OUR SCHOOLS • CATHEDRAL SCHOOL
Interactive, game-type lessons make learning fun

By Treena Shapiro
Advertiser Education Writer

It's time for the fifth-graders at Cathedral School to study division. The 12 students line up in three groups, the teacher yells out a number and the first student in each line is off, racing to the front of the room to scribble down the divisors of 65 before handing off the pencil to the next person in line.

Cathedral School fifth-graders Leila Prevo, left, and Maria David collaborate on a math exercise turned into a game. Hands-on instruction is meant to reinforce lessons the students have been learning. Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser

"They like that; they get all excited about that. But in reality, they're learning," she said. "What we want to do is make learning fun for them."

Cathedral School is the co-educational parish school for Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace, but few of the kindergarten through eighth-graders attend that church, and the students come from all over the island.

Set back from the street, the school does not attract much attention from those passing by on Nu'uanu Avenue. That has made recruitment a challenge. "Cathedral School is probably one of the best-kept secrets in this Pauoa Valley-Nu'uanu area," Lopes said. "It's not that we try to keep to ourselves, that's just the circumstance."

The school plans to erect a sign near the road to make more people aware of its presence.

Right now, the classes are small and Lopes and the teachers know each of the 150 students by name. "It's basically like a large family," she said.

In addition, several activities bring different grade levels together — such as monthly craft projects sent to three health facilities in the area to cheer up the patients. "Each month that we're in school, each of those facilities gets something," Lopes said.

While the school would like to add some students, Lopes said class size will remain small — between 20 to 24 students per room. "We don't want a lot of students," she said. "We want the individual attention."

• What are you most proud of? "Our rich history and the quality Catholic education we impart to our students," Lopes said. Also, a multisensory approach to teaching and learning in all areas of the curricula, incorporation of Slingerland and Orton-Gillingham Phonics into the language-arts curriculum and having a faith-filled learning environment.

• Best-kept secret: The school's proximity to downtown, small class sizes and individualized attention. Student-teacher ratio averages 17:1.

• Everybody at our school knows: Wilma Souza, the school nurse and first-grade aide, who takes care of the children in the morning. "She has a heart of gold and is there to help anyone, parent, student or teacher with any project or activity," Lopes said. "She is the all-around, do-it-all person here at Cathedral School."

• Our biggest challenge: Trying to provide an affordable, cost-effective tuition without compromising school programs and activities.

• What we need: Money for scholarships, upgraded facilities, such as the bathrooms and chapel, and playground equipment.

• Special events: Christmas and May Day programs, Catholic Schools Week and fourth- and fifth-grade off-island field trips. Admissions events coming up include an open house on Sunday from 1 to 3 p.m., entrance testing for kindergarten on Feb. 28 by appointment and entrance testing for grades 1 to 7 on March 6, also by appointment.

Reach Treena Shapiro at 525-8014 or tshapiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.