St. Theresas Catholic School

After reading the last parent review, I decided to write my own. The last review omited an important factor regarding the lack of PE facilities for Middle School; well the school is currently under construction reducing the space for the children to play outside. As the principal has mentioned several times, the children safety is the main priority and is open to receive suggestions from us the parents in how to adapt this situation to the middle school recess.Like any school has its flaws, I agree with the excessive amount of worksheets but at the end, my children are happy, well adapted and learning.
--Submitted by a parent

St. Theresa School has a great community, unfortunately it ends about there. Since the entrance of the current principal, many excellent / seasoned educators have left. The principal doesn't seem to know how to run a Catholic institution and the community is all that holds this once excellent environment in place. While PSIA / test scores do fair well, that seems to be their sole purpose outside of working for accreditation. The science and math programs are poor and from Kinder on the children spend their days doing countless worksheets, glued to their seats unable to even wiggle without being diagnosed with a learning disorder. In lieu of teacher instruction, the students watch videos and do little interactive learning. Space is of real concern and it also is diminishing. The lunchroom is held in the gym (which doesn't have an approved basketball floor); there is no track, field or other place for PE outside of the gym. The children as they get older have little creative outlets. The potential for St. Theresa's is good (less space limitations for sports/recess). It was a great school, but is now run by individuals that don't seem to have the children in mind.
--Submitted by a parent

St. Theresa's is a wonderfully warm community with great parent involvement. The campus, surrounded by nature, is conducive to learning and simply nice to be around. My concerns lie within the academic environment, which proves to be too rigorous in the early years (PK, K). The K teacher this year said she was teaching 1st grade. It now makes sense to me why it was recommended that my 4 year-old daughter in PK who has a summer birthday (a young 4) repeat PK in order to mature and be better equipped to handle K. Now in K, my daughter finds the class of 22 students to be overwhelming. Even with a teacher and TA, my daughter gets lost in the mix due to the age and developmental difference between students. Academics are geared towards standardized testing and the curriculum moves so quickly that students are not retaining information, are not receiving help if they don't understand, and are bombarded with worksheets and homework starting in K. There is little energy left for fun and creativity though art and Spanish class are part of their week. I'm just torn about this school because there is so much I personally love about it and my daughter is just not enjoying.
--Submitted by a parent

Great parent involvement. Very competitive in sports, curriculum and high academic achievement are important, but seem secondary to sports achievement . The teachers are nice, but no different really from public school, class sizes are the same. They need to raise tuition to attract quality teachers who are different than public school. It is a great community of people who care a lot about the school. The homework is overwhelming and can be extremely stressful for the kids. Doesn't really seem to help the kids do any better, should be working on it in class, not at home. Overall, public school vs. private really not that much different in academics but the kids and parents are great.
--Submitted by a parent

i went there 2 years ago. no other school has been able to even come close tto the academic standards that st. theresas has to offer. i miss everyone there and i think that it has to be the best private school ive ever heard of.....plus the food is amazing!!!!! and the staff and facultie are the best in the world

Excellent school with fine academics. St. Theresa regularly wins academic competitions against much more expensive schools. The parents are a close knit community, many of whom have a strong Catholic faith. The middle school academics have greatly improved and Latin, Writing and Science are particularly good. Most middle school students participate in extracurricular activities and sports, which we also liked.
--Submitted by a parent

What an incredible school! They have created an environment of high academic standards and love - a beautiful balance. St. Theresa's has done a wonderful job enhancing a child's spiritual growth in many ways. For the review siting no middle school conferences - I believe if you inquire you will find that middle schools do not have 'set' parent conferences. I do know that at any time, a parent conference could be requested and ofcourse, scheduled. They want their middle schoolers to be treated as other middle schoolers are treated. They provide a 'normal' middle school experience plus a whole lot more! I can't express how much I disagree with that review. We could not be happier with sending our children to this wonderful school!
--Submitted by a parent

Incredible community with dedicated teachers and loving kids
--Submitted by a parent

Our child is in Kindergarten at St. Theresa's. At first I was concerned, as they require testing of all new students. However, once I researched, I realized testing was to help ensure that St. Theresa's was a good fit for each and every child they admitted - and we couldn't be more pleased with the fabulous kinder teachers, the wonderful families, and the way they treat our child as if we are part of the family. The academics are rigorous but we are most pleased with the 'whole child' philosophy - sound mind, sound body, sound heart. It's the best school in Austin no matter what your religion.
--Submitted by a parent

Be careful with this school especially at certain grades and particularly at the middle school. It works for a certain type of student and certain type of family but does not work well for many especially if your family likes parent teacher interraction or smooth interactions with administrators. Your student will learn Catholicism but there are many problems elsewhere at teh middle school life. Middle school life is pretty dismal as the people running the show don't seem to understand adolescents. Parent teacher interaction is hard to get. It is a very closed school and this past year parent teacher conferences were cancelled by the teachers with approval from the administration at the middle school level. Teachers cancelling middle school conferences? Adminstrators approving it? What is going on? Make sure things improve before you consider it. Check out some other Catholic schools if you want Catholicism before picking this one.
--Submitted by a parent