Joy, Growth, and Academic Excellence: Celebrating Learning at SJCS
June 09, 2026
Here at SJCS we CELEBRATE learning. We celebrate because we believe learning and growth are a BIG DEAL. They are at the core of what we do. But even more importantly, it is worth the extra fun and the extra attention, because learning does not just happen.
Learning, growth, and achievement are the result of hard work on the part of students, staff, and administrators. We love what we do, and over the years that students journey from Preschool through 8th grade, we get to see students’ spiritual growth, social growth, and academic growth. We love to see the impact, and this impact is worth celebrating!
Here is some of what we are celebrating at the end of the 2025-26 school year.
MAP Growth Scores
The NWEA MAP Growth Assessment, given to 2nd-8th graders twice a year, gathers unbiased data on each student’s current academic performance, academic growth, achievement on national standards, and comparison to national norms.
This spring, our students once again showed high growth and high achievement. This continues a multi-year trend of SJCS grade-level averages (navy) outperforming national grade-level averages (orange) in all subjects and grades! Although not shown on this chart, we outperform private school averages as well.
Student achievement looks different for every child. Our commitment to teach the Whole Child, supporting students where they are, is central to our mission. Teachers exemplify this commitment in their classrooms as they provide individualized support for every child. They know their students, and students feel a sense of belonging.
Additionally, SJCS offers support for students through the Arlet Veurink Learning Center, a unique form of academic support in a private school. In the Learning Center, students receive pull-out instruction where the ratio is 6:1 or fewer for reading, decoding, comprehension, and other language support. We are proud to be a school that values and works to support every child.
MS Science Fair
At SJCS, learning is active, providing students with hands-on experiences in and out of the classroom as well as building in plenty of project-based learning opportunities. One big project for middle school students is the Science Fair.
At this year’s 3rd Annual Science Fair, all 6th-8th grade students presented their findings on scientific questions using the scientific method. Their projects ranged in topic and field, but all projects showed genuine curiosity, problem-solving, and understanding. Walking around the displays, students shared with excitement how they went about testing their question and what they learned through the process.
The competition was judged according to a rigorous rubric that tested many aspects of the scientific method. Our external judge awarded 1st-3rd place using this rubric and recognized groups with overall achievement in their complete project testing, presentation, and analysis.
But our celebration did not stop there! This year, SJCS also awarded and celebrated groups who exceeded expectations in a given area or overcame a significant, recognizable obstacle. These additional awards celebrated a greater spectrum of student learning, growth, and achievement in areas that align with SJCS’s Throughlines with categories such as excellence in group work skills and excellence in overcoming obstacles.
“The students are what make this experience so rewarding–they are thoughtful, creative, and willing to learn. While the process can be challenging at times, the science fair shows that students can overcome obstacles and accomplish difficult things.” Ms. Loewen, Teacher and 3rd Annual SJCS Science Fair Organizer
What a joy to see the confidence and excitement in these students during their presentations. The science fair reflected and embodied why we do what we do at SJCS, and it is gratifying to see our students be the Active Learners, Collaborative Workers, and Effective Communicators our program builds them up to be.
Preschool & 8th Grade Graduation
Our graduation ceremonies are a little different at SJCS, with active student involvement. Even our preschool graduation was guided by the students, who led the prayer, songs, and spoken portions of the ceremony. From the earliest years in our program, our students are part of their learning process and the celebration of that learning.
During the ceremony, each preschool graduate shared how they see or feel God’s love by completing the sentence “I know God loves me because…”
- “I can smile and share joy.”
- “I am brave”
- “I can shine my light”
- “I can forgive others”
- “I am wonderfully made”
What a joy to hear these students profess their faith in their own words before their family and community.
In 8th grade, the entire graduation ceremony is student-led. The 8th grade class chooses the scripture and speaker and each student has a part in the ceremony. One of our favorite parts each year is the “Our Story” section where students share stories of how they have grown in learning and faith during their years at SJCS.
Graduates also spoke about engaging with challenging topics in classroom debates, growing in presentation skills and communicating their ideas effectively, and learning to be more responsible with active learning opportunities in elementary school.
Speaking of an overnight field trip in 7th grade, one student shared,
“As I continue my faith journey in high school, I will continue to grow in my faith by trusting God and keeping him at the center of my life. Hume Lake helped me grow closer to God, and I want to carry that with me into my future.”
Another student referred to her spiritual, social, and emotional growth while at SJCS by talking about the impact of More than a Selfie. In Middle School, students have a boys’ and girls’ breakout group to address topics of spiritual discipline and grow in social-emotional skills.
“Through high school there will be more of a struggle with self image and worth. More than a Selfie has given us each the encouragement to do the right thing and know that through God’s eyes we are perfect. Even though I will still face challenges in self-image throughout my life, I’m glad that I have the advice from More than a Selfie to take with me on my journey.”
