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At the heart of our ethos is the desire to stimulate each child as a learner, and fully engage them, developing their natural talents, and allowing them to discover their great potential. Our dedicated staff forges warm relationships with children and parents, and we seek to provide a happy, supportive environment where our Catholic mission is lived each day. Through creative teaching approaches and a broad curriculum, we develop critical thinking across the range of subject areas, challenging children to excellence, whilst at the same time honing positive attitudes and behaviors. We enjoy high standards academically, but we place the greatest value on inculcating the Christian virtues initiated at home and developed through a strong partnership. Building on children’s innate capabilities, we ensure full participation in all aspects of learning, irrespective of capability, and this is nowhere more evident than in the school’s provision for sport. Children – when they enter key stage two, represent the school across a range of sports and participate competitively at borough and national levels. In addition to the teaching of Religious Education, Literacy, Numeracy, and Science, we pride ourselves on the use of drama the school’s musical provision the teaching of Spanish, and the exploration of “Forest Schools”, which is our newest initiative. The children here are encouraged to have a voice and to steer school improvement, especially those directly relating to playtimes. The re-design of the playground is a current project being led by the children. At Holy Ghost School, working in partnership with parents to help fulfill their baptismal promises, we seek to affirm Christ through whom, and for whom all of us were made. Therefore learning will be: A joyful celebration of God’s creation. A lasting source of radiance and wonder. A steadfast quest for truth. This Mission Statement is the foundation for THREE Core Purposes in everything we do: To achieve personal growth by: Fostering the virtues to enable children to realize high aspirations, healthy self-confidence, and self-esteem. Inculcating a steadfast quest for truth which develops an open mind to consider all possibilities and a growing capacity to evaluate wisely and choose the best options based on the highest values and in keeping with the Unicef “rights-respecting schools” agenda. Encouraging a thirst for learning and an appreciation that it is a life-long pursuit guided by the spirit and the presence of Christ, in the service of God and others. To encourage inter-personal relationships which Value the variety of gifts, qualities, and contributions made by each individual. Celebrate the achievements of each and all. Foster mutual respect between all regardless of age, gender, race, capability, or occupation. Appreciate the communities of which each is part: the family, the school, the parish, the local community, and the wider national and international communities. Motivate each to play an active role in these communities To develop and maintain a constant sense of Being created by God for some definite purpose. Wonder in discovery. Fulfillment and reward in learning and achievement. Deep satisfaction in achieving a harmonious balance between dynamic creativity and reflective thought. Our Phonics teaching is based on ‘Letters and Sounds’ some aspects of ‘Jolly Sounds’ are incorporated. Children in Reception and Key Stage 1 participate in a phonics lesson daily. ‘Letters and Sounds’ is divided into 6 phases. Activities are divided into seven aspects, including environmental sounds, instrumental sounds, body sounds, rhythm and rhyme, alliteration, voice sounds, and finally oral blending and segmenting. Learning 19 letters of the alphabet and one sound for each. Blending sounds to make words. Segmenting words into their separate sounds. Beginning to read simple captions. The remaining 7 letters of the alphabet, one sound for each. Graphemes such as ch, oo, th representing the remaining phonemes not covered by single letters. Reading captions, sentences, and questions. On completion of this phase, children will have learned the "simple code", i.e. one grapheme for each phoneme in the English language. Children are regularly assessed in their phonics knowledge and work at the phase that is appropriate for them. Towards the end of Year 1, children are formally assessed through the statutory ‘Phonics Screening Test’. In Key Stage 2, spelling strategies are taught 2-3 times a week, alternating with grammar teaching. Phonics teaching continues into Key Stage2. Throughout the school children are given additional support as necessary to develop their phonic understanding and spelling skills. Spellings taught include homophones, letter patterns, suffixes, prefixes, silent syllables, tricky words, topic words, and children’s own misspelled words. View full school

Founded in 1897 as Holy Ghost Apostolic College, a six-year seminary for the education of the Holy Ghost Fathers and Brothers, our school (HGP or "Ghost" to its students and neighbors) recently celebrated the 50th anniversary of its designation as Holy Ghost Preparatory School. Located adjacent to the busy I-95 corridor in metropolitan Philadelphia, Holy Ghost Prep attracts students from more than 100 elementary feeder schools from throughout metropolitan Philadelphia counties and New Jersey. HGP today is a vibrant community of nearly 500 young men preparing for college and adult life through a challenging program that stresses the cultivation of students' unique gifts and talents, academic excellence, and generous service to the poor. We continue to be mindful of our founding history as a seminary as we seek to form young men morally, intellectually, and spiritually in the Spiritan tradition. Holy Ghost Preparatory School, founded by members of the Holy Ghost's Congregation, the Spiritans, is a private Catholic school dedicated to the quality education of college-bound young men. With Christ at the center, Holy Ghost Preparatory School aspires to form young men morally, intellectually, and spiritually in the Spiritan tradition. This Tradition fosters the community's development in "one heart and one mind," the cultivation of each student's unique gifts, academic excellence, and generous service to the poor. Holy Ghost Preparatory School is a Roman Catholic secondary educational institution founded by the members of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit, the Spiritans. Holy Ghost Preparatory School serves God by serving each student through a commitment to excellence in liberal arts and sciences education. Through a deep concern for moral, spiritual, and ethical values, grounded in the traditions of Roman Catholicism and the Congregation of the Holy Spirit. It describes believers' first Christian community, united in faith, prayer, and good works. This is the cornerstone of the institution. It is the school's mission to form the heart, mind, and soul in the teaching and values of the Roman Catholic Church and the Spiritan Tradition. This Tradition, arising from the charism of the founding Congregation of the Holy Spirit, calls for particular concern for the poor and oppressed. Thus, One Heart and One Mind describes the total educational experience at Holy Ghost Prep: faith in Christ, love for the Church and its traditions, and service to the poor in the spirit of the Gospel. We at Holy Ghost Preparatory School reject the notion that the primary purpose of education is job training. We firmly believe in the value of the study of arts and sciences in developing a thinking person whose beliefs and values are not subject to the whims of current opinion but are based on knowledge and critical evaluation of the past and its lessons for the present. We strive to develop a student capable of approaching an issue with an appreciation of its complexity and a rejection of the superficial, the simplistic, or the merely expedient. The liberally-educated mind should bring to a discussion knowledge and insight from several disciplines and synthesize these in a genuine quest for truth. Holy Ghost Preparatory School pursues the truth and sees God in all that it undertakes. Our age-old belief that a reliable, Catholic education in the modern era must seek to inculcate in each student a firm appreciation of and unwavering fidelity to the beliefs and principles taught by Christ through the Catholic Church while also imbuing within each student deep respect for the beliefs of others. Such education must strive to fill a student with a sense of humanity and justice, a concern for the downtrodden and oppressed, and a Christ-like love for all people. View full school