Mission, Philosophy & Core Beliefs

Sacred Heart Academy’s Mission

Sacred Heart Academy, an Ursuline Campus School, is a Catholic, college preparatory, girls’ high school.

Faithful to the mission of the Ursuline Sisters, Sacred Heart Academy educates the whole person by fostering Christian values, personal integrity, and responsible leadership in a supportive learning community committed to academic excellence.

SHA Philosophy

Sacred Heart Academy is a Catholic high school community that respects and fosters human dignity and freedom and accepts the capacity of each person to know and to love. Sacred Heart Academy seeks to transmit Christian values that challenge students to contribute to life through genuine love for and responsibility to God, self, and others. The school provides a specifically Catholic education that encourages respect for other religious traditions and beliefs.

As a college preparatory school, Sacred Heart Academy supports parents in their roles as primary educators and promotes the development of a student’s potential. The school provides the environment that promotes growth in wisdom, knowledge, freedom and life skills and challenges students to search for truth and strive for excellence.

SHA’s Core Beliefs about Students:

1. Students have inherent value and dignity. They should be treated with respect and are expected to treat others with respect.
2. Students differ in their levels of maturity, readiness for learning, motivation for learning, and learning styles and aptitudes.
3. Students learn best when the context for learning is active and meaningful to them.
4. Students’ self-confidence and self-esteem are enhanced by positive, healthy relationships with faculty and staff who are role models of Christian values.
5. Students need a safe, caring and disciplined environment in which the life-long process of learning can flourish.

SHA’s Core Beliefs about Teaching:

1. Teachers have inherent value and dignity. They should be treated with respect and are expected to treat others with respect.
2. Teachers are role models to their students of Catholic, Christian values including the Ursuline core values of community, reverence, leadership and service.
3. Teachers are knowledgeable of their subject area and continue to grow in their knowledge and their teaching skills. Teachers come to class prepared and organized.
4. Using multiple approaches to address students’ varying learning styles, teachers challenge all students daily to perform to their potential and at high levels.
5. Teachers provide a safe, caring, disciplined classroom and school environment for their students.
6. Teachers receive and give support and encouragement from the administration and from other faculty and staff.

Non-discriminatory Policy

Sacred Heart Academy admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs and activities generally made available to students at the school. The school does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in the administration of its educational policies, admissions’ policies, financial aid policies, athletic policies and other school-administered programs.