September 2022

Our Lady of Port Richmond has been selected as a School of Distinguished Instruction by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. OLPR was recognized in the category of "Growth" for demonstrating expected/greater-than-expected growth in our Terra Nova scores. This is a true testament to the tremendous work we do here at OLPR and our ongoing investment in our high-quality Catholic education programs. Congratulations to our students, faculty and staff on this amazing achievement! 

Spring 2022

It is with great excitement that we announce the following news for the 2022-2023 school year.

Since opening our doors in 2008, Our Lady of Port Richmond has invested and continues to invest in the future of our school, bringing our school families the highest-quality Catholic education for their tuition investment. In order that we may continue to meet the goals of our strategic plan, focus on the various growth and enhancement initiatives we built into our Middle States self-study, and sustain our commitment to our future, we identified the opportunity to create a new position within our leadership team and are making the following strategic changes this upcoming school year:

After 35 years of service as a principal in the Port Richmond community and 52 years in Catholic education, Sister Mary Ripp has excitedly decided to embrace the opportunity to move into and design what she has called “her dream position” at Our Lady of Port Richmond next year and will serve as our Director of Mission and Ministry where she can utilize her wealth of experience to focus specifically on growing our Catholic identity and other key areas of our strategic plan. This position is designed to give specific focus to a leadership position dedicated to ensuring the continued growth of OLPR, adding more high-quality programs and activities for 21st Century learners and expanding the ministry within the school which is the cornerstone of our ongoing success. With Sister’s decades of experience and success in building programs, developing partnerships and being an ever-present source of Catholic identity within the school, there is no one more qualified and deserving of sitting in this position.

In order that Sister Mary can assume her new responsibilities, Ms. Auburee King will be elevated to the role of Principal of Our Lady of Port Richmond next school year. Ms. King has served as our Assistant Principal for two years, led the school’s COVID-19 task force for two years, successfully completed the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s Elementary Administrators Development Program (EADP) and is the director of our state-certified After School CARES Program and our After School Dance Program. Prior to her leadership roles which have prepared her well to guide our day-to-day operations, Ms. King was a classroom teacher for five years. All these combined experiences have equipped her to bring a knowledgeable and unique perspective into leadership management, curriculum, teaching methods, student achievement, parent involvement, policies and procedures, and so much more, making her the best candidate to continue moving our school into the future. We cannot wait to see all the things that she brings to the future of our school, administrative team, faculty, staff, students, school families and the community. 

OLPR’s team approach to management ensures a seamless transition as both Sister Mary and Ms. King will continue to collaborate with the existing administrative team, our highly-qualified faculty and our Board of Specified Jurisdiction. While their titles will change and the focus of their daily efforts will be different, the school’s commitment to providing the highest-quality Catholic education does not, and we could not be more grateful for their excitement for embracing these new positions and their endless commitment to making OLPR the leading standard of Catholic education in Port Richmond and beyond.

We hope that you are as excited as we are about all of the great things to come 2022-2023. We wish them God’s blessings as they embark on this new journey!

2023-2024 School News

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Fall 2023

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OLPR LAUNCHES BRAND NEW ENGINEERING LAB WITH GRADE 4 PROJECT & ANNOUNCEMENT OF TWO STUDENT LAB ASSISTANTS

We are thrilled to announce that our brand new Engineering Lab is officially OPEN!!! To kick things off, Grade 4 followed blueprints to build 3D structures! In addition, please join us in congratulating our engineering lab assistants for the 2023-2024 school year: Jaina Helder and Britney Teszner.

OLPR's brand new, fully-furnished and fully-equipped Engineering Lab, located in Room 34 on the third floor, aims to blend engineering tools and resources further into our core STREAM curriculum in all grades as evidenced by the introduction of Project Based Learning which has students ask questions, think critically, and apply background knowledge to real-life situations. Grade-level scientific investigation and mathematical reasoning skills will inform the engineering curriculum thus improving learning across the disciplines. With a dedicated space and resources including a 3D printer, laptops, robots, LEGOS and so much more, students in grades 1 to 8 will see improvement in their overall STREAM competency and critical thinking skills. At the Early Childhood level (PreK-3, PreK-4 and Kindergarten), the lab will assist students in meeting curriculum objectives across all achievement areas. Our goal is that by introducing these tools in the earliest grades, we will see a long-term impact on student progress and test scores over time.

Additionally, the Engineering Lab and curriculum aims to optimize graduate preparedness for high school Math, Science, Engineering and Technology, as well as the students' abilities to apply practical application of what they learn in the classroom to real-life situations.

The Engineering Lab project which was funded through the generosity of the Maurice Romy Foundation and OLPR’s internal sources is another example of our long-standing commitment to investing in capital improvement projects to further our mission and overall Strategic Plan to continuously enhance our high-quality Catholic education offerings.

Stay tuned throughout the year for more exciting news and features of our student engineers in action!