Religious Studies

Since Grace Episcopal Day School is sponsored by an Episcopal parish church as part of its educational ministry and its outreach ministry, and the students and teachers come from a variety of cultural backgrounds and religious heritages, the religious education of the school is designed and implemented by the Chaplain to reflect these facts. The school does expect all students to participate in the worship services, religious instruction and classes when they are held.

Objectives

• Grow in their worship of God and spiritual life
• Explore and consider their own faith
• Recognize and appreciate the faiths of others
• Become more loving and tolerant of all within the school community as well as those in the wider community and world
• Come to see themselves as unique and special persons who are loved by God and worthy of respect by others
• Develop good moral conduct within the school and in the way students live

Instructional Techniques

Worship: Weekly chapel services are held at both campuses and conducted by the Chaplain or clergy of Grace Church using a form of worship appropriate to the age of the students and based upon Morning Prayer in the Book of Common Prayer.

Ethics and Action: Teachers take moral and ethical lessons into the classroom, assisting students in understanding how to care for and relate to one another, as well as help those in the community around us. Outreach to local and international communities is part of the Grace School experience beginning with the youngest and continuing through the sixth grade.

Religious Studies Instruction: Religious instruction is conducted by the Chaplain and the faculty for the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades throughout the year. The religious curriculum is designed to apply critical thinking skills to biblical material and current experience. This curriculum draws upon biblical, theological, historical, liturgical, spiritual, and ethical content. The materials come from the Episcopal Children's Curriculum.

Pastoral Visits: In order to facilitate the pastoral and educational needs and concerns of students who do not receive official Religious Instruction classes, the Chaplain makes regularly scheduled classroom visits to students in nursery school through the third grade.

Moral Guidance: All faculty and staff are instilled with the responsibility of teaching and modeling Christian values, particularly as these relate to how a diverse community appreciates each other and conducts itself in it relationships and actions.