Official School Name: Notre Dame de Sion School of Kansas City

Address: 10631 Wornall Road, Kansas City, MO 64114
                  3823 Locust Street, Kansas City, MO 64109

Telephone, Fax, E-mail:  
816-942-3282 (Wornall Address Phone)  816-942-4052 (Wornall Address Fax)
816-753-3810 (Locust Address Phone)  816-753-0806 (Locust Address Fax)
amunninghoff@ndsion.edu

Head of the College, Email: Alice Munninghoff, amunninghoff@ndsion.edu

Attendees to the International Sion Schools Meeting in Jerusalem, May 2012:
Mrs. Kay Walkup
Mrs. Annie Riggs

Type, Size and Purpose of School:
Pre-Kindergarten through 8th grade, including Montessori preschool with an enrollment of 300 students.  All girls’ college preparatory 9 – 12 with an enrollment of 405 students.  Total enrollment is 705 students.  The school is located on two campuses in different areas of Kansas City, Missouri.

The purpose/mission of the school is as follows: The Notre Dame de Sion School in Kansas City is an independent Roman Catholic school providing the highest quality college preparatory education from preschool through grade 12.  Sion continues the tradition of the founding sisters, the Congregation of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Sion, inviting students to encounter God in a Catholic atmosphere that respects all faith traditions.  The school partners with families and the community to prepare students for socially responsible, values based leadership in a culturally and religiously diverse world.

Educational Focus of the College:
The high school is classical college preparatory in nature, preparing young women for college and university coursework.  The elementary and middle school is preparatory school for selective secondary schools in the city.  The school curriculum is diversified and challenging, offering students learning opportunities in the core subject areas and in enrichment areas such as fine and performing arts, physical education and a wide array of electives.    

Whole School Social Justice Programs that Cultivate the Sionian Charism:

• The theology curriculum includes course work on the issue of social justice. 
• Both high school and middle school divisions promote social justice through service projects and service hour requirements for graduation.
• School wide much emphasis is placed on outreach to the less fortunate, both locally and outside the Kansas City area.  Mission trips to Guatemala and various places in the Unites States take our students into areas where they engage in direct service with the under-privileged, marginalized and oppressed. 
• Throughout the curriculum the issue of social justice is infused into the coursework and the extra and co-curricular programs. 
• All high school students take a half year (one semester) course entitled “Catholic Social Teaching.”  Middle school students are offered a quarter elective on Studies in Social Justice. 

Religious Background of Students:
Schoolwide:
61% of the total student population is Roman Catholic.  39% are students of other faiths.

By Division:
High School (9-12): 78% Roman Catholic, 22% Other Faiths
Grade School (Pre-K-8): 39% Roman Catholic, 61% Other Faiths

Religious Education:
Notre Dame de Sion is an independent Catholic school.  Catholicism permeates our school curriculum especially through such values as the regard for human dignity, respect for both the life of the mind and the life of the body, the centrality of charity and justice.  Prayer and liturgy are critical in the faith formation of students, and, at Sion, faith formation assumes that prayer and liturgy are rooted in a loving, intelligent and informed use of Scripture.  As a school mindful of multiculturalism and the marginalized, every effort is made to ensure inclusiveness in prayers, readings, reflections, and songs. 

The process of religious formation at the grade school, called Holy Ground, is designed to invite all the members of the Sion School Community into lively expression of our religious life.  Students celebrate each person’s firm grounding in his or her own religious tradition, while cultivating a broad understanding of and respect for the tradition and practice of others.  Students participate in homeroom Holy Ground lessons, weekly Chapel as a level, and quarterly projects related to Catholic social teaching and service learning.  Together the entire school community strives to share faith, practice prayer and act on behalf of peace and justice.  All School Mass is celebrated regularly observing special liturgical seasons and Holy Days. 

High school students complete 4 credits (4 full years) of theology coursework for graduation.  Courses include: Faith Foundations, Catholic Social Justice, Biblical Traditions, Faith Filled Life, The Catholic Tradition, Peer Ministry, Senior Service Project, Prayer and Worship, Discovering the Holy Through the Arts, World Religions, and Introduction to Philosophy.

The high school offers weekly morning Masses before the academic day begins, and monthly all-school liturgies to include Masses and ecumenical prayer services.  Students serve in liturgical roles at Mass.  Families are encouraged to participate in school Masses.  An atmosphere of affirmation, love, and trust challenge and enable Sion students to graduate with the inner qualities of self-esteem, self-respect, self-confidence and a sense of integrity.  This helps prepare them to value and assume social responsibility intelligently and effectively.  Sion students participate in overnight retreats their freshman and senior years.  Sophomore and junior years there are class retreats off campus during the school day.  Upon completion of Peer Ministry course junior year the girls are prepared to mentor the incoming freshmen on retreat and at monthly meetings.  All senior students are offered the opportunity to attend a four day, three night Kairos retreat.  Kairos is translated to “God’s time.”  Students are invited to step out of “chronos time” – a time of clocks, schedules and deadlines, and unwind to a time of prayer, small group discussions and reflections offered by their peers.  Kairos offers the girls a chance to grow in the knowledge of God, self, and others. 

Additionally, Notre Dame de Sion plays an active role in the interfaith dialogue in the Kansas City area.  Annually, the school participates in the Festival of Faiths and hosts a well know author or leader in the field of interfaith relations.  The school’s Interfaith Youth Council interacts with young people of all faith traditions in service projects and community building activities throughout the city.  During the past four years SIon has been actively involved in establishing the Kansas City Interfaith Youth Alliance in our community. 

International Exchanges with Notre Dame de Sion Schools:
Currently, we have exchanges with the following Notre Dame de Sion Schools:
Our Lady of Sion College, Box Hill, Australia
Notre Dame de Sion (Lycee), Marseille, France

We had an exchange with Ecole Bilingue Notre Dame de Sion in Montreal in the 1990s, but we no longer have that exchange.  We would welcome that opportunity again.  Additionally, our school has non-Sion exchanges with Catholic schools in Germany and Chile.      

Cultivation the Sion Charism in the College:
Notre Dame de Sion School of Kansas City cultivates the Sion charism in every facet of operation.  The Mission Director provides Mission Education and In-Service around the charism; the curriculum reflects the Sion mission in content and course offerings; the spiritual life of the school focuses on both the Roman Catholic identity of the school and the Notre Dame de Sion charism of interfaith dialogue and understanding; the charism guides our enrollment and hiring practices and our daily interactions with colleagues, students and parents.  In short, the Sion charism permeates school life, decision making, programming and interpersonal relationships.

Our Hopes for the Second International Schools Meeting in Jerusalem in May 2012:

• Strengthen our ties with Sion schools around the world and expand our exchange opportunities
• Experience Jerusalem with our fellow Sion educators and deepen our understanding of the importance of this Holy City in our lives as followers of Theodore Ratisbonne and his desire to build a community of “one heart and one soul.”
• Glean from the experience new and different ways to infuse the unique charism of Notre Dame de Sion into our daily operations and our outreach into the Kansas City community and beyond. 
• Achieve a deeper understanding of the life, theology and work of Alphonse Ratisbonne.