Shelby County Catholic School is fully accredited by the state of Iowa and serves students in PreKindergarten through 5th grade. Our philosophy is to provide a learning environment where students will be able to realize their full potentials and capabilities, within the context of a Catholic Christian community and within an environment that nurtures faith, excellence, community, and service.
Our focus is to provide your child with an educational setting where faith is incorporated into the curriculum and daily routine to provide a foundation for success. While Catholic faith is the cornerstone of our school, we welcome students of all faith traditions.
We partner with parishes and parents to create a welcoming environment that will help your child feel secure and accepted and a part of something so much more than just academics– a community of faith where the bonds of friendship and trust will last a lifetime. Our school serves all six Catholic parishes in Shelby County including St. Michael (Harlan), St. Joseph (Earling), St. Mary, Our Lady of Fatima (Portsmouth), St. Mary of the Assumption (Panama), St. Peter (Defiance), St. Boniface (Westphalia).
Your child will thrive in our caring and creative environment with smaller class sizes that teach BIG subjects. We provide academic excellence for all students by using research-based teaching strategies and integration of technology in the classroom. In addition to diocesan curriculum, we offer STEM education, fine arts, robust extracurriculars, athletics and more.
We are committed to helping each student develop their unique talents, skills, and interests in service to God and others. Students develop servant leadership through participation in service projects rooted in helping others.
Recognizing that the earliest years of a child’s life are some of the most formative, children should have access to high-quality educational opportunities as early as possible. Our early childhood education program provides faith-based socio-emotional learning opportunities for children in preschool and prekindergarten.
We also offer a full-day 4-year-old PreKindergarten Monday – Friday. Half of the day for PreKindergarten is covered by the Iowa Universal PreKindergarten benefit and includes a common core aligned curriculum. The second half of the day involves social, emotional play-based learning with special classes such as physical education, art, music, and religion.
PK Handbook 2024-2025Our teachers challenge your child to aim higher in every aspect – academically, spiritually and personally – so they can achieve their potential. We offer numerous academic support and enrichment opportunities for our students including:
Shelby County Catholic along with schools across Iowa, participate in the Iowa Statewide Assessment of Student Progress (ISASP). ISASP is a standards-based assessment designed to inform schools and families on how students perform on the Iowa Core Academic Standards. Students performing at the proficient level demonstrate adequate competency in the knowledge, skills and abilities that meet the requirements for their grade level associated with academic readiness for college and a career in the subject area. Our elementary students consistently outperform their peers from other schools with 100% of our fifth graders demonstrating proficiency in core subjects like Math, Science and English Language Arts.
| State of Iowa (Percent Proficient) | Shelby County Catholic (Percent Proficient) | |
| 5th English Language Arts | 60% | 75% |
| 5th Math | 56% | 100% |
| 5th Science | 60% | 100% |
Coming soon.
