Incarnation Mission statement: 

Church of the Incarnation Catholic School has, as its main objective, a commitment to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Christian Virtues and academic excellence to students of any race, religion or gender with a faithful adherence to the teachings of the Catholic Church.

• Academic Philosophy:

Incarnation is a Catholic, academic elementary and middle school.  We strive to provide the best possible programs to meet the current needs of the students enrolled and to lay the foundation for the continuance of their Catholic education.  We provide a structured, disciplined environment and a curriculum with an emphasis on religion, language arts, mathematics, social studies, science, physical education, technology, Spanish, music, and art.   

 History:

Incarnation Catholic School was established by Incarnation Catholic Parish on August 22, 2000. The school was opened because there was a need for quality Catholic education for the children of Collierville, Tn.  Incarnation Catholic School was the first Church affiliated school in the town and now offers an alternative to the many Shelby County and independent schools that exist in the area. 

In 2010, Incarnation School will be in its tenth year of operation and anticipates an enrollment of 230 students in grades PreK-8th.  It is our plan to remain a small school with a projected maximum enrollment of about 380 students without expanding our building.

Our focus continues to be on establishing the many rich traditions that will mark Incarnation as an exemplary Catholic school for the years to come. We value parish, parental, and community involvement and the growing diversity of our school community. We understand the necessity of consensus when establishing an educational Catholic system.

Incarnation School is fully certified by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.  It’s many PreK- 8 curriculums are strong and effective tools for teaching the basics of language arts, math, reading and literature, social studies, science and religion. The religion curriculum is taught daily and is integrated across subject areas. We have morning and afternoon prayers; we celebrate the Eucharist with the Parish each Thursday morning, and say the rosary or stations every Friday.  Our classes of children are required to perform monthly service.

As with most Catholic schools, our students wear uniforms.  We offer before and after school care and we have a hot lunch program that is provided for a nominal cost.  Students participate in PE twice a week and music, art, library, Spanish, and computer once a week.  We have an up to date computer lab and lap tops that teachers are encouraged to use each week.  The opportunity to grow our technology is in place and with the support of our many generous parents, we anticipate being able to give our students every technological advantage.

Being part of our young school is both challenging and exciting.  We invite others to come and settle in the wonderfully progressive, Southern community of Collierville.  We invite the community to enroll children in our excellent “Christ-centered, Child-focused” academic school.  Incarnation Catholic School strives to educate the whole child spiritually, intellectually, socially, emotionally, and physically in a Catholic environment. 

 Location:

 Incarnation is located at 360 Bray Station Road in Collierville, Tennessee situated off of Poplar Ave. coming out of Memphis, Tennessee.  Collierville, Tennessee is in Shelby County. The Population for Collierville from the last gathering of information is approximately 35,000. 

Plant and Facilities:

School building:  The current school building consists of an older section which houses a parish Mother’s Day Out Pre-School program and 2 of our classrooms.  A newer two story addition, which was completed in 2006, has been added on. The school consists of 15 classrooms, a science lab, art room, library/computer lab, a gym/cafeteria, 2 teacher work rooms and a faculty lounge. 

Since the school is also part of the parish community, the facility is shared for school and church functions.  Incarnation school is a beautiful new, well maintained school.  Since the older section was remodeled at the same time the newer section was being built, there is a seamless transition from one section to the other.  This school can easily house 350 students. 

Resources:  Incarnation school is proud of its library which has over 10,000 books and houses a modern computer lab.  The computer lab has 25 computers, 3 projectors, and 12 lap tops. The library employs a librarian three days a week.

Play Ground:  The play ground is well maintained with a play structure for lower elementary students and a large multipurpose ball field. 

Safety and Drills:  Incarnation School holds required monthly fire drills with additional tornado and earthquake drills and whole school lock down procedures twice a year. The school makes safety and protection of lives and property a priority.  The school has at least 2 impromptu fire marshal visits a year to check adherence to fire code regulations.     

Cafeteria:  The kitchen is inspected twice a year and has had a 95% to 99% rating each time.  It is clean, modern, and adequately staffed.  The menus are designed by a certified dietician employed by the Catholic Diocese of Memphis.  The school orders its food through vendors at a savings.

      Finances:

Incarnation Parish and School have a fiscal year end of June 30^th. The Parish and the School’s       financial records are audited by an external audit firm on an annual basis as part of the Catholic Diocese of Memphis.

    Administration and Staff:

Incarnation Catholic School is one of approximately 30 Catholic schools in the Catholic Diocese of Memphis.  The school has a principal which answers directly to Incarnation Catholic Church’s priest Father Parham.  Father Parham works closely with the leadership of the Catholic Diocese of Memphis Schools which is the superintendent, who answers to the Bishop of Memphis. 

