St. Matthew School Programs
Three of many outstanding services and programs we offer are:
Learning Specialist
Our on-site learning specialist helps students from Kindergarten—Grade 5 with pre-reading, reading and writing skills. Our specialist often works with students one-on-one to insure grade level reading and writing skills are developing as well as working with small groups of two and three for general academic support.
Tuition Assistance
First, we work diligently to offer accessible tuition rates without sacrificing high academic standards and enrichment programs. We fundraise to support our Tuition Assistance program for families in need. In 2010-11 we raised over $15,000 for direct and immediate tuition aid. Additionally, we have a Tuition Assistance Endowment which has seen growth in contributions and investment gains from $50,000 to nearly $90,000 in three years. Our efforts offer immediate and long-term financial support to our families.
Enrichment Programs
We offer our students opportunities to explore their gifts through our enrichment programs of Art Docent, Music & Movement, Physical Education (PE), Technology and Media Research as well as Spanish. After school, we offer excellent extra-curricular activities such as Speech Team, Beginning and Advanced Band, various sports teams, and Drama, primarily supported by our volunteers.
Recent Successes and Current Challenges
One of our premier successes is graduating students who are accepted into the high school of their first choice. The Classes of 2010, 2011and 2012 all had 100% acceptance to the high school of their first choice. Additionally, our students received these honors: Bishop Blanchet High School Merit Scholar Leadership Award, Seattle Preparatory St. Ignatius of Loyola Award for Academic Record and Character, and the Holy Names Academy Honors at Entrance Scholarship. Prior to 2010, our acceptance rate was 96% on average, for the high school of first choice.
Our primary need is to increase our funding for immediate Tuition Assistance. While we have two very good programs in place to offer Tuition Assistance, each year 10-20 families cannot attend due to financial concerns. These are families who want the academic excellence and core Catholic values for their children.