SJCS’s emphasis on teaching the Whole Child builds intentional, social-emotional learning into our program.
Our SJCS graduation ceremonies are not only reflective and momentous, but truly demonstrate what our program does for every student. Students lead in and outside the classroom. Our staff empowers and supports each child in all their years at SJCS to apply their academic and spiritual learning. At graduation, students are not trying something for the first time or being given greater independence as 8th graders. Instead, they are representing the ways that all along–from preschool to elementary to middle school–they learned to use their voice, to lead, and to serve.
The SJCS Difference
We know that what we do is possible because of our intentional, family-school partnerships and the commitment we all share to academic excellence and faith integration. Our Christian school for Christian families is built on this shared goal and effective because of our partnerships.
We celebrate another year and another graduating class that has been filled with hard work, intentionality, and a shared commitment to our 66-year-old mission.
Alumni Success in Their High Schools of Choice
July 09, 2025
San Jose Christian School provides an exceptional education which results in strong academic preparation as well as Christ-like character.
For decades, SJCS graduates have been accepted into, and prepared for, their high schools of choice. The Guaranteed Admissions Agreement SJCS shares with both Valley Christian High School and The King's Academy testifies to the quality of a Christian education at SJCS. Both high school campuses want SJCS students because they know that our graduates bring strong Christian character, high academic mastery, and whole-child skills with them! Our graduates are also accepted at diocese schools such as St. Francis, Notre Dame, Bellarmine, Mitty, and Presentation, where they become leaders in both classroom and extracurricular settings.
Class of 2021 - Living Out the SJCS Mission
Join us in congratulating four SJCS Class of 2021 graduates who received distinct honors at their Class of 2025 Valley Christian High School Awards Ceremony. All four of these young women brought Christ-like character to their high school campus and were recognized as servant leaders who shared their faith in word and in deed.
Our program succeeds in living out the SJCS mission. Spread the word! Let's keep the good work happening at SJCS for years to come.
PICTURE DETAILS:
Mia Steele - Solomon Award (2nd from left)
Hannah Joseph - Daniel Award (4th from the right)
Bethia Hormoz - Joshua Award (3rd from the right)
Camille Baham - Gift of Helps (3rd from the left)
Boss Club Teaches Entrepreneurial Skills
December 18, 2023
28 Students at San Jose Christian School Started Real Businesses and Made Sales as Part of an Innovative Entrepreneurship Class.
During the program, students launched real companies like car washing, babysitting, baked goods, jewelry, and more, and generated hundreds of dollars of sales during the course.
But not only are students making sales, they are also using their businesses to give back to the community. One company, Sweet Shop, provided 100 cookies for the end-of-year middle school mixer! Additionally, many of the students indicated that they wanted to continue with their businesses after the course, so we know that these results are only the beginning.
Mr. Plares, who taught this elective course said, “I am so proud of the work our students put in to create and launch their businesses. Many went from knowing very little about running a business to creating business ideas, turning those business ideas into real products and services, and making consistent sales throughout the year. They have gained valuable experiences and new skills that they will help them succeed in any career path they choose.”
The program was a huge success and we are excited to see what amazing things our students will accomplish as they continue with their businesses!
Watch the Video: See the short highlight video of the students’ achievements here.
Why Entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship Creates Deep Learning. “Entrepreneurship education has an opportunity to “trigger deep learning and instill engagement, joy, motivation, confidence, and feelings of relevancy among students.” – Entrepreneurship in Education, Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development
Entrepreneurship Cultivates Self-Initiative. “Entrepreneurship education empowers young people to see the world as opportunity rich, and to craft the lives they dream to live.” – Why Schools Should Teach Entrepreneurship, Aspen Institute
Entrepreneurship Equips Young People. “In the United States, 55% of the adult population have started at least one business in their lifetime, with 26% saying they have started two or more businesses.” – Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, Babson College
The Impact of Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship is one of the most impactful subjects to teach in the classroom today because it is about so much more than just starting a business. It is one of the few cross-curricular activities that brings together everything students are learning in school.
Entrepreneurship provides a practical way to learn key soft skills like confidence, creativity, and grit that they will need in the world they’re about to enter. These skills will stick with students for the rest of their lives!
In fact, nationwide, 95% of teachers using the Boss Club entrepreneurship curriculum reported that their students grew in confidence, creativity, critical thinking, or other key areas, which are skills that can be applied to all other areas of students’ lives.
About Boss Club:
Boss Club’s innovative entrepreneurship curriculum is used in hundreds of schools across the country and helps middle and high school students start their first business, equipping them with the confidence, creativity, and grit uniquely forged by entrepreneurship.
Learn more at BossClub.com.
