Welcome to the St. Jude School Program
The mission of the School Program is to work as a part of the health care team to provide opportunities for each student to continue their normal educational experience. We also strive to provide advocacy to ensure that each student receives appropriate educational services in their community school.
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 11 teachers at St. Jude to provide individualized instruction for patients in grades K-12 who are at St. Jude for an extended period of time. School reintegration and advocacy services are provided by two Oncology/TOP school advocacy coordinators and 4 Hematology school advocacy coordinators
The School Program suite is open every day. 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.