Montgomery Catholic Preparatory School is a K-12

K-12

K–12 is a designation for the sum of primary and secondary education. It is used in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand where P–12 is also commonly used...

 Catholic school

Catholic school

Catholic schools are maintained parochial schools or education ministries of the Catholic Church. the Church operates the world's largest non-governmental school system...

 in Montgomery, Alabama

Montgomery, Alabama

Montgomery is the capital of the U.S. state of Alabama, and is the county seat of Montgomery County. It is located on the Alabama River southeast of the center of the state, in the Gulf Coastal Plain. As of the 2010 census, Montgomery had a population of 205,764 making it the second-largest city...

. It is governed by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Mobile

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Mobile

The Archdiocese of Mobile is a Roman Catholic archdiocese comprising the lower 28 counties of Alabama. It is the metropolitan seat of the Province of Mobile, which includes the suffragan bishopric sees of the Diocese of Biloxi, the Diocese of Jackson, and the Diocese of Birmingham in Alabama...

.

History

Originally founded as St. Mary's of Loretto in 1873 as an all girls' school by the Sisters of Loretto

Sisters of Loretto

Sisters of Loretto or the Loretto Community is a Catholic religious institution, which, according to their mission statement, "strive[s] to bring the healing Spirit of God into our world" and is committed "to improving the conditions of those who suffer from injustice, oppression, and deprivation...

, it became co-ed in 1929 and a diocesan school in 1952, when it was renamed "Montgomery Catholic High" . As part of a regionalization plan approved by Archbishop

Archbishop

An archbishop is a bishop of higher rank, but not of higher sacramental order above that of the three orders of deacon, priest , and bishop...

 Oscar H. Lipscomb in 2001, it merged with St. Bede Catholic elementary school (K-8) and Our Lady Queen of Mercy elementary school (K-8) to become "Montgomery Catholic Preparatory School". In 2004 it opened a middle school for grades 7-8, and the two elementary schools became K-6 campuses.

Academics

MCPS is a college preparatory school, offering both an honors and regular program to its students. In the high school honors program, students may take upper level electives, such as Advanced Placement courses in American History, Calculus, English, Biology, Physics and Fine Arts, as well as honors courses in Chemistry, British Literature, Algebra II, Trigonometry, French III and Spanish III among others. Between thirty and forty percent of its graduates receive scholarship offers to colleges around the United States. Four years of Religion, Social Studies, Science, Mathematics and English are required for all students. Electives include offerings in Band, Physical Education, Art, Computer Applications, HTML design, French and Spanish among others.

Extra-Curricular

MCPS fields varsity teams in football, volleyball, cheerleading, cross-country, basketball, softball, soccer, girls' tennis, track, baseball and wrestling. Introductory Band begins in 5th grade, Intermediate Band in grades 7-8, with a Concert and Marching Band for grades 7-12. Students may also participate in Yearbook, Key Club, Pep Club, Student Government and Right to Life

Right to life

Right to life is a phrase that describes the belief that a human being has an essential right to live, particularly that a human being has the right not to be killed by another human being...

clubs at the high school level.

Facilities

There are now two campuses to MCPS, both located in east Montgomery: the St. Bede campus (K-6) on the corner of Atlanta Highway and Perry Hill Road, and the 7-12 campus on 5350 Vaughn Road. At the St. Bede campus, there are two academic buildings, a new Family Life Center consisting of an infant to PreK day care, meeting rooms and a gym, a fine arts building, a soccer field, playground and a church. The Vaughn Road campus consists of a main academic building, cafeteria, a Science/Library Center dedicated in 1999, a gym, a separate middle school which opened in 2004, a football/soccer stadium, baseball field, softball field, practice fields, concessions, lockers and weightroom.

Daily Schedule

The K-6 program follows a traditional elementary schedule, augmented by weekly offerings in Art, Music, Band, Library and Computer Literacy classes. The middle school features two exploratory classes each day in subjects ranging from Band to cooking, and five core subjects in Math, English, Social Studies, Science and Religion. The high school schedule consists of seven courses per day with two semesters per academic year. In all three programs, Mass is offered once a week.