The School has an office staff of three: the office manager who also serves as the administrative assistant to the principal, works to manage student, teacher, parent, and administrative needs of the school for overall success.     

The admissions and advertising director provides tours, manages new families registrations, and advertising for recruitment. 

The principal has twenty plus years of teaching experience, has owned two businesses, each for seven years, has a master’s in educational administration, and beginning her third year as a principal. 

 The school has a Home and School board that also serves as an advisory council. The home and school committee meets every month to help give advice, support the school, provide fundraising opportunities and volunteers where needed.  

The church’s finance committee and Parish council are governing bodies of the church that answer to the Pastor. The school gives a monthly report to each.  

The school does not have a school nurse on site, but has access to one at the Diocese of Memphis in emergencies.

Faculty

The overall ratio of pupils to teachers is 16-1.  The average size of classes is 12 to 25 students.  

PreK, K, 1^st, and 2^nd grade classes have a Teacher’s Aide. Two of our teachers holds a bachelor’s degree, 15 teachers hold a master’s degree, and two teachers have a master’s degree plus 30 hours. The average age of our staff is 40.

Salaries for teachers are determined by a scale that has been designed by the Memphis Diocese.  The average salary for our teachers is $31,000.  The Catholic Diocese of Memphis provides good health, dental, and vision benefits to full time employees.          

Students:

Below is a list of student distribution by grade:  Total: 200

Pre- K:  12

Kindergarten:  16,                   Kindergarten:  16 

First grade:  25,                      

Second grade:  25

Third grade:  20

Fourth grade:  16

Fifth grade:  18

Sixth grade:  10

Seventh grade:  16

Eighth grade: 22

Organizations & Clubs offered to Students: 

Here is a listing of organizations, clubs and co-curricular activities available to students.

Altar Servers:  serve at weekly Church services:  Masses

Beta Club:  Club to recognize and promote academic achievement, leadership, character, and service.

Spelling Bee:  Contest to recognize and compete for good spelling.

Art Contests:  Various contests offered to children who are creative or draw well.

Geography Bee:  Contest to test for outstanding geography skills.

Student Council:  Council of students who lead, do service and represent the school’s student body.

Safety Patrol/Ambassadors: Students who show leadership by providing safety and the service of greeting.

School Year Book:  Committee of students who help put together the school yearbook.   

Newspaper Staff:  Students who take pictures and write article for the Quarterly paper.

Sports:  there are numerous sport teams offered by the Parish.

Financial aid: is offered to families that qualify.  

Families fill out an application that is then sent to an agency that evaluates the ability of the family to pay full tuition.  The agency determines how much aid a family should receive and then sends the information to Incarnation.  The Pastor, Chief Financial Officer, and Principal make determinations of who is awarded tuition assistance and how much.       

Curriculum:

Incarnation school provides the most up to date curriculums for each grade.  Teachers teach to standards that address all students’ needs. Incarnation School does not have a special education program which provides IEP’s but does provide a resource pull out program for struggling students.  Incarnation also has an Enrichment pull out program designed to address children who have been identified as gifted.

All teachers are required to use differentiated instruction and small ability groups when teaching.  The teachers also modify and make accommodations in lessons and teaching to address students’ individual needs.  Incarnation has Student Success Teams designed to track a student’s progress and incorporate interventions for greater success.

Our eighth grade students take a high school placement test in December and choose a school for their high school education.  Most of our 8^th grade students attend St. Benedict High School in Cordova.   Some attend Christain Brothers or St. Agnes in Memphis.

 Parent and Parish Organizations that support the school

(See # 6 – Home and School, Advisory board, Parish Council, and Finance Committee

Fundraising:

The school has numerous fundraisers planned for each semester.  This year they are:  Sally Foster and Cookie Dough, World’s Finest Chocolate, The Mistletoe Market, A Spring Fashion Show, A Golf Tournament, and Trivia Night.  ICS receives money from Kroger and Schuncks Cards.  The yearly Golf Tournament funds are reserved for ICS Scholarships. Incarnation Parish also has a once a month Sunday collection for the school.   

Accreditation:

Incarnation is accredited by SACS: Southern Association of Colleges and Schools with an exemplary rating, a member of the national Catholic Education Association(NCEA), national Association of Elementary Schools Principals, and Memphis Association of independent schools(MAIS).>. 

Catholic Church Of The Incarnation, Collierville Tennessee © 2006. All rights reserved.