Welcome to the St. Jude School Program
The mission of the School Program, as part of the hospital care team, is to engage students and families in an exceptional educational experience and support them in advocating for appropriate services throughout their educational career.
About Us
Education is an important part of any child’s life. We encourage our patients to get back to school as soon as possible for several reasons:
- It is a normal childhood activity and increases the child’s sense of well-being and reassures the child’s sense of being part of the future.
- Maintenance of school social relationships is very important
- Missing a lot of school, especially in the early years, can lead to later learning problems.
When students are away from home and their school for an extended time, they need assistance keeping up with their classwork. For those patients with other chronic illnesses such as sickle cell or hemophilia who continue to attend school, they often need assistance to ensure they are receiving appropriate accommodations or other special services. The St. Jude Imagine Academy by Chili’s staff offers patients a variety of educational services tailored to their needs and are delivered through three main programs outlined below:
Kindergarten graduation at St. Jude
Our Services
The St. Jude School Program provides services through these main components:
- Hospital-bound / Homebound Educational Services
- School Reintegration Services
- Advocacy Services
The St. Jude School Program is accredited as a Special Purpose School by Cognia. There are currently 13 teachers at St. Jude to provide individualized instruction for patients in grades preschool-12th grade who are at St. Jude for an extended period of time. School reintegration and advocacy services are provided by school advocacy coordinators. The school advocacy coordinators provide services to students in preschool through post-secondary.
Imagine Academy is open year round. Teachers and School Advocacy Coordinators are available at scheduled times. You can contact the St. Jude School Program directly to schedule an initial consult appointment or have that done through your clinic.
Each child receiving instructional school services in the School Program can receive up to three hours of instruction with a teacher each week. The program encourages patients to use books and assignments from their home schools. Assignments can be sent to St. Jude by fax, mail or email. We have supplemental curriculum materials available if it is not possible to get assignments from your child’s home school or if the teacher sees that additional materials are needed.