Student Opportunities at St Paul's Lutheran School
“St. Paul’s Lutheran School . . . prepares students for success in future educational, community, and life experiences.”
St. Paul’s Mission Statement
A key part of St. Paul’s Lutheran School’s mission statement is the commitment to educating the whole child and that means that at St. Paul’s we believe in the value of a well-rounded education for all students. In the current educational climate of high stakes standardized testing, St. Paul’s stands out. While St. Paul’s students score exceptionally well on standardized tests, the tests are not the focus of the curriculum. In addition to a strong, state-standards based academic curriculum, St. Paul’s students learn about and participate in the arts, physical education, outdoor education and are involved in the community.
Christian Education
The students at St. Paul’s are daily involved in Bible study, and attend a weekly chapel service. Each class prepares and presents at least one of these chapel services. This may include presenting a drama and singing. The St. Paul’s Sharks Code of Conduct is based upon our walk of faith.
China Trip
In October and November, many of St. Paul’s 8th grade students and some of their parents travel on the China Mission Trip. For 10 days, the group tours Hong Kong and southern China. There they meet Christian missionaries at work in China, farm families in small Chinese villages and worship in at least one Chinese Christian church. This year, 13 students will be making the trip. The rest of the student body supports the trip through prayer and raising money for several community projects in China.
Middle School Camps
All St. Paul’s middle school students participate in three outstanding outdoor education camps. 6th graders travel to Indian Hills Christian camp for a week in May. 7th graders go to the Catalina Island Marine Institute at Cherry Cove for one week in April. 7th graders learn about marine biology, conduct labs and experiments, snorkel, night snorkel, hike, and kayak. 8th grade students spend an April week in Yosemite Valley. Hiking, bike riding, art, campfire activities and seeing the stunning scenery in Yosemite National Park highlight their week. All three camps give students the opportunity to be hands-on in their education and students gain an appreciation for God’s awesome creation.
The Arts
All children in grades K-2 participate in the Cherub Choir. Students in grades 3-8 are involved in the Celebration Choir. Both of these choirs are voice choirs. Students in grades 5-8 also may choose to participate in the Hand Bell Choir. All three choirs perform for chapel services, Sunday worship services at St. Paul’s, for a local retirement home and at the Celebration of the Arts. The Celebration of the Arts is an evening event in May at which the choirs perform, students may present individual voice or instrumental performances and art work from the Art Masters program is display.
Each year, four artists are the focus of the The Art Master program. Students learn about the artist, their artistic style, they see examples of the artists work and they create a work of art using the techniques and artistic style learned in the lesson. This year, St. Paul’s students will be learning about Piet Mondrian, Georges Seurat, Joan Miro, and Andrew Wyeth.
In June, an operetta is presented for the St. Paul’s community. The operetta is presented by grades K-3 one year and by grades 4-6 the next.
Community Involvement
St. Paul’s students learn at an early age that they can make a contribution to their community. Last year, the fourth year that St. Paul’s has had a team, 90 children and adults joined together in to participate in the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation walk. St. Paul’s also had a team of 35 students participate in the San Diego Union Tribune Race for Literacy. Eighth grade students organize our schools participation in Operation Christmas Child. Sixth, seventh and eighth grade students work at the San Diego Food Bank several times during the year and the entire school collects soap, socks, candles and canned goods for the Lutheran Border Concerns Ministry.
Physical Education and Sports
St. Paul’s has adopted SPARK as its physical education curriculum. Developed by researchers and educators at San Diego State, SPARK has become a nation-wide model for elementary PE programs. SPARK stands for sports, play and active recreation for kids.
Students in grades 3-8 can run in the annual Lutheran High School of San Diego cross-country meet. Grades 5-8 can join St. Paul’s teams for boys and girls volleyball, and boys and girls basketball. Typically, more than 90% of the students play on at least one team.
Technology
Three years ago, St. Paul’s adopted the Technology Curriculum goals and objectives of the International Society of Technical Educators (ISTE). Then, based on those goals and objectives, we developed our scope and sequence. Integrating the technology goals into our curriculum and giving our students many opportunities to use technology across the curriculum have been a focus of our school improvement plans for the past three years.