Our Purpose
Why we do what we do
We started this school with dreams for our children and a plan to make those dreams come true. And we have been vigilant about protecting those dreams from mission drift—more than 15 years later, we have seen the daily wonders those dreams offer and the proof that hard work, focus and the tenets behind SLOCA truly provide amazing opportunities for our students and families.
The community at SLOCA has become such a cornerstone of the school that we have a motto to capture it: Semper Discentes—Latin for "always learning together."
To educate for life: the education we provide is life-enriching, life-preparing and life-giving; although education contributes towards meaningful ends, we understand that education is a worthy end in and of itself.
To be a community that forges character, fosters wisdom, and nurtures a lifelong passion for learning.
We provide classical education and enrichment (with a twist) to families on the Central Coast and beyond
SLOCA has always had vision, and we certainly aren’t going to stop now! The following “five P’s” briefly lay out our long-range vision—a vision we are actively (and successfully) pursuing right now.
purpose: SLOCA will have a reputation for being the finest place to receive an education, for being a coveted place to work, and for its dynamic community.
people: SLOCA stakeholders will be thriving, loyal, and happy to contribute because they will be heartily invested in and considered valued members of a healthy learning community.
programs: SLOCA’s programs will engage the minds and hearts of students with rich classical curricula, arts and enrichment offerings, family involvement, and attention to individual potential.
provision: SLOCA will maintain a healthy, responsible budget with a multi-tiered, sustainable approach to funding; an approach which will include tuition, annual fundraising, endowment, and profitable, business-related activities.
place: SLOCA will have a 10 acre campus that, in form and function, reflects our commitment to beauty, learning, innovation, creativity, and community; additionally, it will serve as a local asset.
Pursue beauty and order in all things.
Cultivate a wholesome culture of curiosity, courage, collaboration, conviction and creativity.
Develop a wholehearted community, quality people and healthy relationships.
Our Community
We are a learning community.
We learn with our children, we learn from our mistakes and our successes, we learn how to parent together, we learn about perseverance, kindness, and communication. If you are looking for a perfect community, you won’t find it at SLO Classical Academy. We are just a bunch of real people, looking to make a difference in the lives of our students, community, and yes, even our world. Not perfect, but alive.
While we aim to have high standards, SLO Classical Academy is also founded by real people with strengths and weaknesses, successes and failures, joys and mistakes.
This community sprang up because SLO Classical Academy was founded on a collaboration between school and home—this school is the strong, incredible educational institution it is because of the pooled effort of amazing staff, faculty, and parents. We are committed to, and reliant upon, strong collaboration between our school and parents. The effectiveness of these collaborative relationships is dependent upon all parties working together. Striving for both excellence and grace in these partnerships, we laid out guidelines to assist in this process.
Staff @ SLO Classical Academy will:
- Provide a dynamic, classical education as defined by its mission, goals, and core values
- Provide quality classroom experience and instruction, and planning for home days
- Provide opportunities for individualization of assignments and experience
- Provide enrichment opportunities for students throughout the week
- Provide ongoing education for parents in both classical education and home topics
- Solicit feedback opportunities from parents and students
- Encourage parent-to-parent support
- Be available to meet with parents to work through questions, concerns, ideas, etc.
- Commit to learning and growing professionally as a school and staff
- Utilize a team approach to leadership and decision-making
- Support and model the Code of Conduct
- Provide a safe school environment
- Provide a positive, helpful staff and experience in the office
Parents @ SLO Classical Academy will:
- Set a positive tone at home in regards to learning and being a part of the SLOCA community.
- Partner with teachers in the completion of core subject assignments and individualization of the assigned work
- Actively participate in learning alongside students
- Choose and oversee home subjects
- Read all communication from the school, including teacher grids & narratives, Bear Necessities, emails and handouts placed in family files
- Provide constructive feedback to the SLOCA staff
- Serve as role models, adhering to our Code of Conduct
- Support the school publicly
- Pursue understanding of our model of education
- Trust the leadership and teams behind decisions. Ask for clarification when there are questions or concerns
