7th and 8th Grade Announcement
This fall, the Chesterton Academy of St. George embarked on the exciting project of discerning whether or not to expand our school to offer a 7th and 8th grade starting in fall of 2023. This effort was brought on by the fact that several local families had approached us asking about this possibility. With trust in God, we held an information meeting to gauge local interest and also sent out a survey through email and facebook asking for feedback regarding this endeavor. At the same time, we also began constructing a plan regarding teachers, curriculum, and facilities to determine whether such a work would be feasible.
After collecting the results of this work and bringing it before God in prayer, we believe that at this time we are not called to open a 7th & 8th grade next fall. Several key factors led to this decision:
Still establishing the high school - Two years ago, we felt strongly called by God to establish a classical high school in the Catholic tradition. This draw towards the high school years was especially rooted in a recognition of how formative those years could be. While the high school is now open, over the next few years we will need to expand it to include all four grades (9-12). We want to make sure that this work is firmly established before we begin other work.
Growing our community and support - Based on the models of other Chesterton Academies, we anticipate that the first three years of the school’s existence will involve the most work in growing our community. Each year for the first three years, we will be expanding our faculty as we expand the grade levels we are offering. This expansion will require increased fundraising efforts until the number of students starts to grow to match the required faculty. Adding an additional two grades during these years may endanger our ability to meet our financial obligations.
Few clear signs to move forward - During this process, we felt called by God to use our reason to look at the circumstances around us for how He was calling us to proceed. There were certainly some aspects of the project where we could see God laying a foundation (especially in regards to possible families and teachers). However, there were other areas where we clearly felt that God was telling us to wait for now (community support, our facility, the current resources of our faculty and staff).
Therefore, though we greatly desired to move forward with this project, we will trust in God’s timing and wait for Him to guide us. While we believe this project may be in our future in several years’ time, perhaps God will accelerate things more quickly than we anticipate. We will regularly revisit the possibility, as we do believe there could be great good from a classical middle school leading up to the high school years. Let us together pray for God to continue this good work He has begun, so that more young men and women might discover the immense love of their Creator and Redeemer!
Finally, we are incredibly grateful to the many people who discussed this possibility with us and prayed for us. Your commitment to forming the next generation of saints is truly beautiful. If you would like to discuss things with us in greater depth, please do not hesitate to reach out for a meeting. You can contact us at admin@castgeorge.com or (517) 295-3735.