Mission & Philosophy

THE SCHOOL’S PHILOSOPHY

St. Johns Country Day School provides a strong college preparatory program. It maintains high academic standards and offers a demanding curriculum intended to interest all students and challenge them to discover their own capabilities. Its aim is to develop young people who are independent, self-reliant individuals prepared for college and for life. Admissions are based on developmental maturity, academic achievement, and aptitude regardless of gender, race, creed or national origin.

Learning is enhanced by small classes, the interaction among students in grades Pre-K through 12, and the comfort and security of an attractive campus environment. Recognizing individual learning styles, teachers employ a variety of instructional techniques.

Founded upon Judeo-Christian principles, the school seeks to develop in each student a sense of self-worth and respect for the values of a diverse school community. St. Johns Country Day School seeks to nurture in its students a continuing desire to learn and the skills necessary to pursue their goals.

THE SCHOOL’S OBJECTIVES

St. Johns Country Day School has for its purposes the college preparatory education of students in the strict and demanding tradition of academic education and to aid them in recognition and acceptance of the divine pattern in their lives.  To meet these objectives, the school:

1. sets as the goal of each student a questioning and inquiring mind prepared for the demands of college and the challenges of life;
2. fosters an appreciative but critical attitude towards knowledge;
   
3. guides each student to self-understanding through numerous and appropriate techniques;
4. encourages each student to participate in group activities, to respect the rights of others, and to realize obligations to both the individual and the group;
5. recognizes and encourages the spiritual development of its students;
   
6. offers appropriate physical activities to support the development of the whole individual;
   
7. seeks to develop aesthetic awareness through a variety of experiences in the fine arts area;
8. fosters a sensitivity to the needs of the environment and the community.

SCHOOL MOTTO

As thy days, so shall thy strength be.”  (Deut. 33:25)

SCHOOL HYMN

To St. Johns our hymn we raise,
Full of love and full of praise.
Wisdom gained for future days
Leads us on to righteous ways.
With our days our strength shall grow
As our words and deeds may show.

THE PLAN

Since 1953 St. Johns Country Day School has offered talented, aspiring boys and girls of Northeast Florida a distinctive education. At the heart of the School’s mission is a commitment to rigorous academic training, artistic expression, athletic participation, and character development of each student. The investment we make in every member of the community contributes to a family atmosphere that is welcoming, challenging, and stimulating. The School’s faithfulness to its core principles requires that the School stand steadfast in its resolve to the following fundamental commitments:

• To enroll a broadly representative student body in three divisions, preserving the School’s intimate, nurturing dynamic in which each child is known and loved.
• To sustain a program that grounds students in the liberal arts, offers training in academic skills, and thoroughly prepares them for success in college and in life.
• To attract and retain a faculty that is well trained, talented, passionate, and committed to the students in their care.

Because of the School’s firm commitment to the core principlesprinciples,  the intent of this Strategic Plan is to suggest ways in which St. Johns can enhance its mission further while preserving the distinctive commitments for which it was founded.

THE STUDENTS

Perhaps St. Johns’ most distinctive feature is its student body. The students of this school are bright, aspiring, industrious, confident, humble, and caring. In honoring its commitment to the students, the School resolves to:

• Adapt and strengthen an admission policy that ensures a broadly diverse student body marked by eclectic passions and gifts, even as all our students demonstrate keen intelligence, generous spirit, and commitment to rigor.
• Establish a sustainable tuition strategy geared toward increasing enrollment by maintaining access and affordability, and by valuing families.
• Design and implement a financial aid program that balances the ideal objective of broadening the applicant pool with the need to ensure St. Johns’ financial sustainability.

THE PROGRAM

The educational program is designed to fulfill the School’s mission to develop the intellectual, aesthetic, athletic, and moral dimensions of each student, teaching skills and attitudes essential to success in college and in life.

In honoring its commitment to excellence in its program, the School resolves to:

• Maintain a balanced commitment to the promotion of academic accomplishment, artistic expression, athletic participation, and character formation.
• Sustain a rigorous immersion in a diverse curriculum with special attention to the humanities, modern languages, mathematics, the sciences, and the arts; and seek out opportunities for making connections among disciplines.
• Pursue programs, experiences, and approaches that provide increased opportunity for problem solving, teamwork, and collaboration.
• Forge mutually beneficial partnerships with other educational and cultural institutions, ensuring students are sharpening their modern language skills, and honing a keen sense of the wonders and complexities of the wider world.

