We want our children to grow up with a passionate desire to seek and understand truth. We do not want well-educated adults who have merely learned to “win” arguments or “spin” facts. Rather, they should understand truth and be concerned to promote and defend it persuasively. We believe that this is an essential component of healthy families, a healthy culture, government, and society.
As a classical, Christian school, St. Stephen’s Academy aims to provide an academically excellent education in a grace-filled environment that develops Christian character and equips students with tools of learning that will last a lifetime.
The vision of St. Stephen’s Academy is to be one of the leading PreK-12 classical Christian schools on the West Coast. We aim to equip children to be lifelong learners and to provide them with a body of knowledge that enables them to comprehend the world in which they live, to engage contemporary culture with a biblical worldview, and to communicate clearly and graciously. To accomplish our mission we are dedicated to a time-tested classical curriculum, the Trivium, whose three stages correspond to a child’s natural stages of development.
We aim to employ and retain a highly qualified faculty and staff who understand and are committed to the classical model and who will pass on a love of learning to their students. We will continue to enhance the quality of academic education and extra-curricular activities. We are committed to build on our foundation of accreditation with the Association of Classical & Christian Schools. Our model of education is intended to open the door for our graduates to be lifelong learners, contributing to the advance of God’s kingdom wherever He may call them.
We believe in the Triune God who has revealed Himself in Creation and, supremely, in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Bible which bears witness to Him. We believe that God has called us to worship Him with our minds. Therefore, we desire to provide an environment within which each child will be given the opportunity to develop his or her mind within the framework of a Biblical worldview. We also believe that God the Son left the glory of heaven to serve, even in the shame and pain of death on a cross. We are called to follow in Christ’s footsteps of humble service. Therefore, the school desires to serve the community as a ministry of the church with which we are associated. The school recognizes its foundations in the reformed tradition, as articulated in the Westminster Confession of Faith.
The practical application of these values includes:
St. Stephen’s Academy is named for one of the first deacons of the church, whose most famous gift of service was his eloquent testimony to God’s plan of history. He is represented on the school shield by three symbols:
“But none of them were able to stand against Stephen’s wisdom and spirit.” Acts 6:10
The school’s motto is “Christus in Litteris,” Latin for “Christ in Scholarship.” “Christ the power and wisdom of God.” I Corinthians 1:24