What this means

What is a “Classical” Education?

“Christian education should be an initiation into a universal spiritual society – the community of the civitas Dei”    –Christopher Dawson

A classical education is one rooted in the sources of the Western Tradition, with the goal of pursuing of
an integrated vision by way of the 7 liberal arts. The word “classical” originally designated a recovery of
the works and art of the Classical Age of Ancient Greece and Rome. The Church’s work in the West has
greatly developed this inheritance from the Ancient World. Thus, to be fully classical, a school must also
be fully Catholic, fully immersed in the Faith and work of the Church, which has formed Catholic cultures
in the West and developed a rich tradition of thought.

Classical Education at St. Thomas

“In pursuit of the horizons – the horizontal things – have you failed to raise your eyes and mind and heart up to the stars, to the reasons for things, and beyond, as Dane says at the top of the tower of his poem: “To the love which moves the sun / And all the other stars?”

At St. Thomas, we seek to form your child through the liberal arts, the Trivium (Grammar, Logic, and
Rhetoric) and the Quadrivium (Arithmetic, Geometry, Music, and Astronomy). These are not simply
“subjects,” but the basic ways within the various subjects by which your child is formed to see and love
what is True, Good, and Beautiful. They are like so many rungs of a ladder by which your child can
ascend to a higher and more integrated vision of reality. As the motive power of this ascent is love, we
want your child to be a lover; the formation of the mind and the formation of the heart necessarily go
together.

Classical and Catholic

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” – Proverbs 9:10

St. Thomas the Apostle School exists for the glory of God and the salvation of our students’ souls. We
bind ourselves to teach your child the Faith as it has been handed on in the Tradition of the one, true
Church of Christ. The worship and love of Jesus Christ in fidelity to the Church’s Tradition is the true
heart of our school. Within that heart, our students’ studies point to Wisdom, to a transformative
contemplation of and union with Jesus Christ, Who is the Wisdom of God, the Logos.

Our Catholic Faith

St. Thomas has always been committed to providing an authentic Catholic education. We are proud to be a Catholic school.

• Students participate in the “Education in Virtue, Disciples of Christ” program where they learn to exercise the
  essentials of vigorous moral character.
• Religion is taught daily. The “Catechesis of the Good Shepherd” program is offered to preschool and kindergarten
  students.
• All-School Mass is celebrated every Monday morning. Our Upper School also celebrates Mass on Wednesday mornings. Parents are always encouraged to attend.
• Friday mornings we have Eucharistic Adoration
• Every morning and afternoon, students and faculty pray together (all-school prayer).
• Christian service projects are undertaken and completed quarterly, in each grade and as a whole school.