OUR PHILOSOPHY

Excelling Through Faith

We believe in a living purpose strengthened by our faith as the basis for a better education. To us, that means combining virtues like ‘uniqueness of character’ with Catholic values to teach through examples of compassion and service. Not only does this create an approachable education environment, but it nurtures and fosters confidence and empathy in students at a time of immense social complexity brought on by digital tools and passive communication. At SPPCS the education extends beyond the classroom with programming and accountability that is shared by all faculty and families allowing a tight-nit network of parents, teachers, administrators, coaches, clergy and alumni to have input, recognize needs and have impact tending to them. It’s why you’re likely to find our students are natural leaders, volunteers, devoted family members, and those poised to be good Samaritans when society demands.

Small School. Big City Access.

Nestled in the small, historic community of Waterloo, IL, just 2 blocks from courthouse square, Ss. Peter & Paul Catholic School (SPPCS) finds itself in the middle of a nationally registered historic district and within a stone’s throw of the offerings of Saint Louis, MO. SPPCS is the primary educational ministry of Ss. Peter & Paul Catholic Church. Established in 1853, our school has existed to serve the youth of our parish and our community, as well as to help parents in passing on the Catholic faith to their children. Currently, our program includes an early childhood learning center plus Kindergarten through 8th grade.

We offer a proven core curriculum and small class size as well as a loving and caring environment in which our students are provided the opportunity to develop their relationship with God and begin on the path to becoming caring, service-minded adults. While Religion class is taught daily at SPPCS, but faith and character education is engrained in every aspect of our day-to-day routine.

In addition to our core curriculum, our students are provided with many other opportunities. Preschool through eighth grade classes participate in Spanish, STEM, Music, Computer and Character Ed classes on a regular basis. Having direct access to a large metropolitan area allows for our students on all levels to take educational and service-minded field trips. We have all school Mass weekly while 2nd – 8th grade students attend Mass twice a week. Service projects give our students the opportunity to give back to our surrounding communities as well as learn about those who may be less fortunate.

We also provide an extensive list of extracurricular activities for our SPPCS students. Our athletics include baseball, basketball, softball, track, volleyball and soccer. We also offer several clubs and organizations for our students to join, including but not limited to chess team, math club, youth ministry, scholar bowl, softball, speech and student council.

1:1

TECHNOLOGY

14:1

STUDENT / TEACHER RATIO

11

COMMUNITIES REPRESENTED

CURRICULUM

Teaching for the future.

SPPCS provides an extensive core curriculum designed to prepare our students for high school and beyond. Our faculty strives to use a team approach to coordinate instruction across all grades and subjects. Teacher collaboration, in addition to our small class sizes, allows SPPCS the opportunity to meet individual student needs while still furthering the develop of our classes as a whole.

In addition to the core subject offerings, our students participate in Religion, Spanish, STEM, Music, Computers, PE and Character Education on a regular basis. They are also afforded the opportunity to participate in many other educational focused curriculars. We have a resource & gifted teacher on staff to work with those students who need an extra challenge or support and our art program allows our students an additional opportunity to express themselves creatively.

SERVICE

Our Civic Commitment

At SPPCS, we feel that it is our responsibility to instill a strong sense of civic commitment into our students. This is why we place such an emphasis on service. Each year our students in Preschool – 8th grade participate in several community service activities, focused on broadening their perspective of our world.

SPPCS raises money for various organizations such as Kellsie’s Hope Foundation, the American Heart Association and other children’s missions around the world. We also hold numerous collection drives including our Student Council Annual Food Drive, Annual Essentials Drive, Coats for Cairo and the Funderwear Service Project.

We also hold two school-wide services days. For each day, students disperse around the community to help with whatever activities may be needed by the various organizations. Our students have done landscaping at The SeeMore Inn, organized books and cleaned at the Morrison-Talbot Library and polished the church pews at the parish. This allows our students the opportunity to give back to their community through service.

STRATEGIC PLAN

Vision & Goals

The leadership of SPPCS has continued to plan for the future of our school by developing a long range strategic plan.

This plan was first completed in October 2010 with minor updates completed in subsequent years. The planning process to revise the strategic plan was completed in the Fall 2017 and was led by the School Board and incorporated input from key constituencies.

The strategic plan is comprehensive and focuses on the following areas:

Catholic Identity
Recruiting & Enrollment
Curriculum
Development & Fundraising
Facilities
Finance
Long Range Planning

The planning process included the following:

Establishing the strategic goals & committees.
Assigning School Board members to each committee.
Conducting necessary meetings with various parish members to determine goals for each strategic area.
In-depth discussions regarding the strengths & areas of development faced by the school.
Review of curriculum, finances & facility needs.
Development of a written plan outlining key data, observations, goals & strategies.