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HISTORYSacred Heart Schools (SHS), Atherton traces its heritage back to the year 1800in France when St. Madeleine Sophie Barat founded the Society of the SacredHeart of Jesus, an international community of women in the Catholic Churchwho were educators, also known as the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Jesus(RSCJ). Originally educating only girls, the RSCJ soon established schoolsfor boys and girls throughout Europe. St. Philippine Duchesne, brought theSociety to North America in 1818, where she founded the first Sacred Heartschool in the U.S. in St. Charles, Missouri.The RSCJ came to Menlo Park in 1898 and founded a boarding school for girls,Academy of the Sacred Heart, Menlo, formerly known as “Menlo,” on 40-acresof land purchased from the Atherton family, in what is now the Main Building.Shortly after that in 1904, Mrs. Emilie Donohoe gave 5+ acres to the RSCJ toestablish a separate free elementary school expressly for the village children ofMenlo Park. The school was named St. Joseph’s after her late husband, Joseph,and the street on which it fronted became Emilie Avenue in honor of her. Itopened in 1906 with 74 boys and girls. Just as the Academy was beginningto grow, the 1906 San Francisco earthquake struck and St. Joseph’s became arefuge for the Academy students until the Main Building could be used againfor classes and residence. During the next nine years, renovations were madeto the Main Building, which included the addition of a large Porte Cochere, anew chapel, two spacious parlors and new classrooms and dormitories for thegrowing school. A third floor with a Mansard roof was added, and a lofty belltower became, what is still today, the symbol of the campus.Sacred Heart’s preschool and kindergarten adopted the Montessori philosophyand teaching methods into their classrooms in 1968. In 1969, Sacred HeartElementary was merged with St. Joseph’s School to form one elementaryschool at St. Joseph’s where the name was kept by popular demand. In 1984,the boarding program closed, boys were admitted to the high school for thefirst time, and Academy of the Sacred Heart was changed to Sacred HeartPreparatory.Today, Sacred Heart Schools, Atherton, consists of four divisions that includePreschool/Kindergarten, Lower School (grades 1-5), Middle School (grades6-8), and Preparatory (grades 9-12). The schools are day only and fullycoeducational with the largest enrollment in its history. After more than acentury, we still continue the Sacred Heart traditions of academic excellenceand Christian values.GOALS AND CRITERIA OF SACRED HEART SCHOOLSGOAL ISchools of the Sacred Heart commit themselves to educate to a personaland active faith in God.1. Rooted in the love of Jesus Christ, the school promotes a personalrelationship with God and fosters the spiritual lives of its members.2. The school seeks to form its students in the attitudes of the heart of Jesusexpressed in respect, compassion, forgiveness and generosity.3. The entire school program explores one’s relationship to God, to self, toothers, and to all creation.4. Opening themselves to the transforming power of the Spirit of God,members of the school community engage in personal and communal prayer,reflection and action.5. The entire school program affirms that there is meaning and value in life andfosters a sense of hope in the individual and in the school community.6. The school fosters inter-religious acceptance and dialogue by educating to anunderstanding of deep respect for the religions of the world.7. The school presents itself to the wider community as a Christ-centeredinstitution and as an expression of the mission of the Society of the SacredHeart.GOAL IISchools of the Sacred Heart commit themselves to educate to a deeprespect for intellectual values.1. The school develops and implements a curriculum based on the Goals andCriteria, educational research, and ongoing evaluation.2. The school provides a rigorous education that incorporates all forms ofcritical thinking and inspires a life-long love of learning.3. The school program develops aesthetic values and the creative use of theimagination.4. The faculty utilizes a variety of teaching and learning strategies thatrecognizes the individual needs of the students.5. The school provides ongoing professional development for faculty and staff.6. Members of the school community model and teach ethical and respectfuluse of technology.GOAL IIISchools of the Sacred Heart commit themselves to educate to a socialawareness that impels to action.1. The school educates to a critical consciousness that leads its total communityto analyze and reflect on the values of society and to act for justice.4 5