MISSION STATEMENT AND CORE VALUES

MISSION STATEMENT

Palmetto Christian Academy seeks to assist Christian parents in providing a Christ-centered education emphasizing godly character and academic excellence within a nurturing environment and to develop in students a Christian world and life view to fulfill their calling to the glory of God.

 CORE VALUES

1.  Glorify God

The teaching and training of children is to be centered upon the person of Christ in their spiritual growth, emotional development, physical nurturing and academic training.  The ultimate purpose of PCA is to glorify God and teach students to do the same.  This purpose will be achieved by working closely with and assisting parents in accomplishing the God-given task of education.

2.  Biblical Approach to Learning

We embrace a Biblical approach to learning, which seeks to incorporate a Christian worldview into all aspects of the curriculum and education process.  Education cannot be separated from our Christian faith, but our faith must be integrated and woven into every aspect of our education.  We have as our challenge and privilege to teach the children at PCA that the God of the Bible is living, true and governs sovereignly over everything in existence.  There is nothing outside of His handiwork and control.  PCA was established on the foundation that all truth is God’s truth.  All knowledge points us to the Christ who is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of God’s nature.

3.  Academic Excellence

PCA seeks to provide an excellent, academically rigorous education for its students.  It should be acknowledged that the pursuit of this goal might involve hard work on the part of both teacher and student.  Vigilance and accountability, as well as objective measures of progress, are required to meet this goal.

4.  Classical Education

A classical education seeks to recover the heritage of the orthodox faith as expressed in the very best academic disciplines that helped to spark the great cultural flowering of Western culture and Western Christendom over the past 1000 years.  We believe a classical education is essential because western civilization has a vast repository of knowledge.  When this knowledge is wedded to Biblical truth, it builds sterling character and depth of conviction.  We look for and try to study the very best things in Western culture; that which is good, true and excellent.  A classical perspective has much to do with the selection of topics for study and the content of curriculum.  In classical education, children move from concrete thinking skills at a young age to more difficult concepts and abstract thinking as they mature and grow older.

5.  Lifelong Learners

PCA seeks to create lifelong learners by showing students the joy of learning.  God created great mysteries and wonders to be uncovered during and after one’s formal education.  There is infinitely more to learn about God and His creation than will occur during a child’s years at PCA.  Therefore, PCA Teachers use creative methods of instruction, classical literature, whole books, narration and nature studies to bring the learning process alive.  With these methods and tools, students discover that learning occurs, not just during school hours, but also in every moment and every event of life.

6.  Covenant School

PCA strives to assist Christian parents in fulfilling their covenant promises to God to educate and nurture their children in the Lord.  Because each child is made in the image of God, he is worthy of respect and Christian love.  Therefore, it is our desire to embrace each child with a constancy of love and commitment, which flows from our understanding of the gracious character and benevolent disposition of the triune God.  We pray that we can encourage our children to live holy lives in an environment of grace.

7.  Excellence in All Things

PCA desires to encourage students to strive for excellence in all areas of life.  We encourage excellence of godly character that exceeds the world’s standards, but reflects the standards set forth in the Bible.  We pray that there would be excellence in all areas of character, speech, thought, respect for authority, treatment of peers, behavior, and study habits and would extend to every daily decision of life.

8.  Biblical and Critical Thinking

We desire students who graduate from PCA to be both well versed in a Christian worldview and well developed intellectually.  We live in a post-Christian culture where truth is relative and there are no absolutes.  We must give our children an academically superior Christian education, which will equip them to have a cultural influence.  We seek to develop children with Christian hearts and minds, who desire what is good, excellent and of good repute, who can think through the cultural deceptions, and influence every facet of the culture in the priorities that God has set for living life for His glory.