Lower School at Stone Ridge
Inspiring a lifelong love of learning and giving. Stone Ridge is the only school in the greater Washington area that brings together the Goals of Sacred Heart, all-girls education, and academic excellence for Grades 1-4. At Stone Ridge, we encourage our girls to set high goals, and we provide the skills and support to advance them. The girls gain confidence through steadfast effort, with faith—in God, self, and community—at the core of it all. This is the magic of the five Goals of Sacred Heart education,
put into action. Five Goals of Sacred Heart Education Goal I · A PERSONAL AND ACTIVE FAITH IN GOD Goal II · A DEEP RESPECT FOR INTELLECTUAL VALUES Goal III · A SOCIAL AWARENESS WHICH IMPELS TO ACTION Goal IV · THE BUILDING OF COMMUNITY AS A CHRISTIAN VALUE Goal V · PERSONAL GROWTH IN AN ATMOSPHERE OF WISE FREEDOM
Our Sacred Heart
Family
Founded in 1923 by the Society of the Sacred Heart, Stone Ridge is a member of the International Network of Sacred Heart Schools, with 24 schools and affiliates in the United States/Canada, and over 150 schools in 41 countries worldwide. This sense of belonging to a worldwide network and mission is a richly powerful aspect of our identity. The Goals and Criteria of Sacred Heart education defines the mission of Sacred Heart schools as part of the Society’s educational mission in the Catholic Church. This mission finds its source in the vision of Saint Madeleine Sophie Barat who began her work as an educator in 1800 when she founded the Society in France.
A Global
Education
Stone Ridge attracts and reflects a dynamic international community, as a school that serves a diverse student body. Representing many cultures and ethnic groups from around the world, our students benefit from a global education first and foremost in the friendships they make while here. In addition, our dynamic curriculum opens our students up to the world at large, preparing them for a world without borders. Our International Network of Sacred Heart Schools also allows Upper School students the chance to study at one of our sister schools on exchange.
BC
AB
WA MT
OR CA
ID
WY
NV UT
NM AZ Forest Ridge School of the Sacred Heart Bellevue, WA Schools of the Sacred Heart San Francisco, CA Sacred Heart Schools Atherton, C Duchesne Academy Omaha, NE Duchesne Academy Houston, TX The Regis School Houston, TXA
Network of Sacred Heart Schools in the United States and Canada Sacred Heart School of Montreal Montreal
SK
MB
NB
WI
SD
MI
IA
NE CO
IL
MO
KS
OH
IN
TX
LA
MS
AL
PA
WV VA
NH VT MA RI
CT NJ DE MD
NC
TN
AR
ME NY
KY OK
QC
ON
MN
ND
SC GA
Barat Academy Dardenne Prairie, MO
Sacred Heart School of Halifax Halifax
NS
Academy of the Sacred Heart Bloomfield Hills, MI Newton Country Day School Newton, MA Convent of the Sacred Heart Greenwich, CT Sprout Creek Farm Poughkeepsie, NY Convent of the Sacred Heart New York City, NY Stuart Country Day School Princeton, NJ Princeton Academy Princeton, NJ
Country Day School of the Sacred Heart Bryn Mawr, PA Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart Bethesda, MD
FL
Academy of the Sacred Heart St. Charles, MO Villa Duchesne/Oak Hill School St. Louis, MO Academy of the Sacred Heart New Orleans, LA Academy of the Sacred Heart Grand Coteau, LA
Josephinum Academy Chicago, IL Sacred Heart Schools Chicago, IL Woodlands Academy Lake Forest, IL Carrolton School of the Sacred Heart Miami, FL Network Schools Provisional Member Associated with the Network
A Network for a Lifetime As part of an international network of women, we know the significant impact women role models play in empowering girls; and we know the power in building a well-connected peer group over time. Stone Ridge girls and alumnae are part of a strong network, spanning the globe. This benefit has been transformational for their career and personal journeys. Our youngest girls learn from their older female role models, who are both on campus as older students in our Middle and Upper School and off campus as our alumnae hosts and visitors. Our Sacred Heart network and sisterhood emphasizes the importance of learning how to work together, use their voices, and collaborate as essential lifelong skills. “Coming to a Sacred Heart school, you have entered into a family and have come to a home...You come as you are and are cared for with great love.” — An excerpt from Life at the Sacred Heart
Goal 5
The Power of All-Girls
Stone Ridge offers an educational program designed to nurture and inspire girls to become confident and to develop their academic, artistic, athletic, spiritual, social, and emotional gifts and talents. Our all-girls environment allows even our youngest learners to grow as purposeful, self-directed students who are intent on developing their unique gifts. Stone Ridge girls are provided a host of avenues for self-exploration and leadership. Each child takes pride in her own accomplishments and those of her peers; together, each child forms strong, lifelong friendships. In our nurturing and joyful environment, students are encouraged to:
• be courageous and confident • learn to their potential • become more self-aware • advocate for themselves • be a good friend
A commitment to a personal and active faith in God is an integral part of the Lower School through its celebration of the sacraments, the guided instruction through a developed religion curriculum, and through the introduction of contemplative practices and prayers.
