Religious schools offer a beautiful opportunity to center your child’s life around a clear set of values
that are shared by both school and home. (Photo courtesy: Sacred Heart of Jesus).
It’s crucial that parents play an active role in growing their child’s faith, and doing so will ensure your child has a positive and meaningful school experience. (Photo courtesy: Sacred Heart of Jesus).
Choosing to send your child to a religious school is an intentional decision. Parents who are investing in such schools likely have goals for their child’s experience. Religious schools offer a beautiful opportunity to center your child’s life around a clear set of values that are shared by both school and home. Parents must play an active role in growing their child’s faith and doing so will ensure your child has a positive and meaningful school experience. “We believe that the parents are the first educators of their children, and so faith formation begins at home,” says Marie Dunn, principal of Sacred Heart of Jesus School in Boulder. “We highly value our partnership with the families, and parents can create a faith-based home atmosphere by exposing their children to faith, praying at home, taking their kids to Mass, and serving others in their community.”
Dunn says that she encourages families to visit Sacred Heart to see if it’s a good fit for their students. “We are a Catholic school that aligns the educational goals and learning to the Catholic teachings,” she says. “We believe in high academic standards, service towards our neighbors, and strong moral and character development. We are a welcoming and nurturing community where we share the same hope and good intentions for your child.”
Holy Family High School offers a Catholic learning environment in Broomfield, where there is a deep focus on academic excellence, mutual respect, responsibility and self-growth. Principal Matt Hauptly explains that, because Catholic teachings are integral to the school curriculum, parents must continue that environment in the home. “We encourage parents to open their hearts to anything their child may want to share about their faith,” says Hauptly. “Having an open dialogue with them can have a profound impact on both parents and teenagers during what can be a challenging time in their lives.”
At Nativity: Faith & Reason, a Catholic pre-K through 8th grade school in Broomfield, parents play an important role in a student’s success by supporting the school’s approach to education: through faith in the younger grades, and reason in the upper grades. “Ultimately,” says principal Sebastian Calvino, “we strive to accompany the young — in age-appropriate methods — as they grow in relationship with God, themselves, and each other, and as they acquire skills and knowledge which will help them know the reality around them and to judge what is true, good, and beautiful.”
For devout families, there are profound benefits to religious school education, and those benefits are even greater when parents are participatory and engaged. Creating an atmosphere of faith and a values-based lifestyle at home can ensure your child makes the most of their school years and grows into a self-sufficient, well-rounded adult.
By Emma Castleberry, for Raised in the Rockies
Holy Family High School offers a Catholic learning environment in Broomfield, where there is a deep focus on academic excellence, mutual respect, responsibility and self-growth. (Photo courtesy: Holy Family High School).
