Frequently Asked Questions

John Paul the Great Academy

Frequently Asked Questions

 

School hours: 7:55 am - 3:15 pm

Office hours: 7:30 am - 3:30 pm

Mass schedule: Lower School Mass Wednesdays, 8:30 am; Upper School Mass Fridays, 8:30 am (Confessions 30 mins. before Mass); + Feasts/Holy Days of Obligation

Earliest drop-off time: 7:30 am

Latest pick-up time: 3:30 pm

Aftercare Program: 3:30 - 5:30 pm, $7/day ($75 max/one child; $150 max/family)

Schedule: Modified Block Schedule (Some classes offered daily, some alternate on a block MWF/TTh)

Average ACT: 26

Average GPA: 3.0

2018-2019 Enrollment: 340 students
 

---

Accreditation:

John Paul the Great Academy admits students of any race, color, and national or ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, and national or ethnic origin in the administration of its educational policies and athletic of other school administered programs.  

---

What is a Christian, Classical Education?

John Paul the Great Academy offers this Christian, classical education in the Catholic Tradition. To learn more, read our Mission Magazine. 

Christian, Classical Education is the cultivation of wisdom and virtue by nourishing the soul on truth, goodness, and beauty by means of the seven liberal arts and the four sciences so that, in Christ, the student is enabled to better know, glorify, and enjoy God. Classical education follows two modes of instruction: mimetic and socratic (explained below).

The seven liberal arts are the arts that every free person is free to master. They include the Trivium and the Quadrivium. John Paul the Great Academy has an emphasis on the Trivium, which are the arts developed to refine our ability to use language:

• Grammar: The student learns to use language.
• Logic: The student learns to structure and understand language.
• Rhetoric: The student learns to express oneself beautifully and persuasively.

John Paul the Great Academy also has an emphasis on the four sciences.

• Natural Sciences: concerned with physical order of creation.
  • Biology, Chemistry, Physics
• Human or Moral Sciences: concerned with the moral order of creation.
  • Ethics, Morality, Politics, Civics
• Philosophical Sciences: concerned with the causality behind creation.
  • Philosophy, Logic
• Theological Sciences: concerned with knowledge of the First Cause. 
  • Theology

 

---

What are some characteristics of Classical Education at John Paul the Great Academy?

1. John Paul the Great Academy emphasizes the transcendentals of Truth, Beauty, and Goodness. We believe that "we are what we behold". JPG strives to preserve its beautiful historic grounds inherited from the De La Salle Christian Brothers, provide tranquil classrooms and environments, display classical and student artwork around campus, incorporate beautiful plays and poetry recitation into the life of the school, and much more.

2. John Paul the Great Academy seeks to cultivate a sense of wonder and awe in each and every student. We want our students to have a genuine love for discovering the truths of this world.

3. John Paul the Great Academy adopts a classical approach to teaching, following two main modes of instruction: 

• ​​Socratic Instruction: the method by which teachers guide their students through an analysis of ideas through a Socratic dialogue to discover truth. Typically in Socratic Instruction, the students read a text and come to class prepared to engage in a discussion. In a guided discussion, the teacher leads the students on their discovery of the truth at hand. Student then internalize the truth, and finally, express it themselves. Many classes of the humanities classes at John Paul the Great Academy are discussion-based, seminar-style classes, and the sciences take on a hands-on approach.

• Mimetic (Didactic) instruction: the method by which the teacher models and facilitates a skill or concept, and the student’s role is to imitate. This method applies the Christian classical idea that humans learn and become virtuous by imitation.

4. In order to best facilitate a classical approach to teaching, John Paul the Great Academy adopts small classroom sizes. Each class has 15-18 students. In the Upper School, classes are both co-ed (enrichment courses) and single-gendered (core classes.

5. In the classical model of education, parents are viewed as the primary educators, and teachers are viewed as co-educators.

6. In the classical model of education, teachers take on a mentorship role in relationship to their students. 

7. In the classical model of education, teachers teach for mastery of content.

8. The classical model at JPG adopts a distinctive curriculum:

• The curriculum incorporates many “Great Books”, such as The Iliad & the Odyssey, Homer, Shakespeare, and more. 

• Within the curriculum, priority is given to primary texts priority, rather than secondary texts or textbooks.

• JPG offers a number of unique courses such as Latin, philosophy, logic, rhetoric, speech & debate, horticulture, art, creative writing, music, and more.

• JPG offers and integrated curriculum with interdisciplinary classes. For example, the humanities sequence in 9th-12th grade combines literature and history into one class: Ancient World, Medieval World, Modern World, and American Studies. 
   

---

What are John Paul the Great Academy’s charisms?

John Paul the Great Academy seeks to form the whole person. Our charisms are the gifts we believe we can offer to students and families who share our mission. 

• Truth (Veritas): An intellectual formation in the classical model of education.  

• Faith (Fides): A spiritual formation in the Catholic Tradition.

• Virtue (Virtus): A human formation in virtue.