Goal I • Faith
Through the education of girls, St. Madeleine Sophie Barat and the Religious of the Sacred Heart set out to make known the love of God revealed in the Heart of Christ. Our philosophy is to serve each child individually and personally, helping her use her talents and gifts to fulfill the role God intended for her.
A commitment to a deep respect for intellectual values is evident in our exceptional faculty, fully trained by Teachers College at Columbia University, and through a curricula based on research on how girls learn best.
Goal II • Intellect
Our program provides a developmentally appropriate, researchbased learning environment for young girls’ academic growth, with careful attention given to a curriculum that incorporates varied instructional approaches, opportunities for hands-on learning, and cross-curricular projects. Our girls know the mission, as children of the Sacred Heart, and, through this, they see themselves as engaged thinkers, productive creators, and lifelong learners.
Goal III • Service
St. Madeleine Sophie Barat knew that when a child knows that she is loved by God she can transform the world. Every part of our Social Action program is rooted in this fundamental insight. Stone Ridge students recognize their capacity to transform, to become powerful agents of God’s love and compassion.
Lower School students gain a social awareness through class discussions and age-appropriate research and through their participation in several community projects involving all four grades. Our girls commit each year to supporting breast cancer research through a Denim and Pink Day, a local Catholic Charities beneficiary with clothing, and our Sacred Heart sister schools abroad, and other underserved populations in our country. Additionally, our students work in groups that prepare them to be stewards of the earth’s resources.
The School commits to the building of community as a Christian value by offering opportunities for girls to grow relationships. A typical day opens with a Morning Meeting, following the Responsive Classroom model. Morning meetings build community by allowing small groups to focus on social-emotional development. We provide our girls time to openly socialize through morning snack, Gouter, and through outdoor play. We often hold community assemblies for group prayer with songs and sharing.
Goal IV • Community
Stone Ridge creates a family environment where we build a collective, group experience, yet also continually focus on and celebrate the needs and gifts of each person. Our students have plenty of common ground in the form of traditions, values, skills, and knowledge, and yet they have a remarkable sense of and appreciation for personal identity.
The result: the development of strong, confident, competent, service-oriented leaders.
Stone Ridge provides a space for girls’ voices to be heard. Not only are our girls able to speak their thoughts, but they also can become leaders through that process.
Goal V • Growth
The Lower School provides opportunities for each girl to develop a strong sense of academic, social, and emotional self. Our girls begin to understand and value the many gifts they bring to their family and friends, and the importance of making good choices.
Join the Team
Athletics are an extension of Stone Ridge’s educational mission. We aspire to develop Champions for Life by providing young women with an intentional and physically challenging athletic experience, inspiring not only competitive grace, but also lifelong healthy habits and a physical awareness of oneself. Through our whole child approach to coaching and teaching which complements the five Goals of Sacred Heart education, we guide each girl to be the best version of themselves through sport.
Opportunities abound for students to display their spirit: Blue Gold Induction and Team Challenges, Gator Game Day, CongĂŠs, Father Daughter Field Day, ...and more!
