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MISSION STATEMENT
Saint Jeanne de Lestonnac Catholic School Community shared vision is to guide and challenge our students through excellence of teaching to develop a sense of ownership for their own learning so that students achieve their maximum potential to become faith filled, responsible, literate, critical thinkers and contributing members of a multi-cultural society.

PHILOSOPHY STATEMENT
Saint Jeanne de Lestonnac School, a private Catholic school, brings together religious and lay faculty and staff as facilitators of learning whom cooperate with the parents, the primary educators of their children, to provide the best education possible. We unite in striving to build, strengthen, and incorporate our beliefs within a Catholic environment, so that each child may develop a meaningful personal relationship with God in their daily life. Through the dynamics of our Christ centered community, the children will experience a sense of worth, belonging and success. The prevailing spirit of the school is focused on building a community of faith that invokes the positive formation and comprehensive education of each child in our care. This dynamic educational program is designed to promote the spiritual, moral, social, cultural and psychological growth, as well as the intellectual, aesthetic, and physical development of each child. Saint Jeanne de Lestonnac School provides a caring community and an educational environment in which academic and Christian citizenship flourish. This community strives to meet student's respective levels of ability and achievement and endeavors to provide them with skills and encouragement where each child may grow to his/her full potential. Traditional ideals and values are cherished so that the child is challenged to meet the diverse opportunities of tomorrow effectively with the knowledge, wisdom, and spiritual integrity that s/he has learned a vital component of the school community.

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES RELIGIOUS DEVELOPMENT
We strive, by personal example of Christ’s loving concern for every member of the community, to build and strengthen a personal understanding, response, and love of Jesus Christ, which will lead our students to the beliefs and practices of one who lives and proclaims the Gospel, as they integrate this growth into becoming members who actively participate in their parishes. In order to achieve this goal, we are called:

1. To sow the seeds of a love of God, a love of self, a love of others, through positive and healthy interactions in the family and in the community.
2. To strengthen our emphasis of the Sacred Scripture as God’s revelation to us and the context by which we form our morality.
3. To involve students in the preparation and celebration of the Liturgy of the Eucharist and other sacraments, by providing opportunities for active participation in these and other para-liturgical services to enhance the depth and intensity of their experience of God.
4. As students in a Catholic School environment, we seek to give to Mary, our Mother, her rightful place as the embodiment of all that Jesus lived and taught. She is the touchstone by which we find our way to Jesus and to the Father.
5. To teach as Jesus did, that we are our sister’s and our brother’s keepers. That we are accountable for a justice which grows from within this sister/brotherhood in Christ and flows out into the world. To call our student’s to meet the challenge; that by having been given the gift of a Catholic Education, they are thus chosen, and must give back to the community, the richness they have received.
6. To teach Catholic doctrine and social teachings, and developing in the students the basic understanding of Catholicism.
7. To share their faith in daily religion classes and assemblies.
8. To encourage active participation and tithing in their parish.
9. To encouraging students to live Gospel values through their acknowledgment and appreciation of individual differences and embracing cultural diversities.
10. To live their faith and Christian values after the example of the clergy, religious, and faith committed lay staff who serve as models.
11. To offer opportunities for times of reflection and retreat.

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT
In order to meet the challenges of our changing world, Saint Jeanne de Lestonnac School recognizes and places a high value on basic skills development, general knowledge, search for truth and acquiring a diversity of skills. Building on this solid foundation, we will continue both to integrate technology into subject areas and to offer our students a variety of educational experiences that appeal to their different learning styles. In order to accomplish these tasks the school proposes:

1. Continue to teach the basic, core academics emphasizing essential reading, writing, and computation skills which prepare them to perform responsibly in a rapidly-changing, technologically-complex, and interdependent world.
2. To use current textbooks, study trips, cooperative learning groups, audio visual aids, "hands on" material and instructional television programs
3. To assess the needs and capabilities of individual students by utilizing various diagnostic measures.
4. To employ the use of computers to further integrate technology into their core curriculum studies.
5. To provide students with decision making opportunities, group discussion and inquiry sessions to enhance the classroom learning experiences.
6. continue to create a caring, Christian environment where the principal, teachers and staff through guidance and example provide positive and consistent measures which enable and encourage students to be accountable for their actions.
7. To assist students in celebrating the worlds diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds by fostering an ongoing sharing of these diversities through recognition of secular and religious holidays.
8. To develop leadership through service projects, cross age tutoring, involvement of students in the Liturgy as lectors and altar servers, classroom discussion of the qualities necessary for effective leadership, and continue to provide Big Brother/Big Sister “Buddy” activities in which the older students serve as role models for the younger students.
9. To continue to expand the students experience in creative arts and in particular their involvement in expositions and contests which provide an avenue for them to be recognized and rewarded.

PERSONAL AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
As Christian educators, we believe in our children. We want them to grow in a realization that God calls them to use their talents and abilities for self development and to care for the needs of others. We aim to maintain an atmosphere where a child can experience success and know that in itself, effort is valued as worthwhile and contributes to success. We want them to understand and accept the strengths and weaknesses of others while encouraging and supporting others to be their best. Most importantly, we want them to develop a positive self image as one who is loved by God, oneself and others. In order to accomplish this the school continues:

1. To insist that the students grow in self-esteem, social skills, and the ability to apply the principles of their faith to everyday living.
2. To encourage the development of a sense of pride in one's accomplishments
3. To recognize and celebrate one's cultural roots as well as the variety of cultures within the school community.
4. To provide student organizations such as team sports, intramural activities, student government and group activities where student participants are encouraged, recognized and rewarded.
5. To provide opportunities within the classroom and in the school at large where students are encouraged and guided in their exercise of leadership.
6. To guide, support, and affirm the students in daily practical situations that develop character and require respect and courtesy
7. To provide informal counseling and referral services for students.
8. To provide opportunities for social interaction.
9. To encourage participation in service projects within the school and parish community, but also reaching out to those within the human community who are in need..
10. To help the students become aware of the need to respect, protect, and care for property in their local environment and in the world around them.

COMMUNITY SERVICE
The faith that is fostered in the process of growth is made real in works of service to others within, as well as beyond, the school community. All learning, together with activities related to service, will be directed toward preparation of the student for life as a member of family, Church, and the secular community in which Christian principles must be made present. In order to accomplish this, the school strives:

1. Aid the students in developing humane and religious motivations for furthering their education and making future life decisions.
2. To provide a school climate where the students will recognize their potential for building a service-oriented faith community within the school as part of the larger Christian community.
3. The afford the students the opportunities to express their faith and commitment to the service of others through a variety of projects in their home, parish, school, and civic community.
4. To help the students learn the value of making themselves available for service and the significance that their contributions of time, talent, and resources can have toward the betterment of our world.
5. To emphasize respect for honest differences of opinion.
6. To foster an acceptance of one’s civic duties thus resulting in a life lived as a cooperative member of the local and global community.

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT
We foster in our students an awareness of good physical health. Our students will develop sound patterns and attitudes of health leading to optimum growth and development. They will learn to deal more effectively with the critical issues that endanger their total growth and well being. In order to accomplish this, the school strives:

1. To provide physical education instruction in grades preschool through seventh.
2. To instruct students in nutrition, safety, fitness, managing stress, and the consequences of substance abuse.
3. To provide an extra curricular after-school sports program.
4. To offering a formalized program in the area of human sexuality.
5. To develop interest in lifelong well-being and the benefits of recreation.
6. To identify problems through teacher observations, yearly evaluation programs for hearing, sight, speech, and scoliosis.

AESTHETIC DEVELOPMENT
We stimulate an appreciation of the varied facets of the arts from a variety of cultures. We encourage recognition and appreciation of and participation in the fine arts. In order to accomplish this, the school strives:

1. To provide instruction in the creative arts.
2. To encourage students to participate in musical presentations, arts and crafts displays, ethnic dances and talent shows. 
3. To bring in professional groups for the enjoyment and instruction of the students.
4. To encourage the study of the aesthetic contributions of the people of other cultures.
5. To provide study trip experiences for students at concerts, plays, and museums.