Saint Philomena School is a private

Private school

Private schools, also known as independent schools or nonstate schools, are not administered by local, state or national governments; thus, they retain the right to select their students and are funded in whole or in part by charging their students' tuition, rather than relying on mandatory...

 Catholic

Catholic

The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...

 grammar school

Grammar school

A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and some other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching classical languages but more recently an academically-oriented secondary school.The original purpose of mediaeval...

 in Portsmouth, Rhode Island

Portsmouth, Rhode Island

Portsmouth is a town in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 17,389 at the 2010 U.S. Census.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which, of it is land and of it is water. Most of its land area lies on Aquidneck...

. St. Phil's, as it is known to its students and alumni, is located on Naragansett Bay, in the same area as the Portsmouth Abbey School

Portsmouth Abbey School

Portsmouth Abbey School is a private, coeducational boarding and day school for grades 9 through 12, located in Portsmouth, Rhode Island. Founded by the Benedictine monks of Portsmouth Abbey in 1926 as Portsmouth Priory School, the school offered a classical education to boys...

, Green Animals Topiary Garden

Green Animals Topiary Garden

The Green Animals Topiary Garden, located in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, is the oldest and most northern topiary garden in the United States. The estate overlooks the Narragansett Bay. It contains a large collection of topiaries including eighty sculptured trees...

, and the Carnegie Abbey Club. The school has been designated a Blue Ribbon School of Excellence by the United States Department of Education

United States Department of Education

The United States Department of Education, also referred to as ED or the ED for Education Department, is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government...

.

History

Saint Philomena School was founded in 1953 by the Sisters Faithful Companions of Jesus, and today boasts a student body of approximately 480. The school was originally located in a single building on the Naragansett Bay, but has grown over the years into a campus of five buildings, including a free-standing auditorium and a new, state-of-the-art classroom building.

Admissions

Admission is by application only, and each grade has fifty students or less. Tuition is $6,800 per year for grades K-5 and $6,250 for grades 6-8. Scholarships are available from the school and through the Diocese of Providence.

Student body

Students come primarily from Aquidneck Island

Aquidneck Island

Aquidneck Island, located in the state of Rhode Island, is the largest island in Narragansett Bay. The island's official name is Rhode Island, and the common use of name "Aquidneck Island" helps distinguish the island from the state. The total land area is 97.9 km²...

, Southeastern Massachusetts

Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

, and other parts of Rhode Island. Graduates of St. Philomena's go on to attend private and public high schools in Rhode Island and nearby Massachusetts, including the Portsmouth Abbey School

Portsmouth Abbey School

Portsmouth Abbey School is a private, coeducational boarding and day school for grades 9 through 12, located in Portsmouth, Rhode Island. Founded by the Benedictine monks of Portsmouth Abbey in 1926 as Portsmouth Priory School, the school offered a classical education to boys...

, Bishop Connolly High School

Bishop Connolly High School

Bishop Connolly High School is a co-educational Catholic high school in Fall River, Massachusetts.-Campus and Building:Connolly's campus is approximately . The campus is bounded on the north by Langley Street and Bristol Community College. It is bounded to the east and south by Route 24 and...

, Bishop Stang High School

Bishop Stang High School

Mission Statement: Bishop Stang High School is a private Catholic secondary school located in North Dartmouth, Massachusetts, in the New England region of the United States. It was the first diocesan secondary school in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fall River, which includes most of Southeastern...

, St. George's School

St. George's School, Newport

St. George's School is a private, Episcopal, coeducational boarding school in Middletown, Rhode Island, USA, just east of the city of Newport. The school was founded in 1896 by the Rev. John Byron Diman, a member of a prominent Rhode Island family. It sits on a hill overlooking the Atlantic Ocean...

, the Wheeler School

Wheeler School

The Wheeler School is a coeducational independent day school located on the East Side of Providence, Rhode Island, United States. The school serves students from the nursery level through twelfth-grade.- Mary C. Wheeler :...

, and Moses Brown School

Moses Brown School

Moses Brown School is a Quaker school located in Providence, Rhode Island, founded by Moses Brown, a Quaker abolitionist, in 1784. It is one of the oldest preparatory schools in the country.-Founder:...

, amongst many others.