The 2016-17 school year was full of activities and opportunities for our students. The children enjoyed learning in a positive, faith-filled environment, participated in monthly liturgies and weekly prayer services, and attended field trips that provided opportunities for them to learn and grow.
We made some changes to our school plant and began the process of moving our school library to the extended care facility. The purpose of this project was to remodel the library to create additional offices and a conference room. Our Vice Principal, Mrs. Maguire now has an office of her own, as does our Food Program Coordinator, Mr. Rios. The conference room will now afford us space to hold conferences during and after school.
This is a welcome addition, as we had no meeting space for larger groups outside the classrooms. We are grateful to Mr. Juan Ortega, a Seton grandparent for helping to repurpose this space for us. I’d also like to acknowledge Mrs. Mary Ratner, who, along with some volunteers, sorted the books by grade level and boxed them to be moved out of the original library. This was an incredible amount of work!! Thank you Mary!!
During the third trimester of last year, the school administration made the decision to join the Drexel School System in the Diocese of San Jose for the 2017-18 school year. This system began a few years ago with seven Catholic schools in the diocese, and three more schools including Seton have joined this Fall.
As you know, we have been actively utilizing technology for the past five years and have been fortunate to have a 1:1 iPad program. By joining Drexel, the implementation of the Blended Learning Model will augment our current use of technology to enhance instruction and help to improve student achievement. In transitioning to the Drexel System, our school has also benefitted from major school improvements this summer, as well as gaining additional tuition assistance for our school families for the coming year.
Our teachers will now be meeting twice per month with teachers from the other Drexel schools to collaborate. We welcome this change and are excited to implement this program in the coming weeks. I am very grateful to the teachers for their enthusiastic participation in the Blended Learning Academy at Santa Clara University this summer.
I would also like to applaud the entire staff for their hard work in packing up the contents of their classrooms, offices, the kitchen, etc. so we could prepare the school for the upgrades to our school plant this summer. In returning to school in August, we had to unpack all the boxes and put everything back in place. This process was completed with a positive spirit of teamwork, and everyone is excited about the new appearance of our building!
On Wednesday, October 11th we will welcome authors Ron Hansen and Tobias Wolff to Seton School. Please mark your calendars for this special event to raise funds for our tuition assistance program. The evening will begin with a reception at 6:30 p.m. followed by the authors presentation at 7:30 p.m., and book signing at 8:30 p.m. Tickets may be purchased through our Development Office at the school or brownpapertickets.com. For more information please call Carmel Caligaris at 650-326-1258. We look forward to seeing you at our event!