Programs
Early Childhood Center (ECC) Grades PK3 and PK4 The ECC provides a foundation for academic excellence through its Montessori approach to learning. Children are welcomed daily with opportunities to learn through discovery while building social and academic skills. The experienced, certified teaching team provides sensorial, tactile, and practical-life experiences which include scientific exploration and inventive play. Music, Art, Spanish, and Physical Education are offered every week. Students spend time each week in the Exploration Laboratory, a room devoted to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM), to explore capacity, buoyancy, mass, plants and animals, among many other topics. Lower School Grades 1-4 Academic rigor continues in the middle years in a curriculum aligned with the Common Core State Standards and STEM. Students focus on sharpening their skills in Reading, Spelling, Grammar, Handwriting, Math Computation, and Computers (including an introductionto programming and graphic design). Critical thinking is reinforced through problem-based instructional strategies and student writing across the curriculum. Enrichment for all students is provided through multi-age classrooms and online academic programs. Students have weekly classes in Music, Art, and Computer Technology, and bi-weekly classes in Spanish and Physical Education. Upper School Grades 5-8 The Junior School is a place for innovation, where students are equipped with technology and tackle real-world problems. The design of the Junior School is rooted in both practice and research. Students are gradually introduced to a high school setting through points of contact with Morris Catholic High School. This incremental introduction to the secondary school environment, coupled with an academic program that focuses on rigor and 21st Century skills, ensures student success. Design opportunities are a regular part of the curriculum. Junior School students are also expectedto write in all disciplines encouraging critical thinking skills and content vocabulary development. Graduates attend the best secondary schools in the state and are well prepared for the rigors of high school and beyond.