Most children who attend traditional public schools in Philadelphia have received ZERO instruction for 2+ months due to the challenges of suddenly creating a remote learning program from scratch.
St. Malachy Catholic School in North Philadelphia, however, like other Seton blended learning Catholic schools, pivoted to remote learning FAST, taking the “distance” out of distance learning.
By bringing together compelling education and a community-building experience with strong culture and authentic love—staff, students and whole families are coming together to learn and to encounter Christ in the rich wisdom of the Church.
We’re grateful that at St. Malachy, teaching and learning hasn’t skipped a beat.
“When all of this began, my heart sank because I thought my daughter was going to have to repeat the first grade,” said the working parent of a St. Malachy student. “I had no clue about the level of support we’d receive.”
Because this first-grader’s parents are both essential employees, working at Wal-Mart, they were concerned their daughter would find navigating a sudden switch to online learning too difficult without their hands-on support. But that hasn’t been the case at all.
“My six-year-old is able to login to Zoom for classes and to complete her daily tasks just as if she were in the building with y’all! Ms. Nash has a structure so strong it keeps the children’s attention for over an hour—and anyone who knows first-graders knows that’s not easy to do. I have so much respect for our teachers. We really are Malachy Strong.”
Thanks in part to Seton’s pioneering Blended Learning Initiative, the staff at St. Malachy quickly launched a smooth transition to a remote learning program that not only enabled students to continue making academic progress, but that provided them with critical emotional and spiritual support during a crisis.
Students receive direct, daily instruction online from their teachers that includes reading, writing and discussion, while also having an opportunity to work in pairs or small groups. Students get to meet with mentors for additional support, are encouraged to participate in morning prayer, and even take part in extracurricular activities like virtual art contests. All of this reaffirms why, in a school where more than 80% of families make less than $50,000 a year, parents continue to sacrifice to give their children a faith-filled education.
Still, St. Malachy families like the one above are enduring many trials—including the ever-present threat of illness, as many are front-line workers in America’s grocery stores, food processing plants, and other essential businesses that keep our nation running.
We want to show our gratitude by providing the family of this first-grader with a tuition grant of $1,000–an investment that will allow this family to focus on covering basic needs, and will go a long way to making it possible for this first-grader to attend St. Malachy again next year.
