About
What is our heroic mission?
Saint Patrick Academy in Portsmouth, NH is a Catholic school that fosters a love for the good, the true, and the beautiful. Students in preschool through eighth grade receive a truly joyful, and holistic private education.
An essential feature is that we are a mission-driven independent school. Anchored on the truths of the Catholic Faith, our mission sets us apart from every public school in all 50 states and from most other private schools as well. At Saint Patrick Academy, children come to see that they are made in the image and likeness of a God who LOVES them. This LOVE, which resides at the center of our curriculum, then becomes the source of our students’ confidence, trust and joy. It shapes their souls and frees them to live a happy life. The life that God intended.
The lofty goal of our independent school’s program is to inspire children to be fully alive and to equip them with a supernatural vision and a Christian worldview so that they can live as witnesses to the Gospel.
education fully alive
Saint Patrick Academy is living proof that excellence in both spiritual formation and academics is possible. In fact, it is preferable. Each day our students engage in a rigorous curriculum that has placed them within the top 1-15% of all students in the country. Each day our students gather to ask for the blessing of Our Lord. There are a lot of things that set our private K-8 school apart, but this union of the mind and heart is perhaps the biggest.
Aristotle said that “Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.” Saint Patrick Academy exists to inspire, to draw out and to enkindle in the hearts of our children the love of learning and the love of God. This is what it means to educate fully. As it was said of Our Lord, “He came to fill the hungry with good things.”
Our Portsmouth, NH private school bears a tagline: Education Fully Alive. The idea for this came from a quote by Saint Irenaeus: “The glory of God is the human person fully alive.”
Saint Paul in his Letter to the Ephesians explains, “I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”
Saint Paul sums up Saint Patrick Academy pretty well: “that you may have the power to fully comprehend and to know the love of Christ.” This is what we want for our children. A perfect union of mind and heart. This is our measure of success.
Fully alive means to have the ability to fully comprehend. It means to be alert, and awake to the true significance and meaning of all things. It means to hear the inherent harmony of the universe, to see the whole beyond the sum of its parts, and to understand the profound significance of each person. And once you have seen all this, it is impossible not to be grateful.
Watch Our Video
Watch our video and learn more about Saint Patrick Academy. This virtual tour of our Portsmouth, NH campus will help you see what makes our Catholic education exceptional. We stand out among private schools in the Seacoast NH. Click below to see why.
"Educating the mind without educating
the heart is no education at all."
meet our faculty
Our exceptional faculty includes teachers and staff from a variety of backgrounds with a united mission to love and care for the students of Saint Patrick Academy. They’re devoted to helping develop each student’s character and values, as well as the skills and knowledge necessary for a challenging secondary education.
The SPA Newsletter
FAQ
We are a Catholic faith and welcome all.
Our families come from the seacoast area, southern Maine and northern Massachusetts.
We are a mission-based school which means we partner with families who want to provide their child with the gift of a SPA education. We have both financial aid and scholarship opportunities available.
We offer several camps in the summer such as art, music, writing, etc.
We have three days that we offer hot lunch.
Our school day starts at 8:00 and ends at 2:45. Our doors open at 7:00 with a before care program and close at 5:30 with an after care program.
We have a Parent Volunteer Group and opportunities range from help within the classroom to coaching to chaperoning field trips.
Yes. We have worked with students with IEP’s. In these situations, we like to see the students IEP, have them shadow, and see if SPA can provide modifications to benefit the student in our classroom environment. This is a case by case situation.
Students who qualify for Title 1 are eligible.
We do have two 14-passenger shuttle buses available for class field trips and to commute to our gym location at Community Campus.
We do not have buses that run in the morning/afternoon . Our families drive to and from school and many carpool for this.
Yes, with our smaller class size we are able to challenge students who need the extra challenge and to work with those who need extra help.
Saint Patrick Academy students dress guidelines include a Regular Uniform and a Dress Uniform, which can be purchased through Landsend.com with our Preferred School Number. Non-uniform days may be designated by the school administration.
Office Hours
During the school year, Saint Patrick Academy office hours are Monday – Friday from 7:30am – 3:30pm.
Summertime Hours
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday
8:00am – 1:00pm
Saint Patrick Academy is here to serve your family. We can be open anytime that suits you best: please call or email us to make arrangements:
Pam Vachon
Administrative Assistant
(603) 436-0739
Directions
Saint Patrick Academy
315 Banfield Road
Portsmouth, NH 03801
