St. Paul's School moves, adds grades

St. Paul's School in Haymarket recently held a school blessing and ribbon-cutting ceremony, celebrating the move to 6735 Fayette Street and the addition of second grade.

The event included a tour of the school and an awards ceremony to honor Belinda Wade, 31, a St. Paul's teacher who had been a faculty member for seven years.

"Everyone remembers her as someone who loved to teach children to read," said Kathleen Katz, school director. "Since she died on Dr. Seuss' birthday, we felt it would be fitting to name a reading program after her.

"Children knew her by the nickname 'Bedizzle,' so we called the award the 'Belinda Bedizzle Bedazzled' reading award," she said.

Katz said the reading award program was so successful that each member of the kindergarten class of 2009 gradu-ated with a reading level between third and fifth grade.

The new building offers 4,000 square feet with seven classrooms.

"We are making the maximum use out of every square foot of space," said Katz.

A seven-foot wide hallway doubles as a library, and a small classroom has been transformed into a computer lab. "We needed the computer lab to introduce keyboarding skills and to use some of the online literacy Web sites that have helped jumpstart our children's enjoyment of reading," Katz said.

St. Paul's will use the Great Hall to continue their partnership with the Virginia Civic Ballet, which offers after-school ballet/music and movement programs. The Great Hall is also the location of the piano, where children will take lessons during and after school. One of the extra-wide hallways will be used to practice Quickstart tennis skills.

To expand the programs, St. Paul's hired five more assistant teachers, a first-grade teacher and a second-grade teacher. Lead teachers remain the same from last year.

The school is adding Saxon Math to the A Beka Math curriculum. They also are including piano lessons to the first and second grade curriculum.

Next year, the school will open third and fourth grades. The administration is planning to include up to sixth grade in the 2011-12 school year.

When asked if tuition would increase, Katz said, "No, in fact we lowered tuition by about $50 average to assist families coping with the economic downturn. We will not be raising tuition."