HISTORY OF ST. BRENDAN CATHOLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
St. Brendan Catholic Elementary School is situated on nine and two-thirds acres of land located at 8755 SW 32nd Street in Miami, Florida.
St. Brendan Catholic Elementary School was founded in 1955 by Pastor, Monsignor Thomas O’Donovan. Four Sisters of the Holy Family responded to his invitation to conduct the newly established parochial school. They arrived on August 27, 1955 from Chicago, Illinois. Together with two lay teachers, the faculty of St. Brendan School was formed. The school opened its doors with six classes comprised of one kindergarten, two first grades, one second, one third and one fourth grade class. Totaling 275 students. The following year, St. Brendan Catholic Elementary increased its number of classrooms with the addition of another second and fifth grade. In September of 1957, another third-grade classroom and a sixth-grade classroom were added. A new wing was annexed on December 13, 1957 due to an increase in enrollment. On June of 1960 marked the year of the first graduating class consisting of 54 students. The school reached its peak enrollment in the school year 1963-1964 with a total of 1,027 students.
The school, under the leadership of Sister M. Honesta, first received accreditation from the Florida Catholic Conference on May 9, 1975.
St. Brendan Elementary implemented the Pre-Kindergarten 3, “Bambolinos” program, in 2003 due to the needs of the community for an early childhood program. Leading into the school year 2004-2005, the Pre-Kindergarten 2 “Piccolinos”, program was established. The Early Childhood Program aims to bring out God’s gifts in each child by nurturing spiritual, intellectual, physical and social growth. Currently, St. Brendan Catholic Elementary educates 780 students from Pre-Kindergarten 2 through eighth grade.
Striving to improve the educational, literacy, and scholastic status of the students, several programs have been implemented throughout the years. Some of these include: The St. Thomas Aquinas Accelerated Program, Felix Varela Program and the middle school Mathematics Dual Enrollment Program. The Accelerated Program was designed to challenge those students who excel in Language Arts. Our Felix Varela Program was established to offer a comprehensive elementary program for students with special needs. The curriculum is based on the Sunshine State Standards and on each Student’s Individual Educational Plan. The middle school Mathematics Dual Enrollment Program is offered to those students in 8th grade that meet the requirements stated by the Archdiocese of Miami to receive the high school Algebra I credit.
Saint Brendan Catholic Elementary School holds membership in the National Catholic Association (NCEA), Dade Association of Academic Non-Public Schools (DAANS), National Council for Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), National Association of Teachers of English, Instituto de Cultura Hispanica and the All-Catholic Conference in Athletics.
