St. Patrick’s Catholic School, Rockville IS NAMED ONE OF THE BEST IN THE NATION
U.S. Secretary of Education, John B. King, Jr., announced that St. Patrick’s Catholic School has been named a 2016 National Blue Ribbon School. St. Patrick’s Catholic School is one among 279 public and 50 private schools receiving this honor.
St. Patrick’s has always been a high performing school with an exceptional community, but we have now received this recognition from the U.S. Department of Education as one of fifty high performing private schools (elementary, middle, & high schools) to be named a 2016 National Blue Ribbon School! High performing schools are identified as schools with students testing in the top 15% in both reading and math on national norm-referenced standardized test.
Congratulations to the teachers, staff, students, and parents who have worked together since St. Patrick’s opened our doors in 2004, to establish a culture deeply rooted in service, community, and academic excellence.
Excerpts from the WINNING application include:
- The school motto, “Faith, Service, and Academics” expresses our commitment to fostering spiritual, interpersonal, and academic growth in our children. The collaboration among parents, teachers, students, parishioners, and administration demonstrates our unique calling to educate our children in a strong faith-based community. The hope for every child who graduates from St. Patrick’s is that he/she is a productive child of God fully prepared to lead and serve in the community.
- Service to others is integrated in every grade and encourages our students to give and pray for those in need. Initiatives are local, national, and international in scope, and contribute to a strong sense of community at St. Patrick’s. Through these endeavors, the students develop their socioemotional competence and learn to respect, appreciate, and celebrate diversity in a changing world.
- The closeness of our school community is reinforced through our “Buddy Program,” where younger students are paired with older students for the duration of their time at St. Patrick’s. The buddy system provides opportunities across the ages to develop strong, caring friendships. Our older students develop into strong leaders modeling kindness, compassion, love, respect, and responsibility for their buddies.
- Our eighth grade classes exemplify the uniqueness of St. Patrick’s. The strengths of our school are visible through these young people, many of whom have spent nine years in our school.
- St. Patrick’s greatest attribute is our strong sense of community. St. Patrick’s community spirit was the most valued school characteristic reported in the latest parent survey, spontaneously identified by one-third of all parents.
For more information about the National Blue Ribbon Schools program, please visit http://nationalblueribbonschools.ed.gov/
Read St. Patrick’s complete winning application.