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Core Values

National Presbyterian School nurtures each child’s sense of self and promotes a life-long love of learning so that its graduates can enrich their communities and the world.

The school embraces and seeks to instill in its students five Core Values of

Love, Respect, Responsibility, Honesty and Safety.

Love

two girls tending to soil for growing plants in classroom

Love is the first Core Value intentionally, as it is at the heart of our school community. Love is treating others the way we wish to be treated. We show love by caring for one another, our school, and the world around us. We embody love by living out all of the NPS Core Values.

Respect

girl reading cheerfully to her classmates

We show respect in the way we treat others. Respect is visible in simple acts such as saying “please” and “thank you” and holding the door for others. We demonstrate respect by learning about the world around us, including the different family structures and heritage in our school community as well as beyond.  

Responsibility

Child artwork

We show responsibility by doing what we know to be right and being accountable for our actions. We show responsibility by thinking of what others need and what we can do to help. We are responsible for our friends by being kind, supportive, and empathetic to them.

Honesty

Boy on swing smiling

We show honesty by telling the truth and seeking the truth, even when it’s difficult. We show honesty by keeping our promises, being a trustworthy friend, and being held accountable. We show honesty in our work and we demonstrate our thinking. We learn how to assess honesty in the world around us, as well as how to critically analyze history and resources for truth.

Safety

Boy working in construction hat

We show physical and emotional safety for ourselves and others. We show safety through simple acts such as tying our shoelaces and following playground rules, as well as by sharing our perspectives and allowing others to share theirs. We create a safe environment in which students may take risks, make mistakes, and learn from them.

How does NPS teach the Core Values?

A young boy in a gray shirt and red shorts, carrying a red tote bag, shakes hands with a man in a navy blazer and khaki pants outside a stone building with an open doorway leading to a hallway.

Head of School Handshake

The Morning Handshake is more than a lesson in firm grip! At NPS we aim to model love and respect by greeting each child by name as they enter school each day.

A young girl in a purple shirt paints a colorful paper-mâché dog sculpture on a craft table, with another girl blurred in the background of a classroom.

The Arts

Art class provides many opportunities for students to visually represent our Core Values through different projects and media. Additionally, students must show respect to one another as their classmates take creative risks as well as responsibility when working on collaborative projects. 

kids playing Basketball.

Social Emotional Learning

As NPS counselors say, our Social Emotional Learning curriculum is where we "operationalize" our Core Values. Students learn how to recognize feelings in others, respect one another's identities, and disagree respectfully.

A young boy in a blue shirt speaks at a podium in the foreground, while a group of children and adults stand behind him in a room with stained-glass windows.

Chapel

Through Bible stories and Chapel talks, students learn lessons in how they might embody the Core Values, especially love. Chapel offers an opportunity to practice being quiet and respectful. First and Sixth Grade Chapel leaders relish being responsible for lighting candles, greeting their classmates, and reading Bible verses in their Chapel services. Students learn respect for the holidays, beliefs and traditions, beyond those of Christianity, that are also represented in Chapel talks.

Three young girls stand in front of a building with blooming pink and white azaleas.

Buddies & Mentors

Becoming a big buddy instills responsibility in Third Grade students, who have been the younger buddy up to that point. Students learn that their younger friend looks up to them and that they set an example at all times, whether in the classroom, hallways or at recess.

A teacher tells a story to a group of young children sitting on the grass in front of a fence and trees.

Presentation & Leadership Experience

Core Values are woven throughout the day and across subjects. In a simple science lesson about how plants grow, students learn responsibility by caring for living things and how they can be good stewards of our earth.