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Our
School
Our Lady of Perpetual Help School is a Roman Catholic elementary school
in the Archdiocese of New Orleans.
Located in the historic Rivertown area of Kenner, Our Lady of Perpetual
Help serves students from all areas of Kenner, St. Rose, Metairie, and
River Ridge. The school is staffed by a dedicated faculty, and
continues its 80-year tradition of Catholic education for students from
Pre-Kindergarten
to Eighth grade. We received our accreditation from SACS, the
Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, in March 2008. Our
new Mercy Center, completed in 2004,
contains
administrative offices as well as the library, band room, and upstairs
gym.
Our Mission
The mission of Our Lady of Perpetual Help School is to encourage
personal growth of the students' relationship with God through the life
and teachings of Jesus Christ. Our Lady of
Perpetual Help faculty and staff, along with the cooperation of parents
and the parish community, provide students with an education that will
prepare them spiritually, academically, socially, and emotionally to
make moral real-life decisions.
Services:
Before- and after-school extended care is offered as a service to
working parents. Fees are: $3.00 for morning care, beginning at
7:00 AM and $6.00 for after-school care, until 6:00 PM. OLPH has
an
automated library for student use. Our active Home and School
Association plans activities and fundraisers for school and family
enrichment.
Early Childhood:
OLPH
offers the tuition-free Pre-K4 program, NSECD ( Nonpublic Schools Early
Clindhood Development), which is funded by the State of Louisiana for
low-income students. This is a wonderful opportunity for parents
to give their children a high quality PreK program that will prepare
them to excel in kindergarten. Applications for the NSECD program
are accepted from March through June. The NSECD students are
fully integrated into the regular Pre-K 4 classrooms.
- The Pre-K 4 program is based on the Louisiana
Comprehensive Curriculum for PreKindergarten and the Creative
Curriculum. The children learn through play and through
interaction with the teacher and assistant. OLPH has two
classrooms of Pre-K 4, each with a teacher and assistant. The
teacher:student ratio in the classroom is 10 to 1.
- The cognitive skills of the Pre-K 4
class that should be mastered are: name recognition, the
letters of the alphabet, and the recognition of numbers up to 20.
Journals are used to encourage interest in stories and books, and the
classrooms have a wide variety of children's books and learning centers
(reading, blocks, science, writing, music, dramatic play, art, and
water and sand). Pre-Kindergarten students also receive daily
instruction in religion.
The Kindergarten Program at OLPH provides each child
with a solid
academic curriculum that is served in a loving, Christian atmosphere.
The children receive a strong foundation in numbers, alphabet, and
phonics, and are adequately prepared to meet the challenges of first
grade. Our children enjoy religion classes, P.E., library sessions,
field trips, and
computer time.
Academics: In
all major subject areas, Our Lady of Perpetual Help School follows the
standards-based curriculum of the State of Louisiana and the
archdiocesan Office of Catholic Schools. The academic program at OLPH
School consists of this basic comprehensive curriculum as well as:
Religion
To
fulfill our mission to help the students develop a personal
relationship with Jesus Christ, religion classes are taught by
qualified religion teachers under the direction of our pastor,
principal, and director of religious education. Students from
Kindergarten through 8th grade attend the weekly school Mass, in which
students participate as
altar servers, gift bearers, lectors, and choir
members. Students
also
lead
morning school prayer over the intercom each day. A school chapel provides a place where
students can pray during the school day.
Schoolwide
Computers
Our Lady of Perpetual Help School is
fortunate to have a fully networked system of computers.
There are an average of 4 student computers in each classroom, with
laptops and a computer lab available to older students for class
projects. A major part of our academic curriculum is the
Accelerated
Math and Accelerated Reader software, which can be accessed from all
classrooms in grades 1-8. Students in these grades also take STAR
Math
and STAR Reading tests on the computer three times a year. Weekly
computer classes are taught for students in 4th through 6th grades, and
our Pre-Kindergarten through 3rd grade students have the use of a new
reading computer lab and software.
Honors English - 8th grade
Middle
grade students with high ability in Language Arts and Reading on their
standardized tests may be
invited to take Honors English. These students must also be recommended
by their Language Arts teacher from the previous year. Eighth
graders in Honors English who earn a final grade of A or B will
receive high school credit for their work.
- Honors Math -
8th grade
- 8th grade students with high ability and
achievement in
mathematics are placed in honors classes. These classes challenge them
to advance more rapidly and to work with more advanced topics.
All 7th grade students are instructed
in the Louisiana Comprehensive Curriculum for math, which prepares them
for Algebra in the 8th grade. 8th
grade honors math students study Algebra I and receive high school
credit
for their work. Other 8th graders take Algebra I Part 1.
- Spanish
- Middle School students receive instruction in
Spanish as part of their enrichment classes. 7th and 8th grade
students take Spanish classes two days a week, and 6th graders receive
Spanish instruction once per week.
- Robotics
- OLPH takes part in the Archdiocesan Robotics
Initiative. Robotics is offered as enrichment for 6th through 8th
grade students for a 9-week period.
- Title One
Enrichment Program in Reading
- Title I is a federally funded program that
provides
an additional resource for learning to the children who qualify by
educational need and residence in a Chapter I public school district.
Students in Kindergarten through seventh grades are currently
participating in this program, and receive Title I tutoring for 90
minutes a week.
Student Activities
A variety of extra-curricular and enrichment
activities are provided for students at OLPH, including:
- Sports
(girls' volleyball, boys' flag football, boys' and girls' basketball
and indoor ball)
- Student
Council, National Junior Beta Club, Altar Servers, Choir, and classroom
helpers
- DARE
programs in 5th, 7th, and 8th grades, taught by the Kenner Police
Department
- Cheerleaders,
Archdiocesan Band Program, After-School Art, After-School Mad Science
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