St. Catherine of Siena Catholic School strives to meet the needs of each student as resources allow. St. Catherine's offers students extra support through its Resource and Guidance programs.

 Resource Program

Students in Kindergarten through eighth grade with the need for additional academic support may be referred to our Resource program to receive one-on-one or small group academic support once or twice each week.  The purpose of this support is to provide academic strategies, explanations, and practice for each child to have success in their studies. Student support may be made available to those students who have had psycho-educational testing where academic support has been recommended or to students who are recommended for the program by their teacher with the parents’ consent. Resource personnel and parents communicate regularly to set goals, discuss progress, and determine continued or future support to address the needs of the students.

Our full-time Resource teacher is Orton-Gillingham trained and uses a multisensory and phonics-centered approach to give extra support in the Language Arts to our Resource students.   Extra support in Math may be offered as well.  The Georgia Department of Education recognizes Saint Catherine’s to be qualified to serve students in the Georgia Special Needs Scholarship program; however, the level of instructional support we are able to offer these students will be determined by a conference with administration, our Resource teacher, and the parent of the student.

Guidance Program

In order to assist students in the development of positive self-esteem, decision-making skills, and social values, all students participate in regular classroom guidance programs as judged appropriate by the administration.  Students in all grades receive guidance instruction weekly through our full-time counselor.  Second Steps is a comprehensive guidance program which help our students develop important life skills such as self-control, problem-solving, decision-making, and peer-relationships.

Small-groups which explore friendship and social skills are offered to students in all grades during the school day as well.

We are pleased to be able to offer the Rainbows program to students who are dealing with loss (death, sickness, divorce).  Rainbows take place once a week after school for a number of months during the school year.

Individual students may be referred for additional support from the school counselor as recommended by the teacher and with parents’ consent.