San Jose Catholic School employs a state-certified school guidance counselor. The Guidance program is intended for all students. Guidance services provide education and intervention of academic, behavioral and personal/social issues. The school counselor conducts regularly scheduled classroom lessons. Lessons include, but are not limited to: anti-bullying, drug prevention, manners, kindness, safety, responsibility, study skills, friendship, citizenship and feelings. When needed, the school counselor meets with students, parents or teachers individually or in small groups. Requests to see the counselor may come from students, teachers, administrators or parents. When necessary, referrals to outside sources are made for on-going counseling.

Learning Support

The San Jose Catholic Learning Support Program provides academic support to students, teachers and parents. It has been developed on the premise that all students can learn. The Learning Support teacher at San Jose oversees universal and diagnostic assessments. Assessment data is used to identify students who may need additional support to reach their potential. Research-based assessment tools such as DIBELS Next and STAR Reading are administered up to three times per year. The Learning Support teacher creates individualized plans for students who are identified as needing accommodations and/or interventions. Limited resources prevent us from accepting students who would require more than simple accommodations. In addition, the Learning Support Teacher coordinates services provided by Duval County including: speech, Exceptional Student Education, and Title.


The San Jose Catholic School Library contains over 10,000 books to reflect student interest, academic curriculum, and current events. The purpose of the library is to cultivate in our students a love of reading and stories, to provide skills required to navigate library facilities, and to encourage them to be lifelong learners.

San Jose’s youngest students attend weekly library classes and are exposed to a wide variety of literature, authors, and genres through storytelling. Students are encouraged to browse and select books that are both age and reading level appropriate and to explore books that will ensure enthusiasm and increase reading aptitude.

Middle school students continue to strengthen and improve their reading and comprehension. The librarian works closely with teachers to incorporate library resources, research strategies that include MLA Techniques for term paper writing, and study skills required for classroom curriculum.

The motivational program Accelerated Reader, for individual student reading practice, has helped enhance the school’s reading culture by supporting the student’s lifelong love of reading and learning.


San Jose Catholic School recognizes the importance of music education and believes it should be introduced at an early age. Therefore, every student from pre-school through eighth grade takes part in the study of music and uses it to explore the world around them.

The Music program of San Jose Catholic School incorporates the study of composers, music history, theory, and composition to develop age-appropriate musicianship and knowledge of music. This process of learning includes the philosophies of composers and educators such as Carl Orff and Zoltán Kodály. Students develop language-rich rhythmic skills, creative movement through dance, improvisation, authentic singing activities using solfège and Orff instruments, and knowledge of the recorder, guitar, and un-pitched percussion instruments.

Our students are not passive observers, but active developers of their own music. Through weekly lessons, students reach a higher level of musical understanding and appreciation as they embark on a musical journey of learning to express themselves through a wide array of musical activities that enhance their education of music.

Physical Education

Important objectives of physical education include, development of one’s motor and social skills, promoting the importance of physical fitness and encouraging budding sports talent. The physical education curriculum for grades Kindergarten through Eighth grade focuses on age appropriate activities that meet the National and State Standards for Physical Education.

For the youngest students physical education provides a way to practice and enhance motor skills. Physical education for elementary school children relies on objectives to serve as education and exercise instead of simply being a time for play. Games and sports teach students about teamwork, sportsmanship and working together to complete a task.

All students are taught the importance of fitness and the significance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Physical education classes that promote physical fitness, train students in sports by teaching rules and strategies while helping them to understand how to work as a team. Interpersonal skills in students are enhanced through team play.

Physical education classes help students maintain positive attitudes toward each other. Classes contribute to the overall growth and development of each student.

Exemplified by the large percentage of students participating in our athletic program, San Jose Catholic School students like to play and they like to compete! Beyond the sheer enjoyment that our students derive from their participation, their involvement also serves to complement and enhance their total educational experience. Through their participation San Jose student-athletes gain self-confidence, learn to cooperate as a member of a team, and experience the power of commitment. The school is proud of its winning tradition throughout the years.


Spanish skills will increase each year as students build on previously taught skills. A thematic/linguistic focus with essential vocabulary is highlighted for our youngest students. An array of teaching strategies that include cultural songs and games are used to enhance the educational experience. Language skills are taught through age-appropriate materials and activities. Students are taught to recite prayers in Spanish.

The goal of the middle school Spanish program at San Jose Catholic is to prepare students to continue and successfully complete Spanish language studies at the high school level. A focus is placed on expanding vocabulary, basic verb structure, and increasing the student’s knowledge of cultures within Spanish speaking countries. Cultural activities are incorporated in our curriculum for the enrichment of our students.


San Jose Catholic School provides a technology-rich environment to facilitate the development of 21st century knowledge and skills that improve overall student learning. Technology literacy is not a single course of study taught in the computer lab. Rather, it is a collaborative and cooperative effort among teachers. This cooperative approach allows students to learn to use technology to find information, evaluate sources, and organize knowledge. This partnership amongst subject area teachers and the technology teacher ensures the connection between subject area content at the appropriate time and ensuring that students meet the Technology Foundation Standards for Students set by the Diocese of St. Augustine.

The technology foundation for students is divided into six categories: basic operations and concepts, social, ethical, and human issues, technology productivity tools, technology communication tools, technology research tools, and technology problem-solving and decision making tools. Teachers use these standards as guidelines for planning age appropriate and grade specific activities in which students achieve success in learning, communication, and life skills.

Kindergarten through Eighth grade students use grade level appropriate web based applications and educational websites in conjunction with Microsoft Office programs including Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Publisher to learn the multi-tasking skills needed to effectively gain knowledge and develop skills that can be integrated across the curriculum.

Students have a folder on the school network where subject area teachers and students can access their files throughout the campus. San Jose Catholic School is equipped with both Ethernet and wireless Internet connection with the most current, sophisticated filtering devices, which are used to ensure student protection, security, and safety.

San Jose Catholic School’s commitment to evaluating and addressing the ever-changing needs of technology empowers both the student and the teachers, providing opportunities for learning, communication, and collaboration that maximize the instructional process.

Visual Arts

Students will be involved in creating and sharing personal works of art with others. They will use critical-thinking, problem solving, and decision making skills, by assessing their own and others artistic work. Exploration of art processes and media to produce artwork by personal decisions and ideas is encouraged. Development of skills through repeated experiences with art media, techniques, processes, and tools is carried through all grade levels.

Students will learn to create imagery and symbols that express thoughts and feelings and which can also be interpreted in writing. They will learn how to describe cultural similarities and differences in works of art. This will promote personal identity, along with showing the importance of being respectful of ideas important to individuals, groups, and other cultures. Through study in the arts, students learn about and honor others and the worlds in which they live.

Representation of culture imagery or symbolism in artwork strengthens understanding. The 21st- Century skills necessary for success as citizens, workers, and leaders in a global economy are embedded in the study of the arts. The artwork is created collaboratively and communicates an awareness of events within the community. Through the study of art, students learn that every art form uses its own unique language, verbal and non-verbal to document and communicate with the world.