Creative Expression & Innovation
The Arts at Stone Ridge awaken a sensitivity to beauty and mystery. Our programming broadens our girls’ minds and hearts, while stimulating the senses and teaching them about culture and the world around them. Stone Ridge exposes the girls to a rich offering of music and movement programming as well as visual arts programming. The Arts blend with our STEAM programming throughout cross-curricular lessons and activities, that involve inquiry and design. The design process may take the form of an experimental design, an engineering project, or a work of art. Inquiry-based learning and design thinking are woven through all levels of the curriculum to inspire students to think independently and to teach them to engage confidently with real-world problems.
A Portrait of a Graduate
A great Sacred Heart education is both timeless and timely—the skills and knowledge gained transcend time, and the values instilled at Stone Ridge are values that serve as a roadmap for life. We have consistently educated our graduates to be female leaders in their families, in their communities, in the Church, in their industries, and in our world. As children of the Sacred Heart, we are each called to live not only for ourselves, but also to make the world a better place. The charism of the Sacred Heart is about bringing the heart of Christ into the world, and finding it in the world— finding it in the people we meet, the opportunities we have, and the beautiful world around us. It is not only our job to bring the heart of Christ into the world, but we must work to find it.
College Acceptances and Matriculations
Below is a list of college acceptances for the Class of 2019. Names in bold are schools attended by members of the Class of 2019.
American University
Georgetown University (5)
Pomona College
University of Arizona
Harvard University
Pratt Institute
Babson College
Haverford College
Princeton University
Barnard College
High Point University
Providence College
Universita Bocconi, Italy
College of the Holy Cross
Reed College
Boston College (6)
Howard University
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Boston University
Indiana University at Bloomington (2)
University of Richmond
University of British Columbia
James Madison University
Rochester Institute of Technology
Bucknell University
Johns Hopkins University
Saint Joseph’s University
University of California, Berkeley
Kühne Logistics University, Germany
Saint Michael’s College
University of California, Los Angeles
Lafayette College
University of San Diego
Carnegie Mellon University
Lehigh University
University of San Francisco
Case Western Reserve University
The London School of
Santa Clara University
Catholic University of America
Siena College
Chapman University
Loyola Marymount University
University of South Carolina
College of Charleston
Loyola University Chicago
University of Southern California
University of Chicago
Loyola University Maryland
Southern Methodist University
Christopher Newport University
Loyola University New Orleans
Spelman College (2)
Claremont McKenna College
Marist College
University of St Andrews
Clemson University
Marquette University
St. John’s University
Colby College
University of Maryland,
Stanford University
Colgate University
Swarthmore College
University of Colorado at Boulder
University of Maryland, College Park (4)
Syracuse University
Columbia University
University of Massachusetts, Boston
Towson University
Connecticut College
McGill University
Tufts University
Cornell University
University of Miami
Tulane University (4)
Culinary Institute of America
University of Michigan
University of Vermont
Dartmouth College
Middlebury College
Villanova University (3)
Davidson College
University of Mississippi (2)
Virginia Commonwealth University
University of Dayton
New York University
Virginia Tech (2)
University of Delaware
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
University of Virginia
Denison University
Northeastern University (2)
Wake Forest University
University of Denver
Northwestern University (2)
University of Washington
Dickinson College
University of Notre Dame (2)
Washington University in St. Louis
Drexel University
Oberlin College
College of William & Mary
Duke University
Pace University, New York City
Williams College
University of Edinburgh, Scotland
Pennsylvania State University
University of Wisconsin, Madison
Elon University (2)
University of Pennsylvania
Xavier University (2)
Emerson College
University of Pittsburgh
Yale University
Economics & Political Science
Baltimore County
Emory University Fairfield University Florida Institute of Technology Fordham University (2) Furman University George Washington University (2)
Once a child of the Sacred Heart, always a child of the Sacred Heart. This home is our home, not just today but for our lifetime.
Let us respect childhood; let us honor the soul of that small creature of God who can already make choices of the best if we take the time to awaken her reason and make her use her judgment. St. Madeleine Sophie Barat, Foundress of the Society of the Sacred Heart
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