Presbyterian School is a

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...

coeducational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

PreK-8

day school A day school — as opposed to a boarding school — is an educational institution where children and adolescents are given instructions during the day, after which the students return to their homes. A day school has full-day programs when compar ...

in the Museum District,

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

. Presbyterian School is composed of three divisions: an Early Childhood division, Alpha through Pre-kindergarten, a Lower School division, Kindergarten through grade four, and a Middle School division, fifth through eighth grade. The School shares a campus with First Presbyterian Church but is governed by an independent Board of Trustees and maintains an independent

501(c)(3) A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of 50 ...

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

corporation status. The School is financially independent from First Presbyterian Church.

History

In 1986, Dr. John William Lancaster appointed a School Study Committee to explore the feasibility of an Early Childhood and Lower School at the church. Presbyterian School was officially founded in 1988 and opened its doors in the Fall of 1989. The original goal was to starting with those kindergarten age and younger and add an additional grade each year thereafter. In August 2000, the school expanded with its addition of a middle school and accepted its first class of fifth and sixth graders. Presbyterian graduated its first class of eighth grade students in 2003. That year, Ray Johnson, formerly the principal of All Saints School in

Tyler, Texas Tyler is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the largest city and county seat of Smith County, Texas, Smith County. It is also the largest city in Northeast Texas. With a 2020 census population of 105,995, Tyler was the List of cities in Texa ...

, became the principal at Presbyterian. In 2005, Houston's Presbyterian School acquired over of land from the school and embarked on a $6.5 million capital campaign to create a sports and outdoor education complex. As of that year it had 490 students.

Memberships and accreditations

Independent Schools Association of the Southwest The Independent Schools Association of the Southwest (ISAS) is a nonprofit association of 89 independent schools located in the U.S. states of Arizona, Kansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. ISAS is a member of the National Associati ...

(ISAS) * National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS)

Council for Advancement and Support of Education The Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) is a nonprofit association of educational institutions. It serves professionals in the field of educational advancement. This field encompasses alumni relations, communications, marketing ...

(CASE) * Council for Spiritual and Ethical Education (CSEE) *

Educational Records Bureau Educational Records Bureau (ERB) is an educational services Non-profit Organization that offers assessments for both admission and achievement for independent and selective public schools for Pre K-grade 12. ERB was founded in 1927, and is h ...

(ERB) * Elementary School Heads' Association (ESHA) * Houston Association of Independent Schools (HAIS) * Independent School Management (ISM) * School Office Services (SOS)

Campus

Presbyterian School is located in the First Presbyterian Church of Houston. Presbyterian School counts among its neighbors institutions of learning and the arts such as

Rice University William Marsh Rice University (Rice University) is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas. It is on a 300-acre campus near the Houston Museum District and adjacent to the Texas Medical Center. Rice is ranke ...

, The Museum of Natural Science, Houston's Medical Center, The Houston Children's Museum, The Museum of Fine Arts and St. Thomas University. The main campus includes two learning commons, four science labs, two art rooms (including in-house kiln), two music rooms, an Academic Enrichment Center, two gymnasiums, a 1200-seat theatre, sanctuary and chapel. Presbyterian School enrolls more than 490 children from age 2 through eighth grade. Presbyterian School has expanded its campus to include a 14-acre Outdoor Education Campus (OEC) less than five miles from the school. The outdoor campus is located just south of the

Texas Medical Center The Texas Medical Center (TMC) is a medical district and neighborhood in south-central Houston, Texas, United States, immediately south of the Museum District and west of Texas State Highway 288. Over 60 medical institutions, largely concentrate ...

on Highway 288 (9100 South Freeway) and is easily accessible by school bus. The Outdoor Education Campus provides space for environmental learning, sports and athletics, nature trails, play areas and outdoor worship.

Academics

Early Childhood students explore ideas and develop skills through

art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...

and

movement Movement may refer to: Common uses * Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece * Motion, commonly referred to as movement Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * "Movement" (short story), a short story by Nancy Fu ...

, dramatic play, blocks,

language arts Language arts (also known as English language arts or ELA) is the study and improvement of the arts of language. Traditionally, the primary divisions in language arts are literature and language, where language in this case refers to both lingu ...

, social studies, and

math Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

. Field trips, interactive science experiments, and readiness activities in reading and math further enhance the program. Lower School students are taught

Language Arts Language arts (also known as English language arts or ELA) is the study and improvement of the arts of language. Traditionally, the primary divisions in language arts are literature and language, where language in this case refers to both lingu ...

Everyday Mathematics ''Everyday Mathematics'' is a pre-K and elementary school mathematics curriculum, developed by the University of Chicago School Mathematics Project (not to be confused with the University of Chicago School of Mathematics). The program, now publi ...

, and Social Studies in their primary classroom. Faculty with specialized training in

Science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...

Art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

Chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

Library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

Music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...

Physical Education Physical education, often abbreviated to Phys Ed. or P.E., is a subject taught in schools around the world. It is usually taught during primary and secondary education, and encourages psychomotor learning by using a play and movement explorati ...

, and

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

provide instruction beyond the walls of a student's homeroom and in interdisciplinary activities. Middle School students are required to take five core classes including

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

History History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

Mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

and

. Rotation classes are also required for students in each grade. In fifth and sixth grade those include

Religion Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...

, and

Study Skills Study skills or study strategies are approaches applied to learning. Study skills are an array of skills which tackle the process of organizing and taking in new information, retaining information, or dealing with assessments. They are discrete ...

. In seventh and eighth grade those include Wellness electives (

Life Skills Life skills are abilities for adaptive and positive behavior that enable humans to deal effectively with the demands and challenges of life. This concept is also termed as psychosocial competency. The subject varies greatly depending on social norm ...

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

Health Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organiza ...

, PE, and

Biomechanics Biomechanics is the study of the structure, function and motion of the mechanical aspects of biological systems, at any level from whole organisms to organs, cells and cell organelles, using the methods of mechanics. Biomechanics is a branch of ...

) and Fine Arts electives (

Drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

, and

Photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed ...

). Seventh and eighth grade students take an exam at the end of the second and fourth quarters.

Extracurricular activities

Students are encouraged to participate in activities that benefit the community through an annual day of service. Local organizations that have benefited from volunteer efforts include Child Advocates, Emergency Aid Coalition,

Houston Food Bank The Houston Food Bank (HFB) is a non-profit organization and the nation's largest food bank by distribution; providing access to 207 million nutritious meals in 18 counties in southeast Texas. The food bank's operations are made possible through a ...

, Main Street Ministries, Nehemiah Center, St. Andrew's School and St. Paul's School.

Athletics

Fall sports

* Cross Country *

Field Hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ci ...

Football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

Volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

Winter sports

Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

Soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

Swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

Wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...

Spring sports

Conditioning Conditioning may refer to: Science, computing, and technology * Air conditioning, the removal of heat from indoor air for thermal comfort ** Automobile air conditioning, air conditioning in a vehicle ** Ice storage air conditioning, air condition ...

Golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

Lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensively ...

Track & Field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

Baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

References

External links

Presbyterian School
{{coord, 29.727995, -95.390080, type:edu, display=title Christian schools in Houston Private K–8 schools in Houston Independent Schools Association of the Southwest Presbyterian schools in the United States Educational institutions established in 1988 1988 establishments in Texas

History

Memberships and accreditations

Campus

Academics

Extracurricular activities

Athletics

Fall sports

Winter sports

Spring sports

See also

References

External links