Beautiful Day is Coming to SJCS
October 03, 2023
This blog is part of a series for 2023-24 to share our GRATITUDE for the people and places where we see God's goodness in our community. This post gives thanks for Beautiful Day, a local nonprofit that started out of WestGate Church. It features interviews from three of the many individuals who made the projects at SJCS possible including: Finny Abraham (Local Compassion Pastor at WestGate), Ronnie Lynds (Project Director at Beautiful Day), and Andy Hood (Project Lead at Beautiful Day).
In 2004 a former lead pastor at WestGate Church asked the congregation, “If our church burned down today, would the community care?” At the time, the answer was a definitive “no,” according to their website. Nearly two decades, 85,000 volunteer hours, and over $1 million later, WestGate’s Local Compassion Pastor, Finny Abraham, says the answer has changed.
“There would be schools, organizations, and government leaders now that would be concerned,” Finny affirmed. By making Jesus’s command to “love your neighbor” tangible, Beautiful Day has caught the attention of local government and secular and Christian non-profits alike. Not only would these individuals and organizations notice if the church were no longer there, they have also come alongside Beautiful Day to partner with the organization.
Finny emphasized that compassion means to “suffer with,” so in acts of love and service, he says, we get closer to a problem and empathize with our neighbors. “Jesus came to us,” he explained, and through service Christians get close to the problem and have the opportunity to, “close the gap between the need and the people who can provide for the need.” In service, we are not only aware of a problem or the suffering of others but we are actively working to restore it.
This year Beautiful Day chose San Jose Christian School as a site for their weekend of service projects around Santa Clara County. The project will have the second-largest budget for a Beautiful Day project in the organization's history. More than 120 volunteers will be coming to SJCS this weekend, October 7 and 8, to meet needs on our campus.
Of the 100% volunteer-run organization, more than 95 people have stepped up as project directors, project leads, or sub-leads. These individuals generously give countless hours of their time each year obtaining materials, organizing volunteers, and planning for Beautiful Day projects. Andy Hood and Ronnie Lynds are two of these lead volunteers, and they are leads for the upcoming projects at San Jose Christian School.
“I do this work and I do it all the time, year-round, every weekend, because God has given me skills and I want to use them for His glory,” Andy said. As a project lead, he enjoys seeing people gain new skills during the weekend and then continue and step up to help on future projects as volunteers or new sub-leads. He has also witnessed the long-term impact of these projects when they relieve the burdens placed on maintenance workers.
“I do this work and I do it all the time, year-round, every weekend, because God has given me skills and I want to use them for His glory."
“We’ve seen maintenance technicians and groundskeepers get really excited and join us and take on other parts of the project after we leave, because they’ve been so motivated and moved away from the heavy burden of not getting things done to then be freed up to do things they’ve wanted to do all along.”
At San Jose Christian School these projects will not only free up our Facilities Manager but also our budget and our future plans for campus improvements. Beautiful Day is relieving a burden from our teachers and our school to take care of projects that we would not have the time or resources to complete without their generosity.
Beautiful Day recognized that while non-Christian organizations may receive funding or support from Christian and non-Christian sources, Christian ministries often do not get the support non-Christian organizations or government entities offer. After noticing the need within Christian communities, Finny explained that the motivation was: “If we don’t step up, who will?”
“We love teachers and we want to improve their working conditions in any way we can,” Ronnie Lynds acknowledged. After noting how funding has gone down for schools and nonprofits, he continued, “we bring a lot of hands and a lot of energy that they wouldn’t have normally had… and we knock out some huge projects.”
“If we don’t step up, who will?”
At San Jose Christian School, we are excited for the impact of the planned Beautiful Day projects. Teams will be working in the front of the school, in walkways, and in classrooms. They will be replacing tanbark, painting building exteriors, renovating middle school classrooms, changing out hallway light fixtures, and renovating the preschool bathroom.
“It’s going to help, it’s going to have an impact when people walk into school and get a good feeling for the school. It’s going to help kids, pre-K kids… and it’s going to make things safer out there,” Ronnie noted, describing the improvements that will be made to parking lot lighting, middle school benches, and the preschool bathrooms.
“We’ve been extremely excited to see what God’s going to do,” Andy said. He described how much he enjoys seeing people and families come together for these projects. Rather than put an age limit on his projects, he said he likes to involve children in the projects to give them the opportunity to serve alongside their parents.
But it’s not just kids learning new skills. Describing his experience with prior projects, Ronnie said adult volunteers learn how to patch sheetrock, get up on ladders, do electrical work, and sometimes how to drive scissor lifts. This gives their volunteers new confidence. “They tell us, you know, since I did this at Beautiful Day, I went and did it and my friends ask me: ‘Where did you learn to do that?’”
