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Our Lady of Perpetual Help
Our School and Mission
Early Childhood
Academics
Student Activities


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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