THE FACULTY

The St. Johns faculty is a talented, broadly committed cadre of educators who demonstrate passion and expertise in their individual disciplines as well as a deep affection for the students in their care. Our faculty fulfills the promise that each student will be known and loved. In honoring its commitment to the faculty, the School resolves to:

• Offer compensation and benefits and create a professional climate that will permit the School to attract, retain, and develop the best and most effective faculty and staff.
• Fund ongoing professional development for the whole faculty as a well as individualized opportunities to ensure that teachers continue to develop, incorporate new teaching strategies and techniques, and remain vital contributors to the School community.
• Encourage the regular assessment of what is taught and what courses are offered and foster initiatives for the benefit of the faculty that result in the development of new curricula.

THE FACILITIES

The School’s well-designed Campus Master Plan describes how to take optimal advantage of the whole campus, imagining ways in which the use and configuration of the buildings and fields might enhance the School’s program for future generations of students and their teachers.
In honoring its commitment to offer facilities that will support and enhance its mission, the School resolves to:

• Constantly assess the Campus Master Plan so we can continue to support the development, progress, and priorities of the School.
• Provide state-of-the-art technology in all classroom and teaching spaces reflective of a continual process of renewal and improvement.
• Pursue opportunities in the design and operation of the buildings and grounds to model appropriate environmental stewardship.

THE FINANCES

The long-term financial model developed by the Board of Trustees indicates that if St. Johns is to honor its commitment to the students, the teachers, and the program by operating a fiscally healthy school. In honoring its commitment to the students, the teachers, and its program, the School resolves to sustain a singular financial model by:

• Operating in a frugal, “no frills” manner, creatively marshaling its personnel, programmatic, and physical resources.
• Developing a budget that depends on revenue streams in the following proportions: Tuition – 90 percent; Annual Fund – 7.5 percent; Endowment Income – 2.5 percent.
• Designing, launching, and successfully completing a fundraising process – including Capital Giving, Annual Giving, and Planned Giving – that aims to provide the resources required to keep the School’s promise to its community, as set forth in this Strategic Plan.

The Strategic Plan for St. Johns Country Day School was approved by the Board of Trustees in January 2012.

• Recognizing that all people have spiritual needs, St. Johns Country Day School commits to fostering the spiritual growth and development of its students.
• Hoping to enhance the religious understanding and spiritual journey of every student, St. Johns promotes high standards of character, honor, and ethics.
• St. Johns was founded on Judeo-Christian principles, and the school’s religious life orientation while non-denominational is consistent with the school’s heritage.
• St. Johns welcomes people of all religions and desires to be a nurturing community where respect and understanding permeate all relationships.
• St. Johns expects its students, faculty, and staff to respect all religions and people of all religions. The school does not tolerate the maligning of any person’s religion or the attempt to convince any person that his or her religious beliefs are not valid.
• Believing that well-educated people in a global community must understand the world in which they live, St. Johns provides opportunities for students to learn the basic tenets of the world’s major religions.
• The primary role of the classroom setting is educational, and teachers are expected to refrain from using the classroom as a forum for religious conversion or expressing their personal religious beliefs with the intent to demean any other religion or belief.
• St. Johns faculty and students are expected to cooperate so that each person may observe the significant holy days of his or her faith. Students and their families must inform the school in advance of religious observances that conflict with class attendance, tests or examinations, or other school activities. The school will then attempt to accommodate the student’s religious observances.
• St. Johns employs qualified faculty and staff regardless of their religion or creed. Faculty and staff should understand and be willing to abide by and support the St. Johns Country Day School Policy on Religion.
• St. Johns admits qualified students regardless of their religion or creed. Entering students and their families should understand and be willing to abide by and support the St. Johns Country Day School Policy on Religion.

This policy, intended to clarify policies and procedures regarding religion at St. Johns Country Day School, was approved by the Board of Trustees in March 2007.