Mission and Educational Philosophy
The mission of The Good Shepherd Academy is to form students in the knowledge, love and service of God through a rigorous classical education aligned with the Magisterium of the Catholic Church. It endorses and seeks to adhere to the Front Royal Statement – Seven Cardinal Principles of Catholic Primary and Secondary Education.
Consistent with the Front Royal statement, The Good Shepherd Academy pursues its mission in the understanding that true education is ordered to God and concerned with the supernatural formation of the whole child. (Front Royal Statement on the Seven Cardinal Principles of Catholic Primary and Secondary Education.) The Good Shepherd Academy's mission thus involves taking up all the aspects of human life, "physical and spiritual, intellectual and moral, individual, domestic and social…to elevate, regulate, and perfect" and not reduce them. (Ibid., citing Pope Pius XI, Divini Illius Magistri (12/31/29) (no. 95)). The education that it provides seeks to enable students to pursue knowledge, reason and virtue. It also seeks to widen a child's natural openness to wonder, and thereby increase appreciation of and reverence for truth, beauty and goodness. Ultimately that reverence leads to a love for God Himself. Within the natural order, the education that The Good Shepherd Academy provides seeks to lead students to engage with, appreciate, and learn from the most excellent intellectual accomplishments within the liberal arts, mathematics, sciences and fine arts. Within the order of grace, the education that it seeks to provide informs students of the truths of sacred doctrine and theology.
Consistent with the Church's tradition of exploring in depth all aspects of God's creation, The Good Shepherd Academy has a curriculum that is both rigorous and comprehensive in scope. Latin is taught at all levels. The curriculum gives a great deal of attention to the Greek and biblical foundations of Western Civilization. At the high school level the students read the classics of Western literature: e.g., Beowulf, The Inferno, and plays of William Shakespeare. The younger students read young adult classics, such as Anne of Green Gables and Treasure Island. Math and science are taught at all levels, as they traditionally always have been. The Good Shepherd Academy uses the Kolbe curriculum for instruction in traditional subjects such as composition, grammar and geography.
The students of The Good Shepherd Academy are also instructed in the great works of sacred music (e.g., Palestrina) and are exposed to the secular and sacred music of the great European composers (e.g., Bach, Haydn and Mozart).
At all levels the students at The Good Shepherd Academy are instructed in the Catholic religion and taught orthodox Catholic theology. The Good Shepherd Academy cherishes traditional Catholic teaching. The faculty teaches orthodox Catholicism with joy. The school promotes frequent reception of the sacraments, reverence for the Mass, and faith in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist.
Prayer is woven throughout the school day at The Good Shepherd Academy. The children attend morning Mass daily when available. The Angelus and table blessing are said at noon, and the students and faculty pray together at dismissal. The teachers typically begin each class with prayer.
The Good Shepherd Academy seeks to inculcate virtue in its students. The students are taught the theological virtues of faith, hope and charity, and the cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance. The school promotes the virtue of chastity. The faculty seeks to model the virtues through their own conduct.