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Questions will be answered that are of general information about St. Joseph School. If you have a question about school policy or an individual situation, please direct it to the student's teacher or the school administration.

1. What is the tuition at St. Joseph School?.

2. How many students are enrolled in SJS?.

3. What grades attend St. Joseph School?.

4. Is there a dress code?.

5. Do the teachers assign a lot of homework?.

6. What is the grading system at St. Joseph School?.

7. When is the next Tag Day?.

8. What is a tag day?.

9. Do the students have different field trips through out the year?.

10. What is the alumni corner?.

11. What school trips are planned for this year?.

12. When do kids wear gym clothes?.

13. What are the major subjects for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grades?.

14. How do the children at the upper school go to specials at the lower school?.

15. How does a student receive a demerit? .

16. Who started the Christmas pageant?.

17. What is the Honor Roll? .

18. Do you provide aftercare?.

19. What is the importance of Catholic Schools Week? .

20. What is the Beta Club?.

21. What are the school hours?.

22. Do the students change classes or do they have only one teacher?.

23. When do students dissect an animal?.

24. Is it possible to list the teachers by their name, grade taught, and qualifications on your website?.

25. How do you choose a student"s section each year?.

26. Do you have an after school program?.

27. Are there any sports programs at St. Joseph School?.

28. Are there any service organizations or honor societies at St. Joseph School?.

29. Are there any advanced studies programs?.

30. What kind of activities do you offer to the students at St. Joseph School?.

31. When are the students allowed to wear golf shirts?.

32. Will teachers have their emails posted on their homework sites?.

33. What is the school policy in order to receive parishoner rate for tuitions? When does it take in effect for the school year 2007?.

34. What subjects are taught at SJS?.

35. Specifically, what kind of homework does a kindergardener get? .

36. What percentage of the transitional program children move on to the first grade?.

37. What is the cutoff date for a child entering Pre-K?.

38. When does the upper school change their uniform?.

39. What are the start and finish times of the 1/2 day and full day pre-k 3s?.

40. What is the web site for class projects?.

41. Is there aftercare for First Friday half days?.

42. When will next years school calendar be published? .

Answers:

1. What is the tuition at St. Joseph School?.

For information about tuition costs, check our website in the "About Us" section.

2. How many students are enrolled in SJS?.

Approximately 500 students attend SJS.

3. What grades attend St. Joseph School?.

St. Joseph School serves students in grades K thorugh 8. In addition, SJS has a Pre-K 3 year old, Pre-K 4 year old, and a transitional kindergarten program.

4. Is there a dress code?.

Yes, students in grades K-8 wear school uniforms. You can read more information about our dress code here.

5. Do the teachers assign a lot of homework?.

That depends on the student. Besides daily homework, teachers also assign long-term projects (see the "Menus, Forms, and Newsletters" section of the website for copies of some of the assigned projects). A student that is able to plan ahead and work on a long-term project a little at a time may not feel the crunch of the combination of long term and daily homework.

Teachers do try to avoid too much work being due at the same time, but it is inevitable that sometimes due to time constraints (shortened school weeks, marking period deadlines, etc) assignments will overlap and a student may be assigned more than the normal amount of homework on a particular night.

In any event, homework is an important tool to reinforce concepts that have been taught in school. Put aside a time each evening that is devoted to reviewing your schoolwork of the day and completing any homework assignments that you have. Your study area should be quiet, well lit, and free from distractions - all the components of a good learning environment.

6. What is the grading system at St. Joseph School?.

Students in grades 1-3 receive grades of O, S, or N (for Outstanding, Satisfactory, or Needs Improvement) on their report cards.
Students in grades 4-8 are graded using standard letter grades ranging from A for excellent work to F for failing.

7. When is the next Tag Day?.

To learn about upcoming events at St. Joseph School, check the Calendar section of this website. There is a "Search" button that allows you to put in key words (such as "tag day") to help you find specific future events.

8. What is a tag day?.

Tag day is a fund raiser for the Beta club. Students pay a small amount (usually a dollar or two) and are allowed to wear their regular clothes that day instead of the school uniform.

9. Do the students have different field trips through out the year?.

Yes. Teachers plan field trips for all grades in St. Joseph School. You can check the calendar for upcoming trips, though most are not finalized until later in the school year. Trips are usually seasonal in nature (Christmas shows in December, pumpkin picking in the Fall) and relate to the school curriculum.

10. What is the alumni corner?.

The alumni corner is for graduates of St. Joseph School. If you are an alum of SJS we encourage you to register with your name and the year you graduated. Not only will that help us to put together a database of graduates, but it will allow graduates to get in touch with each other.

11. What school trips are planned for this year?.

Class trips are posted on the SJS Calendar by grade or class. To find trips that are already planned, do a search using the word "trip" or "field trip". You can also check all the listings for your grade by using the "Categories" pull down at the top of the page and clicking the "Show" button. Keep in mind that while a class trip may be in the works, the date may not be confirmed and it may not yet be listed. If so, check back at a later date.

12. When do kids wear gym clothes?.

Students wear gym clothing on their scheduled Physical Education day.

13. What are the major subjects for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grades?.

Students in the elementary grades study reading, math, science, social studies, vocabulary, English, and religion. Special subjects include art, physical education, library, music, and computers.

14. How do the children at the upper school go to specials at the lower school?.

Students in the Upper School walk to the Lower School to attend classes such as Art, Music, Computer, Physical Education, and Library.

15. How does a student receive a demerit? .

The Demerit System is explained in the student handbook. You can access the handbook at http://www.sjsoradell.com/pdf/handbook.pdf. See pages 8 and 9.

