School History
St. Edward the Confessor Parish School is a ministry of St. Edward the Confessor Catholic Church and the Chapel of San Felipe de Jesus in Dana Point, California. The school works in collaboration with the Department of Catholic Schools within the Diocese of Orange.
Our school building, first opened in 1980, serves the religious education needs of the parish, including a Catholic preschool serving approximately 100 students. In September 1981 the doors opened as an elementary school serving students in grades Kindergarten - 8th. The building continues to serve the community for religious programs serving 750 public school students from preschool through high school, and many other adult faith formation programs. The building was blessed April 1, 1984. In 1999, the parish began a capital campaign to purchase 2.5 acres of adjacent property for additional parking, expand and renovate the religious education building, and replace the old church building (Knight Hall) with a functional parish center. The first 2 phases of construction, the parking lot and Religious Education building expansion, were completed in 2001. Beginning with the 2005-2006 school year, St. Edward the Confessor parish school reached its planned full capacity of 3 classes per grade level in Kindergarten and 6th through 8th grades and 2 classes per grade in 1st through 5th grade.
Through the generous contributions of many school families and with the support and oversight of the J.F. Shea Foundation, a well appointed Science Lab was opened in 2012.
During the summer of 2014 our campus underwent a renovation to improve the play yard and lunch area, the aesthetic value and function of each classroom, the relocation of our preschool and Kindergarten classrooms, renovated student restrooms, the addition of some middle school classroom space, and campus security. During the summer of 2015 the school built its Monarch TV Production Studio where student broadcast teams produce a school-wide morning program, a learning garden was created by a group of St. Edward the Confessor Alumni, and a STREAM Lab (Science, Technology, Religion, Engineering, Art, and Math) was designed for our Upper School so that our 5th grade could expand to three homerooms.
Summer 2016 proved to be another year of growth and development for our school. New flooring was added to all common areas and hallways, our Upper School (5th - 8th) received spacious new lockers, we added one additional homeroom class to grades 2 and 4, and the City of Dana Point granted us a watering permit (drought regulation) so that we could re-sod our playing field. Two new classroom spaces were added to enhance our Learning Support Program. Additional campus safety features were added including a camera with remote gate access entry for preschool, barrier glass in our Welcome Center that protects our school campus from unregistered visitors, and soon new fencing will surround our playing field. Lastly, we opened our new Monarch Makerspace Lab where our learners are able to dream, design, and create.
During the summer of 2017 our school added a third 1st grade homeroom which completed our build out of three homerooms per grade. The Digital Literacy Lab was closed and a more mobile, flexible space called the Monarch Creation Studio was opened.
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