Student Life at St. Xavier’s

If you ask the question “What’s the purpose of Primary School?”, many people would respond with comments about providing children with foundational knowledge such as skills in reading and writing, teaching children about the world around them, and perhaps even simply to prepare children to function as productive members of society. All of these are important aspects of education, but at St. Xavier’s Private School we include another fundamental aspect of education that is at the very core of everything we do.

Spiritual Life

We believe that religious instruction is an essential component of education.  Indeed, education is unbalanced without it.  As such, life at St. Xavier’s begins and ends with prayer.  We celebrate important feast days, and prepare our Catholic students for their first confession and first holy communion.  Yet, in recognition of our multi-ethnic and ecumenical population, we hold to the basic principles of love, acceptance, and community.

Our focus is on promoting spiritual, moral, social, and cultural development in all our students.  To accomplish this, we include a wide variety of co-curricular and extra-curricular activities that are designed to address the physical, aesthetic, spiritual, and intellectual development of our students.  For further information on our comprehensive curriculum, please visit the Academics page.  Keep reading to find out about the various extra-curricular activities that enhance our students’ lives.

Physical Development

Every student is encouraged to engage in at least two extra-curricular activities, and we offer many options to select from: uniformed clubs such as Girl Guides, Cub Scouts and the Red Cross, and several opportunities for our students to develop themselves physically. Many choose gymnastics, football, swimming, and dance, while others prefer martial arts, lawn tennis and archery. Combined with our physical education programme, these activities contribute to the body-mind-spirit balance we strive for in our students.

Emotional Well-Being

Very often, a child’s emotional health takes a second and sometimes third place in the list of priorities at school.  However, researchers suggest that emotional health is crucial to our happiness and how we experience life.  There is also evidence which shows that when children feel good about themselves and each other, they learn better and academic results improve.

We have, therefore, adopted a programme called “Zippy’s Friends” which seeks to teach children how to identify and talk about their feelings, to say what they want to say, to listen attentively, to ask for help when necessary, and how to cope with difficult and new situations.  Rather than telling children what to do, this programme encourages them to think for themselves and to come up with their own solutions; a skill which will certainly serve them throughout their lives.  We agree with the former chair of Partnership for Children, the UK based organization which promotes Zippy’s Friends, when he says “If we can teach young children how to cope with difficulties, they should be better able to handle problems and crises in adolescence and adult life.”

Social Awareness

Caring for our fellow man is a fundamental aspect of love, respect, and community which we impart to our students in a variety of ways.  At Christmas time, rather than exchanging gifts in our classrooms, students buy and wrap toys which are then donated to orphanages.  From time to time, our choirs also perform for senior citizens and patients at the children’s hospital in Mt. Hope.  And, once a month, we collect donations for the needy or sick.  This, we believe, helps our students appreciate their good fortune while allowing them to show compassion for the less fortunate members of our society.

Our goal is to support the development of each child in our care, in ways which will benefit them and society.  We instill in them a sense of responsibility and accountability for their actions.  Our Environmental Warden system is evidence of our work in this area. Not only is this select group of children charged with monitoring their classmates in keeping the school environment clean, they are also responsible for bringing unruly behaviour to the attention of teachers and the principal.  This system is different from the class prefect, who is responsible for the classroom.  Environment Wardens function during lunch and break time, and up to one hour after school is dismissed.

Events and Activities

Life is never dull at St. Xavier’s.  Our calendar of events is often quite full, and it is only through the creativity and dedication of our staff and committed parents that we are able to completely enrich the lives of all our students.  From pan festivals, to concerts, to bazaars and exhibitions, our students are allowed to express themselves in productive ways.  Visit our photo gallery to see some of the exciting activities and exhibitions of student work.  Add to these items field trips and our monthly House Notes which encourages excellence in academics, and you realize that student life at St. Xavier’s is an experience that every student remembers fondly for many years after they leave us.