challenging young minds to discover their best …fifth grade students study italian, and stu-dents...

8A January 26, 2019 www.thetablet.org

St. Patrick AcademyThe school community at St. Patrick

Catholic Academy is delighted by thetransformation that took place in the build-ing last summer and the news that theacademy was receiving accreditation byAdvancED.

Renovations at the Bay Ridge schoolincluded the creation of a new nurseryclassroom and the freshening-up of otherclassrooms, offices and hallways. St. Patrickrecently completed a long-needed renova-tion of the school’s library and installed airconditioning in all of its classrooms.

The library has continued to beupdated, and is now fully-automated withthe Follett Destiny program, giving stu-dents a greater opportunity to learn andconduct research.

An $85,000 grant from the St.Elizabeth Ann Seton Trust funded theinstallation of a LabLearner STEM lab, anin-school laboratory for physical, earth andlife science experimental activities forkindergarten through eighth grade. Thegrant funded the installation of five workstations and storage equipment, the STEMcurriculum, workbooks and professionaldevelopment.

“We are very grateful to the St.Elizabeth Ann Seton Trust Foundation,”

said Principal Kathleen Curatolo.“The use of the Lab Learner STEM

Lab, coupled with our outstanding STEMteacher, resulted in exemplary scores onNew York State fourth and eighth gradescience exams and the Living EnvironmentRegents.”

St. Patrick has also expanded its aca-demic, enrichment and arts programs.Stages on the Sound, an arts residency pro-gram, teaches filmmaking in grade four, per-suasive speaking in grade six andShakespeare in the eighth grade. Nursery tofifth grade students study Italian, and stu-dents in the upper grades have the choiceof studying Spanish, Italian, Latin or Arabic.

New York State Regents courses arealso offered in algebra, living environmentand earth science. Last school year, 100 per-cent of the eighth grade passed the NYState Algebra I Regents Exam, and 90 per-cent of the seventh and eighth grade passedthe Living Environment Regents Exam.

Registration is now open for the 2019-2020 school year, starting at the nurserylevel, which offers half-day and full-dayoptions. Tours are offered each Tuesday at9:30 a.m. (no appointment necessary).Visit www.stpatrickca.org or email admis-sion@stpatrickca.org for more information.

St. Joseph the WorkerChallenging Young Minds to Discover Their Best Selves

Situated in a prime location in themiddle of Windsor Terrace, across thestreet from the F/G trains and blocks fromthe southwest corner of Prospect Park, St.Joseph the Worker Catholic Academyoffers pre-kindergarten for three- andfour-year-olds, and kindergarten throughgrade eight.

The academy offers a challenging cur-riculum focused on rigor, respect, rever-ence, responsibility to self and service toothers. The academy is proud to be a safeand encouraging environment that chal-lenges bright minds to explore their inter-ests and discover the best in themselves,their classmates and the world.

Strengthening the Catholic VisionNo two children are exactly alike and

no two children learn in exactly the sameway. Programs at St. Joseph’s are designedto help each student learn as fast as theycan and take as much time as they need inorder to produce the best possible learningoutcomes. To nurture the spiritual dimen-sion of students’ lives, class Masses, prayerservices and various community service

endeavors are undertaken to strengthenthe Catholic vision of faith formation andcommunity service.

Development of character and selfdiscipline are strong pillars of the academy.Students are encouraged to be courageousin expressing their personal convictionsand values in the safe environment of theclassroom and to practice those values inthe schoolyard.

Art, music, Spanish, computer lab,Junior National Honor Society andAlgebra 1 are among the academy’s offer-ings, as well as bus service, a school library,SETSS, speech services, a school counselor,an IEP coordinator and a full-time nurse.Extracurricular clubs and programsinclude an after-school program, a danceclub, a basketball club, and cheerleading.

“Toddler Time” classes also giveprospective families a chance to experi-ence the academy firsthand.

Tuition assistance is available for thosewho qualify. Tours can be arranged by con-tacting lwitthohn@sjwca.org or attend theOpen House on Sunday, Jan. 27, 11:30a.m. Learn more at www.sjwca.org.