Food insecurity is a serious issue in Northern Virginia, according to the St. Lucy Project, a diocesan Catholic Charities initiative, which aims to combat the problem any way it can. Sometimes that means giving local public school kids secret bags filled with food on Fridays so they don’t go hungry over the weekend.
Chelsea Academy in Front Royal, which teaches grades 4-12 in the Catholic liberal arts tradition, will add kindergarten through third grade for the fall of 2022. The expansion will make it the only independent K-12 Catholic school in the Shenandoah Valley.
National Catholic Schools Week is the annual celebration of Catholic education in the United States, celebrated since 1974. The CSW theme, which is being used from 2021 through 2024, is “Catholic Schools: Faith. Excellence. Service.”
Oakcrest School, an independent school for girls in grades 6-12 guided by the teachings of the Catholic Church and the spirituality of Opus Dei, has opened registration for its summer programs.
When Annie Fernandez was a young teacher at a Catholic school in her native India, diversity meant religious differences. “We had Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs,” she said. “But the people all looked the same.”
School leaders work to attract strong candidates amid a teacher shortage.
The New Student Wellness Center helps address mental health needs.
Opened in 2001, De La Salle is a founding member of the Cristo Rey Network, the only association of high schools in the country that integrates college preparatory academics with four years of professional work experience. The first Cristo Rey school began in Chicago in 1996; there are now 37 such schools nationwide; all serve low-income populations.
The school was designated a Blue Ribbon School for 2019 by U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos in September. The pre-K-eighth grade school was the only Catholic school in the diocese to be recognized in 2019.
The school’s STEM program engages students in hands-on experiments.
