SPRING 2020 WELCOME FROM THE PRINCIPAL
Welcome! I hope you are enjoying all the benefits of a beautiful spring. Our school community is in the midst of a vibrant, rigorous program of study via distance learning. We are here. We are working. We are fulfilling our Mission!
While we continue on our exciting, new pathway through the remainder of our school year, we ready our campus for the 2020-2021 school year. We invite all to visit our web page, especially if you are looking for a Mission oriented school where the social, emotional, spiritual, and intellectual needs of children are embraced and developed.
Mission. St. Raphael Parish School surrounds our Early Childhood through Grade 8 students with a vibrant faith community. The dedicated teachers, staff, volunteers, and families partner on behalf of all students to nurture the understanding that they are loved and valued as children of God. St. Raphael is a safe school. This ensures that growth and achievement occur. At St. Raphael, children develop an appreciation for “The Dignity of All,” and an awareness of their responsibility to act with compassion toward all. The goal is that all in our community function as reflective, life-long learners who thrive in leadership roles in a diverse and ever-changing society.
Growth and Achievement. Our ambitious School-Wide Student Learning Goal, that all students exhibit growth in reading and math, is being met. Our teacher and student Academic Support Plan produces an amazing rate of growth for our school! 100% of grade level groups of students exhibit growth in the areas of reading and math, year after year. Our school has been designated as a High Growth-High Achievement School, in reading, math! Administration and our Differentiation Specialist work with Early Childhood through Grade 8 teachers, diving deep into social development, student learning data, standards, curriculum, and assessments. Students who struggle to meet their growth goals are supported within our support model. Students who excel are provided learning opportunities that continue to challenge them.
World Languages. Spanish Language Instruction for Early Childhood through Grade 5 is a wonderful success. The focus on speaking, listening, writing, and comprehension assists our students in having developmentally appropriate experiences incorporating Spanish language skills into learning experiences. Our students entering our daily Grade 6-8 Middle School Spanish Program will be better prepared for the challenges of rigorous high school World Language programs. The majority of our graduates can qualify for Level II Spanish as freshmen in high school! With 15 languages other than English spoken at our students’ homes, we are proud that we are moving toward becoming a campus where all students are able to speak multiple languages.
STEM. Our Kindergarten through Grade 8 STEM Center opened in September of 2016. Project Lead The Way Curriculum powers student learning opportunities, including writing code, robotics, and the engineering design and modeling process. Our STEM teacher also serves on Project Lead The Way’s Regional Presentation Panel, assisting area schools in understanding how they could begin programs. Our students also participate in Boston College’s Seismology Program, housed in our STEM Center.
Early Childhood and PreSchool Programs continue to attract new families, with rolling enrollment. Our amazing expanded exterior playground space and renovated interior activity space ensures that our young learners stay on the move! Our very popular hot lunch program will continue on a daily basis in our PreSchool dining room.
Wellness. The social-emotional wellness of our students is a priority at St. Raphael. Our full time School Counselor works with whole classes, grade levels, and individual students and families on positive peer-relationships, as well as school-success strategies. We network with local service providers, vetted through the Parish Community, to assist students and their families. In collaboration with Franciscan Children’s Hospital and the Archdiocese of Boston, St. Raphael hosted a Student Wellness Conference in March of 2019, was attended by 12 area Catholic Schools. We remain committed to the wellness of our children.
Vibrant, sun-up to sun down! Our campus is always filled with activity! Students of all ages are able to participate in over 25 after school programs and sports. St. Raphael students participate in co-ed cross country, basketball, hockey, and co-ed spring track. We are well known for our prowess on the basketball court, as the Rays have participated in the New England CYO School Championship three of the last four years, winning twice. Our 2018 Championship Quiz Bowl Team was regional champion, as Quiz Bowl remains a popular choice among a wide variety of middle school students.
Child Care. The Before and After School Child Care Program continues to support our families. We offer a safe, structured program before school from 7:00-7:45 a.m., and after school until 6:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. After school child care for Early Childhood and PreK students is staged in the PreSchool. K-8 child care occurs in the main school.
The Arts are important at St. Raphael! Our full-time Art Teacher has their own studio where our students express themselves via a variety of mediums. Our Art Fair, assisted by parent volunteers, is amazing! Music instruction for Early Childhood through Grade 5 students provides opportunities that students can further explore in our combined School-Parish Choir, or our contemporary worship team at the Sunday 5 p.m. Mass. Our after school Band program continues to gather momentum. The Band performs with our Choir at Christmas and Spring Concerts. Each year we place musicians in the Regional Honors Band.
High School Readiness. Our Middle School is a High School Readiness Program that includes:
- Unifying Gospel Values
- Literacy strategies across all content areas
- Executive Functioning – how to manage time, information, materials
- Social and emotional wellness
- A variety of specialist classes
- Students who qualify, may complete a full Algebra 1 Course
We are proud of our school community! Again, we encourage you to take the time to navigate our web page, click on the Admissions or About Us tabs to view our school profile to view our new Virtual Visit video, and click on Family Resources to see all that we have in place. In order to find out more about the School Community, please call our Admissions Office at 781-483-3554 to speak with Admissions Director, Mrs. Gina McCart. Please make an appointment for a school-day tour to experience our exciting programs!
We hope to see you at St. Raphael soon.
Sincerely,
Mark C. Bedrosian, M.Ed.
Principal
“The Dignity of All”