On Tuesday, March 15, 2022, a visiting team from The National Paideia Center was at Veritas to evaluate our school as a candidate to become a Nationally Certified Paideia Seminar School.
I am grateful to our amazing staff for helping us achieve this major accomplishment. We had been at this on a low key approach for three years.
While here, the team observed eleven seminars from Grammar school through Rhetoric school. They observed pre-seminars, seminars, and post-seminars in process. They considered three main areas, (1) Teaching and Learning, (2) Leadership, and (3) School Culture, as well as thirty-five sub-component areas.
We received special commendation in several areas:
Greatly impressed with the Paideia Leadership team that clearly leads by example and encouragement,
Seminars observed were organic and engaging while having a gracious patient tone,
VCA was described as being a warm and welcoming school,
Students interviewed made a most favorable impression,
Teachers report that students are rising to each succeeding grade level with better capacity for dialogue from the previous year and increasing familiarity with the expectations and process of seminar,
Teachers also find students using the skills of respectful conversation in other settings than the formal seminar setting,
Students see seminars as a positive learning experience across all grade levels,
A “can do” disposition from everyone they interacted with that is considered essential for this approach to teaching and learning.
This certification also bodes well with general school accreditation as it demonstrates our commitment to a classical style of teaching and learning that assists in forming various habits complementary to the Christian faith and the Classical mind.
Congratulations, Veritas Christian Academy, a Nationally Certified Paideia Seminar School!
