The goal of St. Anastasia Catholic School is to promote academic achievement within a Christian environment. Our students become united in faith, academically strong, and socially responsible. We believe both Christ and the family are the heart of Christian education. We strive to provide a faith community in which religious truths and values are integral. We acknowledge parents as primary educators, and we work toward the facilitation of parent, child and teacher cooperation in the student’s continued educational process. We recognize that our core purpose is the religious, academic, physical, and social development of the student. Through a faith-based Catholic education, our students achieve six distinct goals: to become committed Catholics, academic achievers, effective communicators, critical thinkers, responsible citizens, and technologically competent individuals. Anastasia Catholic School graduates enter the top high schools in the area including: Loyola High School, Marymount High School, Notre Dame High School, Bishop Montgomery, St. Monica High School, St. Bernard High School, Vistamar, Harvard-Westlake and Pacifica Christian. The Benefits of a JK-8 Education
In recent years there has been a push in education to bring continuity and stability to a child’s education. Educators are pressing for JK-8 schools as this school model benefits the whole child while providing a safe, positive learning environment at every grade. The Rand Corporation Conducted a study in 2004 (Rand Study) indicating K-8 schools have multiple benefits, including advanced academic achievements, significantly higher scores on standardized tests, higher levels of participation in extracurricular activities, more leadership skills, and greater social and emotional development. It also states that students of K-8 schools are also more likely to be enrolled in better high schools and maintain a higher GPA than most other students. Anastasia Catholic School agrees with this philosophy and has found many reasons to support our JK-8 school structure including:
Continuity. With an educational approach that focuses on continuity of teachers, students and families, our students are given a comfortable and encouraging learning environment resulting in greater academic achievements, and student leaders with higher self-esteem and confidence. Greater Parental Involvement. Studies show that as children advance in grade levels, parental involvement declines with each year and by middle school parental involvement declines substantially. JK-8 schools enjoy longer parental involvement. Anastasia’s active PTO provides many opportunities for parents to stay involved in their child’s education. All grades have Room Parents, Gateway to Art and Portal to Science Docents, Coaches, and much more. In addition to a thirty hour per year service requirement, parents are encouraged to stay involved throughout their child’s education. School Families. Anastasia Catholic School believes children learn from each other at every age. With this in mind, we have created school families made up of students from each grade. They meet several times a year to work on various projects giving older students an opportunity to teach the younger students and the younger students an opportunity to learn from their older peers. These families create a connection between the students, and we have found that the students begin to encourage and support their family groups at every age. Nurturing Community. Our school community extends to our parish. Many parishioners are alumni, parents of alumni, and friends of the school who continue to support the school through fundraisers, activities, sports and more. This nurturing environment allows our students opportunities to grow beyond the school environment. Many students serve as altar servers and participate in other service projects to benefit our community. Confident Adolescents. Our middle grade students thrive in our school environment. They develop solid friendships with the support of their peers. With small advanced learning opportunities including athletics, arts and sciences, our eighth graders graduate as academically strong, articulate, confident, morally sound young adults.
