St Jude The Apostle Catholic School

Look carefully at the outdated curriculum and student to teacher ratio. While classes have teachers aids, there is no guided reading or small group instruction taking place as class sizes are large. This school setting works well for quiet neurotypical middle achieving students. If you have a student who struggles or a gifted student, there are not effective interventions in place to support their growth. The staff is mostly mom hires, there is no evidence of standards based planning. Discipline policies and procedures are not consistent, there are definitely favorites and not so favorite families. The good news is that it won’t take long at all to see which bucket your family falls into for your student. It is a very small community with very little diversity in students and staff. My advice would be to interview parents of middle schoolers before deciding if this is the right place for your student.

St. Jude is an amazing school! Blue ribbon school means it is ranked nationally. So challenging to get in but once you are in, it is a great environment for your children. Very caring, nurturing and creates a feeling of community.

Examine the school very carefully before enrolling your child in middle school. The math and science curriculum is very weak. Spanish is so basic that it is practically useless. Music teachers seem to be exasperated with the children all the time. The art teacher is the least creative person imaginable. The middle school coordinator is humorless and inflexible. Demerits are issued for the smallest infractions. Parents are incredibly involved and really care about the school; however, they are also very conscious of their social status and so breaking in at middle school can be quite challenging.