Our Lady of the Elms

[EduCativ]

Founded in 1923 by the Dominican Sisters, Our Lady of the Elms is the ONLY all-girls Grades 1-12 school in the Cleveland Diocese. The value of all-girls cannot be shared in a sentence or a moment. Our girls learn in a unique environment with a solid foundation based on the four Dominican pillars of community, teaching, prayer, and service. Girls learn best in small class sizes where teachers meet each child's needs. We foster positive learning environments by looping teachers in the Primary grades, providing hands-on learning opportunities in the Middle School, and offering rigorous academics in the High School. Elms girls boldly discover their way as confident, creative, and curious learners, well prepared to succeed in every aspect of life.
Our Lady of the Elms, a private Catholic school, rooted in the Dominican tradition, educates girls and young women to boldly live their lives with purpose, confidence, kindness, resilience, and faith. Elms girls become confident leaders, accomplished professionals, and advocates for justice and the common good. Prepared to succeed in life, they possess a spiritual, educational, global, and experiential foundation shaped at the Elms.
Our Lady of the Elms School, founded on Catholic principles and enriched by Dominican spirituality, is sponsored by the Dominican Sisters of Peace. Welcoming and inclusive, the Elms cultivates girls to be tomorrow's standard-bearers for sustainability, equity, and reconciliation among people by preparing them to live purposeful, spiritual, and trailblazing lives demonstrated through Leadership, Creativity, Humility, Faith, Respect, Compassion, Kindness, Joy.
Our co-ed Pre-School and Pre-Kindergarten programs (ages 3-5) value each child as an individual with their talents and abilities. Our educators strive to provide each child with a comprehensive educational experience. Our goal is to teach your child in an environment that emphasizes learning through hands-on exploration and positive interaction with adults, peers, and various materials.
Early learning at the Elms is designed to provide girls and boys with the foundational skills for Kindergarten and beyond through our purposeful play-based curriculum. Our program encourages essential developing skills through the Diocese of Cleveland curriculum's unique integration and the State of Ohio Early Learning Standards.
Our Pre-School and Pre-Kindergarten teachers are highly knowledgeable, experienced, and loving. They understand that young children need flexibility and structure, experiences, spontaneous play, and opportunities to learn about themselves and their world. We pride ourselves on our Christ-centered approach that nurtures young children across all developmental domains – cognitive, language, gross and fine motor, social/emotional, aesthetic, and spiritual.
Young girls need a solid educational foundation. They are eager learners with insatiable curiosity. Educators at the Elms engage the imagination, creativity, and sense of discovery in their students. Individual, class, and school-wide projects, special presentations, field trips, guest speakers, and performers enhance an exciting, challenging curriculum.
Small class sizes ensure that your daughter receives individual attention and personalized instruction by distinguished faculty and dedicated staff. Each Elms girl is encouraged to explore the world around her and express her ideas and opinions. She begins to develop her unique personality, gain confidence, and build a positive self-image.
Free from the pressures of a co-educational environment, Elms girls can cultivate their talents and share their ideas without limitation. Nationally recognized research indicates that girls learn and process information differently than boys. This means your daughter will learn and excel at her own pace, challenged, and encouraged by her peers.
Girls face a time of change and transition during seventh and eighth grade that can be both awkward and awesome. Frankly, middle school can be challenging. Discovering and developing their unique talents and personalities, exploring spirituality, strengths, and identities, testing their boundaries and beliefs, these girls are beginning their transition into young adulthood. We understand that.
Our middle school features a rigorous academic program that promotes critical thinking and inquiry. Our students find themselves deeply immersed in the content through hands-on projects and an expectation that they know the content and a willingness to analyze, synthesize, evaluate, and make connections to other study areas during the learning process. The result is students who know the content, think critically, and apply them to new situations throughout their lives.
At the Elms, we offer a one-of-a-kind opportunity. The only all-girls high school within a five-county area, the Elms campus is a vibrant and engaging learning community. Young women from many cultural, religious, and socio-economic backgrounds are taught by experienced faculty with particular teaching girls' expertise. Small class sizes allow for individualized attention and personalized instruction. Guided by the Dominican ideals of prayer, study, community, and preaching, Elms girls become confident, articulate, compassionate, and innovative.
Our college preparatory curriculum scope is broad, balanced, and relevant, challenging our students to succeed in high school and beyond. Our students take an active role in the school and community by participating in co-curricular activities, sports, and clubs, embracing responsibility, accepting leadership positions, and exploring their own beliefs and ideals.

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