St. Mary’s Primary School Celebrating 109 years of Catholic Education

Welcome to St. Mary’s Primary School!! SMPS has a long history in the city of Taunton. Throughout the 109 years SMPS has certainly faced many changes, transitions and obstacles but the single most important thing that has not changed or been compromised is our mission. It is the mission of St. Mary’s School to provide a safe nurturing environment with a strong Catholic identity. Our commitment is to educate the whole child through a process that encourages character development, spiritual growth, service and academic excellence. Today, SMPS offers full & part time separate Pre-Kindergarten early childhood programs for 3 year old and 4 year old children as well as full day kindergarten through grade five.

SMPS provides a safe and caring learning environment where children develop academically and more importantly where they learn to become faith based citizens and life-long learners. Our school offers individual attention within its small classroom size; exceptional faculty who help students reach their highest potential as well as before school and after school extended care.
At SMPS, our children begin everyday with prayer in the auditorium where the entire school thanks God for their blessings and pray for those who are in need of our prayers.

The school is proud to provide high quality academic educational programs and a balanced curriculum. The students have five specials that include art, music, drama, computer, library science and physical education, as well as enrichment programs in Spanish, Portuguese, coding and STEM robotics. SMPS is committed to technology to enhance education in order to prepare our students for the technological advances in the world today.
It is the goal of SMPS to excel in academics and on standardize tests (SMPS averaged higher scores than the national average for all grade levels) and also to live the Gospel message of Jesus Christ: to love one another and to love ourselves. We seek not only to prepare children to succeed for the next level of education and beyond, but in fact to succeed in life.

Community service is very important and is supported by families, faculty, staff and students. The students engage in community outreach programs where they support local food pantries, animal shelters, My Brother’s Keeper, homeless shelters and St. Vincent DePaul. We have just completed “Embrace Puerto Rico” which assists the victims of hurricane Maria. The children, families and the community have come together to collect needed supplies for the victims.

Recently SMPS has implemented The Educational Legacy Foundation for Students, otherwise known as the ELFS program. The ELFS program will help us serve families that have a strong desire to give their children the outstanding education of SMPS, but do not have the financial means to afford the tuition. SMPS is reaching out to the community to ask for their assistance in sponsoring these children. Sponsorships will help defray the cost of the tuition. There are criteria that families will have to meet in order to be eligible for this opportunity.
Since the implementation of ELFS, we have a number of children who attend St. Mary’s under this program. The appreciation and gratitude they express for this opportunity is overwhelming. It helps affirm us as Christians, of our obligation to community and to help support and educate all God’s children. It is our hope this program will be fully funded through entrepreneurs and companies that understand our mission and are looking for a tax exempt charity that they find near and dear to their heart.

SMPS is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, Inc., and is a school of choice serving students of all religions. The students that attend St. Mary’s School represent nine surrounding communities.
Mr. Michael O’Brien, the principal of SMPS truly encourages all to “come and learn what St. Mary’s Primary School has to offer and why our school is such a great choice for your child’s education.” We do offer In house as well as diocesan financial aid.

Tara Shaffer, mother of Max says “I just wanted to let you know that Max loves Ms. Riley (first grade teacher). I’m in education and some people don’t understand not using the traditional methods of teaching are great for today’s children, that’s how they learn. Ms. Riley doesn’t always use paper but more modern ways of educating the children.” Max says, “I love it because she makes it fun to learn and I want to learn more.”
From 1908 to 2017 St. Mary’s Primary School has been a pillar in Catholic Education.