognizes the importance of allowing children the opportunity to grow in areas of self-giving and concern for others, as well as the opportunity to know they can be a part of improving the quality of human life. Our students are dedicated to outreach and community service through our outstanding Service Learning Program.
Early Childhood – Preschool through Kindergarten For our three, four, and five year olds, we offer a developmental program designed to stimulate growth in the areas of fine and gross motor skills, social and emotional skills, and cognitive skills. Curriculum at these levels is designed around the developing child. Learning through play is instrumental in our programs, combined with high quality experiences that promote the important personal, social, and cognitive skills young children need. The use of The Responsive Classroom approach, utilizes an awareness of social and emotional intelligence skill development. Concepts are introduced through learning centers, group activities, and teacher-directed activities. A multi-sensory approach is used for math, language arts, science, music, and motor development. The curriculum includes an award winning reading readiness program, a manipulative approach to math concepts, and an introduction to the arts. Our hands-on programs reinforce special skill areas and provide opportunities for practical thinking, problem solving, theme exploration, and social interaction.
Elementary – 1st through 5th Small class size and a highly qualified staff provide the attention and instruction needed to bring out the very best in each student. Our hands-on science program, and strong social studies and geography programs compliment our Core Knowledge curriculum. Additionally, these fundamental skills are enhanced with instruction in our enrichment areas including computer technology, music, Spanish, art, and physical education and health. St. Mary’s standards are developed for the 21st century learner using Core Knowledge content objectives as the benchmark. For the past three years St. Mary’s students in first through fifth grade have scored in the 91st percentile or higher nationally in reading, language arts, and math on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills.
Art & Music The arts enliven and extend the entire school curriculum by integrating different subjects in innovative interdisciplinary ways, sparking the interest in all students. St. Mary’s students actively participate in music classes each week and are exposed to musical theory using the Orff Schulwerk philosophy. There are many performance opportunities, including grade level plays and large scale Broadway type productions.
Physical Education St. Mary’s has a long history of promoting physical activity and healthy lifestyles. The campus playground is designed to promote physical fitness. Surrounded by basketball/four-square court, and football/soccer field, our play equipment, including the one of a kind traverse wall, is specially designed for physical fitness. A baseball/softball field is also a popular spot as well as over 3 miles of hiking/cross country trails.
Spanish St. Mary’s students receive Spanish enrichment in preschool through fifth grade. With each consecutive year, their Spanish language skills increase cumulatively in a dynamic, interactive, and meaningful way. At all levels, careful attention is given to practicing all five skills identified by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages as essential to learning a foreign language: speaking, listening, reading, writing, and cultural awareness.
Technology Technology is a tool that facilitates and enhances instruction in all disciplines. It is used to adapt to our students’ needs and identify new learning models that are engaging today’s generation of learners, as well as assist them in transforming knowledge skills into products, solutions, and new information. Students in pre-k through fifth grade visit the computer lab weekly for instruction and have access to iPads for use in the classroom.
St. Mary’s Episcopal School 505 East Covell Road Edmond, Oklahoma 73034 405.341.9541 www.smesedmond.org