The Elementary School was awarded the Blue Ribbon by the United States Department of Education in October 2007, enjoying a reputation as a premier elementary school in Northern Kentucky.
Many factors contribute to the reputation and success of our school. Our small class size allows all teachers to know the students and their families well. Villa families are actively involved in the school. Nearly 90% of our families volunteer in some way each school year. These strong connections between teachers and students, school and home, and school and community along with a 100-year tradition of Benedictine and academic excellence, create a family-like atmosphere at Villa.
Our elementary and junior high school students study a well-rounded standards-based curriculum that is age and stage appropriate. The curriculum for all students from kindergarten through eighth grade includes: reading, writing, grammar, math, science, social studies, religion, foreign language, technology, art, physical education and health and music. Students in grades K-6 are divided into two homerooms while students in grades 7-8 are departmentalized. Each area of our curriculum meets or exceeds the Diocese of Covington's guidelines and is aligned with national standards.
Teachers capably integrate technology into the curriculum. Web-based learning techniques are used to gather information, reinforce learning and to extend the walls of the classroom to the world. All teachers have a desktop or laptop computer. CDs, video and audio tapes, overhead projectors, charts, and graphs, also lend themselves to the varied and balanced instructional methods that teachers fully integrate into their subject areas. Technology has proven to be an excellent tool for communication with our parents via our web site, daily announcements sent by the principal via e-mail, and the use of Edline for student assignments and progress reporting.
Students at every grade level are expected to complete service work. Students participate in service learning projects throughout the school year. For example, the eighth grade students are learning about inertia and through their science study, decided to do things around the school to help the community learn about the safety of wearing a seat belt. They are creating flyers to display around the school, will soon hold a seat belt safety check in the carpool line and read public service announcements on the intercom. These activities help the students become ambassadors for their community.
For detailed information about each curriculum area, please use the links to the left.