16. Who started the Christmas pageant?.

The Christmas Pageant at St. Joseph School is a long-time tradition that is probably as old as the school itself. In researching this question, I was not able to find anyone who remembers a time when we did not have a pageant.

17. What is the Honor Roll? .

The St. Joseph School Honor Roll recognizes students for academic excellence. The categories are as follows:

18. Do you provide aftercare?.

Aftercare is provided until 6:00 PM every school day, except half days before major vacations. This is a drop-in, paid service with discounts for multiple children.

19. What is the importance of Catholic Schools Week? .

Catholic Schools Week is an annual national celebration of the important role that Catholic elementary and secondary schools across the country play in providing a values-added education for young people in America. Catholic schools are proud of their educational network that emphasizes intellectual, spiritual, moral, physical and social values in their students.

20. What is the Beta Club?.

The Beta Club is a service organization. St. Joseph School maintains a chapter of the National Junior Beta Club with student members who perform various service activities to benefit the school community. Go to their website for more information.

21. What are the school hours?.

Students arrive at school by 8:00 AM. Classes begin at 8:15 and dismissal is at 2:45.

22. Do the students change classes or do they have only one teacher?.

We have self-contained classes through grade 4, located in our Lower School building. Students in grades six through eight are fully departmentalized and have a rotating schedule of classes, similar to the classic Junior High model. In addition to the regular academic program, students also have specialty teachers in the areas of Religion, Computer, Physical Education, Music and Art.

23. When do students dissect an animal?.

Dissection is part of Science class in 7th. Grade.

24. Is it possible to list the teachers by their name, grade taught, and qualifications on your website?.

We dont list the names of our teachers because of privacy issues. All of our teachers are degreed and certified (see the "Faculty and Staff" part of the "About Us" section of our website).

25. How do you choose a student"s section each year?.

Teachers assign the students based on who will be the "best fit".

26. Do you have an after school program?.

Aftercare is provided until 6:00 PM every school day, except half days before major vacations. This is a drop-in service that currently charges 3.75/hour, with discounts for multiple children.

27. Are there any sports programs at St. Joseph School?.

We compete in the CYO league for basketball, track, and cheering. Team sports begin as early as Kindergarten and our school is known to be very competitive.

28. Are there any service organizations or honor societies at St. Joseph School?.

We have a chapter of the National Junior BETA club which requires students to be nominated by the faculty. Students are eligible for this beginning in Grade 6. The application process includes an essay and the student is evaluated in the areas of scholarship and service.

29. Are there any advanced studies programs?.

Students are eligible for advanced math beginning at grade 7. We offer a full year of pre-algebra to students in grade 7 who have excellent math scores. If they do well in this class they may continue to take Algebra 1 in grade 8, which allows them to take Algebra 2/Geometry as 9th. graders. We also offer 3 full years of Spanish beginning at grade 6. Students who do well can go directly to Spanish 2 or Honors Spanish 1 in 9th. grade.

30. What kind of activities do you offer to the students at St. Joseph School?.

The list of student activites is long and varied. Click here to download a PDF file with a summary of our activities.

31. When are the students allowed to wear golf shirts?.

Golf shirts (short sleeve polo shirts) are worn as part of the school uniform in the warmer weather. In the spring, the decision as to when students may wear golf shirts is usually made some time after Easter break.

32. Will teachers have their emails posted on their homework sites?.

That is the preference of each individual teacher. The school does not have a separate email server. Any email addresses posted would have to be to the teachers personal email which, understandably, they may chose to keep private.
Besides, should you need to communicate with a teacher, they can always be contacted by calling the school office or, if you are a student, by talking to them directly in school.

33. What is the school policy in order to receive parishoner rate for tuitions? When does it take in effect for the school year 2007?.

In order to receive the parishoner rate for tuitions, you must be a registered member of St. Joseph parish. Once you are registered, the parishoner rate takes effect immediately.

34. What subjects are taught at SJS?.

See Curriculum in the About Us section of this web site or Click Here to take you directly to that section.

35. Specifically, what kind of homework does a kindergardener get? .

Kindergarten students have homework mostly in the form of copying letters for writing practice.
You can see specifics if you go to the Homework Online section of our website and click on a link to one of the kindergarten teachers.

36. What percentage of the transitional program children move on to the first grade?.

Transitional kindergarten students do not go on to first grade, they go to kindergarten only.

37. What is the cutoff date for a child entering Pre-K?.

The cutoff date is October 1.

38. When does the upper school change their uniform?.

The date when both Upper School and Lower School students may change their uniforms from the standard uniform to the warm weather uniform, which includes golf shirts, varies from year to year and is announced in the weekly newsletter. Conversely, the date to switch from wearing golf shirts at the beginning of the school year to regular uniforms also appears in the newsletter.

39. What are the start and finish times of the 1/2 day and full day pre-k 3s?.

AM session goes from 8:30-11:00
PM session goes from 12:00-2:30
All day children go from 8:30-2:30

40. What is the web site for class projects?.

Class projects will most likely be listed by individual teachers on their homework website. Click on Homework Online in the links on the left side of the school website then click on the name of your teacher.

If the class project has an information packet that goes along with it, you may also find that information in the Menus Forms and Newsletters section of our website. Click on that link and then look for information under your grade level.

41. Is there aftercare for First Friday half days?.

Yes. Aftercare is provided until 6:00 PM every school day, except half days before major vacations.

42. When will next years school calendar be published? .

The school calendar for the next academic year is usually published in May.

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