We Are Classical
Classically Christian Anglicans
At Saint Paul’s Classical School, we have one program: classical education.
This program understands itself as foundational: each grade forms the young man or woman who will graduate from the high school and go forth to live well in God’s world. Every human being needs to experience love, beauty, and truth in order to become who God has created them to be.
Classical education is therefore more than preparation for the workplace; it is the intentional shaping of students to be wise and good after the likeness of the Lord Jesus Christ
Great Books & The Liberal Arts
In literature we purposefully read whole good books instead of textbooks. Reading and digesting the great works of literature allows us to be taught by the wisest voices of the past. We memorize and recite poetry and Holy Scripture and learn grammar and rhetoric so that students learn to articulate true ideas beautifully.
Education at Saint Paul’s Classical School is not designed merely to make graduates employable as this would only produce servile individuals reliant on others for thought and trapped in meaningless distractions. Instead, our education aims to cultivate free individuals who trust one another, build civilizations, and engage in worthy pursuits.
We believe the Seven Liberal Arts – the Trivium (Grammar, Dialectic, Rhetoric) and the Quadrivium (Number, Geometry, Music, Astronomy) – liberate the human person to live well in God’s world. Our whole program rests on the conviction that hearts and minds must be tuned and directed toward the True, the Beautiful, and the Good. Only then can we become what God intends us to be.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.
Proverbs 9:10
Formation and Growth
A graduate from SPCS may pursue further study at university or vocational training, choosing paths that reflect their unique callings. Whether attending university, mastering a trade, or entering the workforce directly, they build upon the strong foundation of their education at SPCS.
Saint Paul’s serves families by guiding students toward Christian wisdom and virtue. This noble goal presumes two things: that each student has room to grow in both, and that each student is willing to be guided. All students are expected to make progress: intellectually, morally, and spiritually over the course of the school year and with each passing quarter. Diligence and perseverance are of greater value than mere natural ability.
Each “school within the School”: the Grammar School, the Dialectic School, and the Rhetoric School has its own emphasis on behavior and its own approach to the foundational studies of “Reading, (w)‘Riting, and (a)‘Rithmetic”. The three “Rs”, while simple in name, represent the deeper classical commitment to the Seven Liberal Arts. We aim to see our students use this educational foundation to “cast down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5).
Students are expected to grow both academically and morally according to the standards of Saint Paul’s Classical School. Younger students are measured by the standards appropriate to their age and development; older students by those suitable to theirs. In all cases, the expectation is steady movement toward Christian maturity.
“The glory of God is man fully alive; and the life of man is to see God.”
St. Irenaeus, Against Heresies IV.20.7
The Goal of Classical Christian Education
The full beauty, truth, and goodness of the curriculum are revealed in the life of the classroom itself, reflecting the harmony and order at the heart of a classical Christian education. Our task is to form the whole person: mind, will, and affections so that our graduates love what matters and live wisely in the light of the Lord Jesus Christ for the common good.