"A Best Practice" School - What's it all about?
In December of 2004, an application for a "Best Practice" award was submitted to the Diocese of Paterson under the category of "Citizenship/Character Education."
The concept of a "Best Practice" is that a particular program promotes high student achievement and can be replicated by another school to promote achievement in another setting.
St. Anthony School began a program several years ago to choose a yearly theme and use it with a logo or symbol to represent Christian values as expressed in St. Anthony s mission statement.
In addition to the use of the symbol on bulletin boards, folders, art lessons, videos and books, the students use this easily identifiable symbol to visualize the abstract concept included in the acronym.
The Diocese of Paterson recognized this program as one of value, both to our students, and other schools throughout the diocese. It was a proud moment when the staff of St. Anthony s School accepted this award.
Our theme for the 2009-2010 school year is W.A.T.E.R. - We always treat everyone respectfully. This acronym begins to summarize what our Catholic school is all about. Respect for students, teachers, parents, siblings and other students is implicit in our theme which includes everyone we encounter. We strive to develop respect, not just on our bulletin boards and displays, but in our heart as we look to Jesus. Studying about Him everyday, not just in Religion classes but in all our daily lessons, provides a respectful attitude toward everyone we meet.
For the 2008-2009 School Year our theme was B.E.E.S. - Believe, Educate, Encourage, Share and these
will be the watchwords as we go through our school year. Some research on bees showed us the positive nature for these insects, quite contrary to the usual connotation for bees. Approximately one-third of the human food supply is dependent upon insect pollination, most of which is accomplished by bees, particularly the domesticated Western honey bee.
Looking to the Scriptures did not yield many positive passages, however "honey" appears many times in the Bible. From the Old Testament "land of milk and honey" as the Promised Land was called in Exodus to the stories of John the Baptist who "was clothed in camel's hair and wore a leather belt around his waist. His food was grasshoppers and wild honey." Also in the same Chapter of Mark it continues the theme of John's preaching, "One more powerful than I is to come after me. I am not fit to stooop and untie his sandal straps. I have baptized you in water; he will baptize you in the Holy Spirit."
We will be using B.E.E.S. in lessons, prayers and bulletin boards and work industriously to incorporate "Believe, Educate, Encourage and Share" into our daily life her at St. Anthony's this school year.
PAST THEMES THAT WE CONTINUE TO BUILD UPON
Themes that have been used include: F.R.O.G., which was an acronym for Fully Rely on God, O.W.L., which stood for Only With Love, A.R.K., which represented Attitude of Respect and Kindness; A.N.G.E.L., Always Needing God s Everlasting Love, and the theme for the next year, H.E.A.R.T., Help-Encouragement-Affirmation-Respect-Tolerance and B.U.U.G - Beings United Under God.
For the 2005-2006 school year our new theme was F.I.S.H. - Faithfilled Ideas Start Here. When you came into the hallways you would see the creative expressions of this theme and the concrete image of the fish incorporated into many designs on bulletin boards and displays throughout our building. For the younger children the physical image is easily recognizable, and for our intermediate and older students the words that make up "F.I.S.H." will be put into action.The theme certainly suggests that we not only work on faithfilled ideas, we actually initiate them.
Actually the choosing of F.I.S.H. reminded the teachers and students of various stories and quotes from both New and Old Testament that held special meaning for us. Mark 1:17: "Come after Me, and I will make you fishers of men" as well as Matthew 12:40: "Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a great fish. So will the Son of Man be three days in the heart of the earth."
We all remember the story in Matthew 14:17: "And they said to Him, We have here only five loaves and two fish" or Luke 5:6: "And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking." And of course another connection was made since the early symbol of Christ was the fish. The symbol was easy to draw and it is believed to have been used as a type of password among early Christians during times of Roman persecution.
And our next theme for the 2006-2007 school year was S.T.A.R. 
We all know the story of the Star of Bethlehem which hovered over the manger where Jesus was born. That star was visible to all the shepherds in the field and was the star that guided the Three Wise Men to the stable where they would honor the Savior with gifts.
Teaching that story to our youngest students, and knowing that our older students know it so well, the choosing of S.T.A.R. for our theme this year seems a natural choice.
Our theme is an acronym for words that will help focus us this year and help guide us as we embrace a host of educational and spiritual experiences. Service (for others), Trust (in God), Attitude (positive for ourselves) and Respect (for everyone) is what we hope our students will encounter as we begin our work for this school year with S.T.A.R. as our guide..
The younger students know that a star is good - a gold star on our test paper, the star of the show gains applause - but the star is a fitting symbol for all the students because we are a Catholic school.
References to stars in the Bible are numerous from the creation of the sun, moon and stars by the Lord in the book of Genesis, to the Wise Men "We saw his star when it came up in the east, and we have come to worship him". In the book of Genesis a promise is made to Abraham, "Look at the sky and try to count the stars; you will have as many descendents as that". (Genesis 15:5). And another passage from Job reminds us of God 's position with the stars, "Doesn' t God live in the highest heavens and look down on the stars even though they are high?" (Job 22:12)
However, perhaps the most poetic passage comes from the Book of Revelation, "I, Jesus, have sent my angel to announce these things to you in the churches. I am descended from the family of David; I am the bright morning star". The imagination is stirred with the most beautiful picture of the sunrise and the light streaming in a window. Jesus is the morning star. (Rev. 2:28).
So as our older students came to understand both the symbolism of the star and the responsibilities connected with the acronym, our younger students recognized the familiar symbol and came to realize that it is a symbol of good on many levels.
Our new theme for the 2007-2008 year was: A.N.T.S. an acronym which stands for A Need To Serve. Indeed, this is reflected both in our mission statement and also in the example of our staff that serves the school. The service component was incorporated in to the Middle School two years ago and students are asked to serve their parish, their community and/or their school with 50 total hours of service for the school year. There are many opportunities for service for the Middle School students to choose from working in Afterschool Literacy Program to helping the lower grade children with lunch. Students also volunteer to help the younger children walk to the Firehouse that holds the Senior Citizens' Lunch Program and this was one of the first opportunities that middle schoolers had to begin their service commitment.
When we decided upon “A Need to Serve – ANTS” we were surprised to see that ants do appear in the Bible. Consider Proverbs 6:6 – “Go to the ant, O sluggard, study her ways and learn wisdom…She procures her food in the summer, stores up her provisions in the harvest.”
Service is part of our mission statement and most appropriate as our theme this year. The physical image of the ant is well known by our youngest students. The older students will learn that ants are insects that live in a community (colony) and work for the good of that community. In addition, they see something that needs to be done and they do it. There are many chores to keep the anthill strong and in good working order. They don’t worry about whose doing what or how hard they’re working.
There are many lessons we could learn from the ants.
St. Anthony’s therefore, if committed to service, have focused this year on service to our Parish and community and to our school. There are many “chores” that can be done, from the Recycling Project, to the Kindergarten Buddy Program to the Safety Patrol. This year we will work to continue our writing to the Elderly and Homebound parishioners and replenish the food pantry. We will focus on the jobs that Jesus wants us to do – to serve one another and show our love for Him.
As our children and staff grow in love for Jesus and commit themselves to doing His work, the image of the ant will be in our minds. We look forward with anticipation to the many ways we will continue to serve.
