The Schools of the Holy Child Jesus in the United States, members of a national network and an international community of Holy Child Schools, offer an education that has a distinctive spirit. The philosophy of each Holy Child School incorporates this spirit and articulates the characteristics of the School and its efforts to respond to its own particular community.

Cornelia Connelly, foundress of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus, “developed an educational system based on trust and reverence for the dignity of every human being.”* She exhorted Holy Child educators to carry this spirit to students of diverse backgrounds as they sought to respond to “the wants of the age”* in which they lived. Since1846 these educators have helped students “to grow strong in faith and lead fully human lives,”* have promoted academic excellence, and have educated to social responsibility.

Holy Child education is both a clearly defined and flexible ideal. It is a tradition rooted in Christian values and expressions and attuned to learning opportunities which enable students to respond to life with joy, zeal and compassion. Educators in Holy Child Schools encourage students to meet diversity and change with confidence in their own gifts and in God who has made covenant with the human family.

The following pages outline the seven Goals and Criteria for Schools of the Holy Child Jesus. The trustees, administrators, faculty and staff commit themselves to educate by these principles and to lead the students to embrace these values for themselves.
1985, 1995

*Constitutions of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus, 1983 revised, 1998, p. 10

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