We take discipleship of Jesus Christ seriously, and we have fun growing in our faith. Here are some ways we live this out:

• Our students learn from authentic witnesses - our teachers and staff.
• We attend mass twice a week, adoration every 2nd or 3rd week, and offer confessions on a weekly or every other week basis.
• Our students pray/write spontaneous/spoken prayers to our Lord and share them on announcements.
• Our Jr. high students attend Damascus retreats for Confirmation and for growth in their own relationship with our Lord.
• Our school gathers for school-wide rosaries and offers school-wide confession services in Advent and Lent.
• Our Jr. High and 5th/6th-grade choirs lead all mass praise and worship, with great joy and skill.
• Our parish staff offers witness talks to our 3rd-6th grades, sharing why they love our Lord and how God has moved in their lives.

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St. Vincent’s, as a community in Christ, is called to be a people of hope, peace, and joy. We implement programs for all students to live this. When our students have the fullness of mental, physical, and spiritual well-being, they are ready to learn at a deep level. Some ways we support this include:
 

• Our staff serves from the belief that all children are loved children of God. 
• VBIS is essential to our culture: positive behavior, intervention, and supports. This practice affirms the good in every student and calls us to live three common goals: be safe, be responsible, and be respectful. Students earn positive rewards for living this well and are encouraged to support one another in living strong Catholic virtues.
• Our students have weekly Community in Christ class meetings (based on anti-bullying curriculum) on Wednesdays. They share their faith, speak directly about how they are treating one another, and learn how to get help if someone is facing bullying or other challenges.
• We have two counselors who work 1:1 to support individual students and run various types of small groups including personal space camp, grief and loss groups, etc.
• Our school nurse is available M-F for the full day and works passionately to support each student’s health needs, and supports school-wide and community health practices.
• Our cafeteria staff supports a healthy and nutritious lunch that is also delicious and much anticipated by students and staff alike. Popular favorites include big steak burgers, orange chicken, chicken fajitas, turkey manhattan, and cheese ravioli. 

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Growing in academic success is rooted in our strong faith and student well-being. Our students know that serious effort and focus are needed to do well in life, and they can see the results of their success in a variety of ways. Our staff spends great energy and joy in planning and executing meaningful growth for all of our learners. Some examples of this include:

• At least 3x/week, some of our K-5 students receive support in small groups from our intervention team in reading, math, or English language learning, or advanced/enrichment support. Other students remain with their lead teacher and teaching assistant for more in-depth support, in smaller groups, at their instructional level. 
• Our school uses a variety of data sources to understand our students’ instructional level in a particularly deep way and then designs lessons and activities to support each learner at that level. Data for us comes from the NWEA formative assessment, given three times/year, AimsWeb assessment in reading, iReady diagnostic in Math, Success Maker in reading, and other assessments used more specifically by certain grades or intervention teachers.
• Our students learn in multiple ways, and we offer courses intended to meet different learning styles, especially through our special area classes and Jr. high. 
• Electives. These include music, art classes with a variety of media (including pottery with our kiln), robotics courses, and intramural sports.
• We celebrate high honors and honors for students who receive these each quarter, in grades 3-8.

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Our mission, to empower our students to live and share their Catholic faith and to grow in academic success, calls us to joyfully serve learners from a great variety of academic backgrounds.

• Our special education department serves students with identified learning needs, including down syndrome, ADHD, autism, and other cognitive/emotional needs.
• Our reading and math interventionists identify students struggling in specific math and reading concepts and work with them 3 or 4x/ week.
• St. Vincent’s is ethnically diverse, and our English Language program supports native Burmese, Vietnamese, Spanish speakers, and more.
• Our enrichment program extends beyond grade level in rigorous, innovative ways - 
• Some of our graduates start high school in Algebra II, Geometry, or other advanced classes.

St. Vincent’s is committed to organizational health, and this happens through intentional planning, effort, and time. Our staff specifically commits to a deep level of collaboration and cooperation and to live out our common values of positivity, professionalism and growth. Some ways we do this include:

• Our teachers have dedicated grade-level or department-level collaboration time each week, used for common planning, student data analysis, and further supports for students.
• Each quarter, our teachers use professional time in vertical collaboration, meaning teachers in the grades directly above or below their own, to best align curriculum as students move through our program. 
• Our staff takes our continuing growth seriously and makes intentional effort to attend conferences or continue professional coursework.
• Our school leadership team consists of teacher representatives from all departments who work collaboratively to assist and inform school administration for wise discernment and the continued success and growth of our students individually, and of the school as a whole. 

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St. Vincent’s is committed to the responsible use of technology as “contemplative critics.” We use technology to support our faith, as a tool for learning, work, and productivity, and not for entertainment. Some ways we enact this include:

• Our staff establishes guidelines for total screen time, with a clear majority of time meant to be fully present to in-person learning and specifically not utilizing a device.
• Our staff intentionally plans to use tech-based and non-tech-based learning activities, and have set criteria for identifying what programs support our faith and which ones should be avoided. 
• Our use of technology should and will enhance the full flourishing of the human person, and we use technology cognizant of a world that uses it in non-productive and harmful ways as well.
• We use specific systems to keep our children safe online. These include strong filters that alert administration to possible harmful URLs or searches a student may engage in and systems to control what websites and apps students have access to while on the iPad (whether on campus or at home) and to show teachers what screens students are on during class. 

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We work intentionally to offer programs for all students, through athletics and non-athletic offerings. Some example of each include: 

• St. Vincent’s athletics include football, volleyball, basketball, wrestling, cheer, soccer, golf, track, and cross country. 
• Non-athletic opportunities include our competitive robotics team, competitive speech team, fall drama production, after-school study tables, Mercy Club, art club, Cookies and Canvas, and our band and choir programs.
• Our HASA volunteers help coordinate after-school enrichment activities for grades K-3. Recent offerings have included cooking classes and craft classes.

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Our Community in Christ is shaped by the Mass and our core values described on this page, and it is deepened by a wealth of communal activities with deliberate planning and joy. Some of these include:

• Communal faith events include ongoing traditions like school rosaries (led by students), confession services and weekly confessions offered during recess/lunch, seasonal prayer services, praise and worship with truly powerful music, adoration, and praying the Angelus daily at noon.
• Service-based programs include We Care Week, Catholic Schools Week, dollar dress-down days to support our annual charity, and various efforts led by our Student Leadership Team.
• Other communal events are meant to highlight student skills and talents, and build school spirit. These include things like music performances such as the 1st-grade angel performance and our grades 2-4 youth theater performance, band and choir concerts, sports pep rallies by season, or assemblies to promote new learning opportunities.
• Our Mission calls us to offer meaningful and fun events for our parents as well. These include things like parent faith formation nights, coffee and conversations with school administration, our annual Celebrate gala, HASA sponsored activities like our back-to-school night social, tears and cheers on the first day of school, father/daughter dance and mother/son olympics.