Our Philosophy

It is the life and the light of Christ which serves as the core and the foundation for all we do at St. Sebastian School. By integrating elements of our faith into the learning process we provide the highest quality Catholic experience and education. Students, teachers, and parents are challenged to integrate Gospel values into their daily lives through the experiences of prayer and service to others.

We are a faith-filled and dynamic community. Our Governance Council works closely with our principal to ensure the necessary resources to provide a safe and nurturing environment. Realizing our parents’ roles as the primary educators of our students, our faculty works hand-in-hand with parents to ensure a partnership through effective and consistent communication. Together this vibrant community inspires students to reach their fullest potential spiritually, academically, and socially/emotionally.

Spiritual Goals
As a Catholic, academic community, we educate for Gospel values, build community, provide opportunities for worship, and educate for service.

We educate for Gospel values through teaching the doctrines and practices of the Catholic Church. We are a school community of faith, which embraces students and families from different socio-economic, cultural, and racial backgrounds. We build community by creating opportunities for students and parents to use their diverse talents.

We provide daily opportunities for worship as a school community and in individual classrooms. Moreover, we celebrate weekly mass, Catholic feast days, and church seasons as a community of faith. Finally, we educate for service. We collaborate with families to display/model Christian behavior and inspire students to be servant leaders as Jesus taught. To help students initiate positive change and follow in the footsteps of Jesus, we offer developmentally-appropriate community service opportunities for them.

Academic Goals
We prepare our students for success in high school, the university, the workplace, and beyond by teaching the essential skills of problem solving and effective communication. Problem solving skills help individuals adapt to challenging situations. We provide a variety of opportunities for students to think logically, creatively, and critically. To help students build effective communication skills, we help them develop their oral and written language abilities.

We are facilitators of learning, who seek ways to motivate students to achieve their potential and become lifelong learners. As facilitators of learning, we are committed to improving teaching strategies through professional development opportunities. To help our diverse student population strive for academic excellence, we employ research-based programs and utilize differentiated instruction techniques. We also integrate technology into the curriculum to help students develop the skills necessary to meet the challenges of the modern world.

Our instruction is based on Archdiocesan and California state standards. Because our teaching is student-centered, we periodically analyze student data to drive instruction. We use student assessment results to help our students achieve the standards.

Social/Emotional Goals
We strive to provide a positive and constructive environment where students experience personal growth in areas of emotional and social development. We help our students reach their potential to become servant leaders in our school community and in society.

To help address the needs of the whole student and to encourage students to become lifelong learners outside the class, we offer co-curricular programs to support their emotional, social, and physical development.

We provide occasions for acknowledgement of student achievement and personal growth. We also recognize school community members (i.e. parents, families, faculty, and staff) and their contributions to the school community throughout the year.

We work closely with parents, the primary educators, to create a system of support for our students. For example, we provide programs and scholarships to meet the needs of working families. We also regularly communicate with our parents and families through a variety of means. Because of the importance of parents within the school community, they are encouraged to participate through service hour opportunities. Our collaboration with parents is essential for best preparing our students for high school, the university, and beyond.