Meeting Individual Needs

St. Patrick’s is committed to including in its enrollment a heterogeneous student group with varied gifts and needs. In order to maintain this commitment and to achieve flexibility within the curriculum to meet the specific strengths and needs of individual children, St. Patrick’s develops programs for monitoring individual students and providing appropriate challenges and support to children based on their individual learning profiles. Because children have different learning styles, strengths, and developmental patterns, we have created the following strategies as we strive to meet the needs of all of our students: 

Resource  
In the Lower School, beginning in Grade 1, each grade level has its own learning specialists dedicated to that grade level for approximately half of the day. These teachers work with Kindergarten children or other Lower School students during the remaining portion of the day to support them in their academic development. Learning specialists collaborate with the homeroom teachers to provide small-group experiences for children who may need, for a period of time, extra support, specific skill development, or additional challenges in reading, writing, spelling, and math. Through flexible grouping and collaborative teaching, St. Patrick’s strives to tailor instruction for individuals or small groups of students and to provide a range of whole-class learning opportunities to meet the individual needs of children.

In the Middle School, two learning specialists provide instruction, monitoring, and other support for students who continue to exhibit the need for such academic support. The Tutorial period from 2:45 to 3:15 pm allows students to check in with or receive support from the learning specialists and other MacArthur Campus faculty.