Welcome to the Home Page of Saint Rose of Lima Catholic School in Denver, Colorado.

In the spirit of Catholic tradition, St. Rose of Lima's mission is to provide quality Catholic education centered on attending to the real needs of our students, while developing respect, responsibility, and community.  

St. Rose of Lima is a Catholic school directly affiliated with the Archdiocese of Denver and St. Rose of Lima Parish.  St. Rose has an enrollment of 160 students in grades K-8, and is fully accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCA). 

The facility includes ten classrooms, a library/media center with 22 iMacs, a cafeteria/auditorium, and limited athletic facilities.  There are also computers in every classroom, and a science lab for middle school.  Before and after-school care is available from 7-8 a.m. and 3-6 p.m. Teachers are encouraged to be involved in all school activities and to participate in in-service programs offered through the archdiocese and other local programs.   

A Brief History of Saint Rose of Lima School

In November 1923, twenty Catholic families who lived in the Valverde neighborhood formed the Valverde Catholic Church Association. A vacant lot on the corner of West Nevada Place and South Navajo was purchased. The Association purchased a church from the Presbyterians, and, after building a foundation, moved the church onto the lot. This original church, which seated 35 people, was dedicated on October 5, 1924. Almost thirty years later, in October of 1950, the parish broke ground on a new school. Archbishop Urban J. Vehr dedicated the school on May 12, 1955, and the school welcomed its first students on September 6, 1955. In its early years, St. Rose of Lima served grades 1-4 with an enrollment of 156 students.

In 1956-57, the parish hall was renovated in order to provide temporary additional classrooms and the basement of the original convent was modified into an additional classroom, adding 5th, 6th, and 7th grade students to the St. Rose community.  

In 1958 a three-classroom addition was completed as a one-story unit designed to facilitate a second story with three more classrooms.  In 1959, the second story was completed, finishing the ten classroom structure that is St. Rose of Lima School today.  

Saint Rose of Lima School has been in continuous operation over the last five decades sending hundreds of students with success into secondary school and beyond.  Whether they continue on to a private high school or not, virtually all of our graduates (over 98%) graduate from high school.  Many go on to higher education as well, and our alums can be found all around the country.  

St. Rose of Lima has served the Valverde community and the Denver metro area in a variety of ways over the last 50 years, and today, St. Rose still provides much needed Catholic school instruction to middle and low-income families throughout the Denver metro area.  

More information:

In the spirit of Catholic tradition, the mission of St. Rose of Lima School is to provide quality Catholic education, centered on attending to the real needs of our students, while developing respect, responsibility, and community.  Our main organizational goals, which we believe will best help us live out our mission are (1) to provide individualized education in order to support the spiritual, intellectual, emotional and physical growth of each student, (2) to strengthen the desire of each student to put forth his or her best efforts and to serve the needs of their community according to his or her individual God-given talents and abilities, and (3) to encourage students to learn more about their Catholic values.

The specific objectives we will pursue to accomplish these goals are as follows: (1) We will provide an education program accredited by the North Central Accrediting Association and certified as Catholic through the Catholic School Endorsement of the Office of Catholic Schools. (2) Prepare students for success in either private or public secondary school, so that students are equipped with the necessary tools to successfully complete their secondary studies regardless of where they attend.  (3) Make a positive contribution to the Denver Metro area and to the local community by providing a hub for parents and families to form a community devoted to the education of the families’ children. 

The central program offered by St. Rose of Lima School is quality education for our students from kindergarten through eighth grade.  In accomplishing our goals, however, this program is supplemented by activities and events that supplement our efforts toward providing a variety of education experiences to our students in a healthy and productive environment. 

School safety and violence prevention measures include:

·         Single entrance requiring sign-in

·         Required Uniforms

·         Low student to teacher ratio

·         After-school programs

·         Clearly communicated discipline policies

·         Background checks on all adults working with       students

·         Adult supervision of students on school grounds

Class sizes at St. Rose are limited to 20 students per faculty member, and individualized attention to our students is one of our priorities in fulfilling our objectives as an educational institution.  These small classes allow our teachers to identify the needs of each student and St. Rose works toward developing relationships not only with the student, but with his or her parents as well in efforts to assure that both family life and school life will contribute toward building a solid educational foundation for the student. 

These efforts to build relationships with students and families are supplemented by a variety of events sponsored by St. Rose school such as chili cook-offs, a Halloween festival, Christmas concerts and pageants, immunization drives, and other events that incorporate not just the intellectual development of the child, but the cultural, physical, and family-centered aspects of the student life that are important for productive educational growth.  Parents are required to attend parent-teacher conferences, and make contributions (in the form of fund-raising, money, or contributions of time) to the funding of the school appropriate for each family’s income level.   

St. Rose of Lima School is also a member of the Catholic Schools Athletic league offering competitive sports programs such as baseball, softball, volleyball, and basketball programs.  

St. Rose works with the Catholic Alliance for Healthy Children.  Through this alliance, students have received the following services through St. Rose: health records reviews, vision screening, scoliosis screening, hair lice checks, review of immunization records, hearing screening, hepatitis shots for 6^th grade, evaluation of sick children. 

The results produced by St. Rose of Lima School are on a level with the success records reported by many Catholic schools that serve low-income populations.  Graduates of Catholic K-8 schools are more likely to graduate from high school (regardless of whether they attend a public or private secondary school) than their peers who attended public K-8 programs.  National research indicates that low-income minority youth are far more likely to succeed academically and less likely to drop out of high school if they attend a Catholic grade school.  According to Education Week (March 19, 1997), 88 percent of urban minority students who attend Catholic schools graduate while only 62 percent of such students graduate after attending public schools.  Among those urban minority students who do graduate from public schools, 11 percent complete college, while 27 percent of the Catholic school graduates complete college.  

The Catholic schools of Denver, St. Rose included, provide such services with far fewer resources than public schools as well.    Also, the results of the ITBS (Iowa Tests of Basic Skills) assessments taken in Archdiocesan schools indicates that our students consistently perform above grade level.  For example, seventh-graders were two and three grades above level in all areas, and eighth-graders scored at the 10 th , 11 th and 12 th -grade levels in all areas. 

Moving Forward

St. Rose of Lima School is currently engaged in a capital campaign to raise funds for a school addition. This addition will include a gymnasium, library and a two-classroom preschool. We are fortunate to have a generous patron who has pledged to fund about one-half of the cost of the addition, and the Development Committee is working to raise the rest of the funds from foundations, alumni and other supporters. The Gates Family Foundation has recently issued a "challenge grant" to St. Rose, promising $200,000 provided we can raise the rest of the money needed for the addition.