These life skills that volunteers pick up from Beautiful Day become new ways to live out their faith. Finny Abraham explained that after an experience with Beautiful Day, people know who to go to when they see a need in their community. As people of faith, we can go beyond identifying a need and be able to say, “I can do something about it.”
“We’ve been extremely excited to see what God’s going to do.”
Living out our faith can look like driving a forklift with mulch or installing new light fixtures. It can look like delivering water or tearing out carpet. It can look like giving up a weekend to love our neighbor. This is part of our mission at San Jose Christian School. When we come together as a body of believers to serve, we are living out our commitment to serve for our students.
Of volunteering with Beautiful Day, Ronnie concluded, “It’s a good chance to learn new skills, meet new people, and afterwards you can stand back and see what your own hands did and what you were a part of.”
Beautiful Day will be at SJCS on Saturday, October 7 and Sunday, October 8 from 8:00am-5:00pm. Volunteer signups can be found here. You can learn more about Beautiful Day on their website.
Feeling inspired by this post? Use your gifts and volunteer at SJCS.
Show what you know, so we can help you grow
May 22, 2023
The mission of San Jose Christian School is to advance the kingdom of God through exceptional teaching fully integrated with Biblical perspective. Within our Christian community, we seek to engage and transform culture for Jesus Christ.
SJCS administers a student-adaptive standardized test to Grades 2 - 8 called NWEA MAP Growth. The NWEA MAP website opens, “See their needs. Close the gaps. Help them grow.” This aligns with our SJCS approach where we aim to support each unique learner. SJCS students take fall and spring tests in the areas of math, reading, and language to inform teachers of student needs, support differentiation, and measure growth.
Spring MAP testing results are in! Let’s take a look at the results to celebrate some of the ways our team used MAP testing to see student needs, close gaps, and help our students grow.
Spring 2023 Testing Results
Orange = Norm grade level mean RIT
Navy = SJCS grade level mean
Mathematics
Two years ago COVID interrupted student learning worldwide. For schools across the U.S., math education during and post-COVID was especially challenging. Because MAP testing results give specific data about student and class achievement in specific areas (ex. operational and algebraic thinking, number and operations, geometry, statistics), SJCS teachers can target learning gaps, what students are ready to learn next, and which areas need particular focus during instruction and assessment.
SJCS responded to math learning gaps post-COVID by adding a math push-in teacher to support students on the above- and below-level spectrum for Grades 4 and 5 math. Additionally, math teachers met monthly during the 21-22 school year to collaborate and unite in meeting the challenges of students with diverse math needs.
Spring 2023 MAP results show that our math class averages grew 3 - 16 RIT points from September to March, with most math classes ranking higher than grade level and California private school norms.
K - 2 Language Arts
San Jose Christian follows a curriculum review cycle to ensure quality curriculum which meets and exceeds standards. In our most recent language arts curriculum review, elementary teachers and the Education Committee chose SuperKids for JK-2.
MAP results confirm the excellence of the SuperKids program which covers reading comprehension, phonics, writing, spelling, and penmanship. According to the fall MAP reading scores, Grade 2 started the 22-23 school year five RIT points higher than the California private school average. The spring MAP results show that the class average grew nine RIT points since September, keeping the class average well above California private school norms.
3 - 8 Language Arts
The language MAP test comprises three categories: writing (plan, organize, develop, revise, research), grammar (edit, understand, use), and mechanics (edit, understand). SJCS uses Easy Grammar, Daily Grammar, and Step Up to Writing to teach these language skills. The elementary classes who take this particular test grew 5 - 9 RIT points during the course of this year, continuing their history of exceeding grade level and private school norms.
In middle school these skills are integrated into the daily language arts curriculum as well as taught specifically in a weekly grammar class. Past MAP results for each unique learner were used in the Grade 7 class to pilot differentiated instruction. Additionally, Greek and Latin vocabulary were added to the grammar curriculum.
This responsive teaching resulted in 88% of Grade 7 students scoring at or above grade level on the spring language MAP test, an increase of five RIT points which placed the class average above California private school norms.
Alumni Reflections
Recent conversations with SJCS alumni and comments on the 2023 alumni survey affirm that SJCS is living out its mission.
“San Jose Christian’s preparation for academic excellence helped me become my high school’s valedictorian,” one alumnus wrote.
Another praised, “My time at SJCS has given me academic confidence going into high school thanks to amazing teachers who are strong, Godly leaders. The solid, clear, and efficient teaching at SJCS has been a great foundation for my education.”
Current high school students share that “SJCS fully succeeded in preparing me for every aspect of high school” and that “I felt very confident coming into [high school] math after attending SJCS.”
As SJCS continues to move forward in its mission, we are committed to meaningful faith integration, excellent curriculum, effective teaching, and Christ-centered community. May God be praised as we offer our school, our community, and our work to God’s glory.