Foundation STRATEGIC PLAN: STMA 2031
The mission of Saint Thomas More Academy (STMA) is to serve families and the Church by helping our students develop the intellectual, moral, and theological virtues. STMA graduates will have grown in wisdom enlivened by charity. The ultimate purpose of an STMA education is that our students know and love God eternally, and serve Him and their neighbors in this life through their personal vocations. To this end, STMA provides a rigorous education in the classical liberal arts, the fine arts, and the sciences that is rooted in the Catholic intellectual tradition. The source and summit of each school day is the offering of the Mass. STMA is an apostolic community devoted to the pursuit of wisdom through a culture marked by freedom for excellence, the beauty of truth, and friendship in Christ. |2
Students at Saint Thomas More Academy are inspired to imitate our patron in his magnanimity, love of the truth, awareness of his divine filiation, capacity for friendship, and heroic charity. As we help our students grow, we look to three of Saint Thomas More’s educational principles: Virtue must be put in the first place, and learning in the second. If one’s loves are disordered, it is impossible to see reality clearly. Every human being has inclinations to truth, goodness, and beauty that are part of the nature of the soul. But these are given as seeds to be developed, and because of original sin, contrary inclinations impede them. The work of education is to cultivate the garden of the soul, planting and nurturing true principles and noble loves, and constantly weeding out pride, ignorance, sloth, and all other vices. Children must be taught “to seek not praise, but utility” (“Letter to William Gonell,” 1518). In other words, we do not want our students to be motivated by the desire to impress others, but rather by the sincere desire to serve them. 3|
The Beauty of Truth The St. Thomas More Academy community seeks to understand reality deeply, and to love God with our minds. We inspire students’ wonder at the beauty of truth by immersing them in beautiful art, poetry, music, drama, literature, the liturgy, and the natural world. Aided by the dual lights of faith and reason, wonder matures into wisdom as students undertake a rigorous classical liberal arts curriculum rooted in the Catholic intellectual tradition. Freedom for Excellence The St. Thomas More Academy community seeks the true freedom found in virtuously carrying out our personal vocations for the glory of God. Students learn to grow in virtue through daily study, play, and work that cultivates excellence across the full range of human capacities. We inspire students’ freedom by teaching them that they have a unique mission in God’s providential plan which calls for discovery, preparation, and fulfillment in the service of others. Friendship in Christ St. Thomas More Academy is an apostolic community of friends united by our friendship with Christ. By educating students in an environment of love, we help them experience the truth that they are children of God. We view every person as a child of God and friend in Christ, worthy of respect and love. The Eucharist is the source and summit of our community, with Holy Mass celebrated every school day. |4
Family St. Thomas More Academy joins each student’s parents in the work of education, forming one community of educators that respects the primary role of parents. We help students cherish their own families and recognize the intrinsic goodness of every family. Church St. Thomas More Academy unites with the Church, loving and serving her. We help students love the Catholic Church as their Mother, revere her authority, rely upon her wisdom and aid, and seek to serve her. Civic Community St. Thomas More Academy recognizes that it is part of a civic community and its broader network of giving and receiving. We help students value their local community, city, state, and country, and seek to serve the common good, especially by serving those most in need. 5|
The Strategic Plan has been designed with student formation at the center and in alignment with our mission: to help our students develop the intellectual, moral, and theological virtues by providing a rigorous education in the classical liberal arts, the fine arts, and the sciences, an education rooted in the Catholic intellectual tradition. The Strategic Plan has three main components: it begins with the student experience, then moves to the educators (school leaders, faculty, staff, and parents), then concludes with the critical enablers of this educational work (financial health, sustainable growth, donor community, and facilities). STMA’s core ideals guide every aspect of the Plan. |6
Strengthening the Foundation By STMA’s eleventh anniversary, our vision is to have laid a lasting, excellent foundation for the school upon which we can continue to build for years to come as we strive to embody one of the finest expressions of PK-12 Catholic education in the United States. The school will finish developing and consistently implement the core components of our academic curriculum, program of character development, program of spiritual formation, and extracurricular offerings. The school will focus on recruiting, developing, and retaining an outstanding faculty, training them in effective, consistent, clearlyarticulated pedagogical methods. The school will pursue greater unity among the parents and school leaders, faculty, and staff by ensuring that our core principles are clearly articulated, widely understood, and universally embraced, and by strengthening communication between teachers and parents. The school will cultivate a diverse, committed donor community and strategic partnerships. The school will improve short-term learning environments and finalize the long-term campus plan. 7|
and Goals Academic Excellence, Spiritual Life, and Character Formation At the heart of STMA’s mission is the intellectual, moral, and spiritual formation of our students through a carefully planned and challenging curriculum. A foundational goal is the completion and implementation of the Educational Plan, which codifies STMA’s educational principles and overarching aims, as well as the curriculum scope and sequence. Strengthening our Science, Math, Music, and Fine Arts programs are immediate priorities, as well as expanding support for diverse student needs. The cultivation of students’ moral imaginations, as well as explicit instruction and practice of key virtues, will be integrated within academic work. Daily Mass and regular opportunities for Adoration and Confession are essential elements of the Educational Plan. An improved House System will also be launched as a means of fostering community and character formation, and providing opportunities for Composing the spiritual and corporal Finish practicing and Implementing works of mercy. I |8 | STMA’s Educational Plan II | Develop the House System
Education extends beyond academics, and STMA’s extracurricular offerings are designed to help students grow towards integral human flourishing. The school will compose a written articulation of its philosophy of extracurriculars, including athletics, arts, and skills, and use this philosophy to establish a process for annually evaluating and improving existing programs, and potentially adding new ones. a Mission-Informed Plan for Proposing, III | Develop and Implement Evaluating Extracurricular Activities Launching, Improving, and 9|
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