“Yet” is the most important vocabulary word for Brittany Leight to teach her classroom of first grade students.

   “I want to let them know they can’t do everything yet, but they will be able to progress,” Leight said.

   Leight is a teacher at St. Malachy Catholic School (1012 W. Thompson St.) which recently moved into a building a block away from its former location. The official ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new school was last month.

   The school was founded in 1860 to serve Irish immigrants living in North Philadelphia. St. Malachy now educates PreK-8 students who live all over the city. The school has adapted and grown alongside its surrounding neighborhood, said Stephen Janczewski, St. Malachy’s principal.

   “St. Malachy was here just to serve the neighborhood,” Janczewski said. “The people who lived here changed, but the mission never really changed.”

   In 2013, St. Malachy became a member of the Independence Mission Schools (IMS) network after becoming independent of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. IMS, a 501(c)(3), formed in 2012 to support and manage the costs of Catholic schools.

   IMS purchased the site of the school’s new location, which was previously occupied by William H. Harrison School, two years ago. Renovating the site was a $5 million project and students now have separate spaces for the auditorium, cafeteria and gym. The school’s ongoing changes include repairing basketball courts and adding outdoor amenities like a walking track.

   Once completed, Janczewski said the facilities will be available to the community. He said the school also hopes to form partnerships with more community organizations in the future.

   This year, the school is offering new educational program to students like the Responsive Classroom method. Janczewski said the core focus of the program is to build relationships with the kids.

   The four components of the Responsive Classroom method are students and teachers greeting each other by first name, sharing, group activity and morning meeting. For morning meeting, the school gathers outside everyday to say a prayer and recite St. Malachy’s creed.

   “Everyday, I want them to hear that they’ve been called to do great things,” Janczewski said. “God has already given them everything they need to be successful and they’re in a place where they are loved and cared for.”

   This is also the first year St Malachy joined Seton Education Partners a New York-based nonprofit making Catholic education more accessible for disadvantaged children to implement the Blended Learning program.

   To fund the Blended Learning program, the Philadelphia School Partnership, a nonprofit that’s raised more than $75 million to invest in Philadelphia schools, awarded St. Malachy a $1 million grant. This is the largest grant PSP has awarded a Catholic school since its formation in 2011.

   Blended Learning allows half of the students in a classroom to use educational technology on computers to assess their expertise on a specific topic. The other half of the students work with a teacher in a more traditional, face-to-face style. Janczewski said this allows students to experience a more individualized education.

  Kelsey Parker is a kindergarten teacher at St. Malachy. Although it is her first year teaching at the school, she said the Blended Learning program has helped her build relationships with the kids quickly.

  “You can meet kids where they are and build confidence,” she added. “It’s just been really, really beneficial to see it implemented.”

   Mary Schmelzer is a lifelong parishioner at St. Malachy and a member of the school’s Educational Affairs Committee. Schmelzer is also a retired professor and said the lack of punitive measures at St. Malachy creates a “safe, happy place” for students.

   “One of the attractions of the school is the quality of the administration and faculty,” she added. “I’m very much a fan [of the school’s educational program] and I couldn’t have said that four years ago.”

   Enrollment for the 2016-17 school year increased by 42 percent and Janczewski said the school hopes to serve 500 kids eventually. Enrollment for the 2017-18 year has already begun.

   Although the school has religious roots, 95 percent of the students who attend St. Malachy are non-Catholic. Janczewski said introducing students to faith helps them grow into good people.

   “The way we talk about it from a faith perspective is, ‘What is God calling you to be? What is the special thing you’ve all been created to do?’ and then help give them the skills to persevere through it,” he said.

   Janczewski has worked in Philadelphia-based Catholic schools for 18 years. He became St. Malachy’s principal during May 2015 and said the school is unique because of “the large amount of people who care about this place.”

   “There are generations of people believing that St. Malachy is important for this neighborhood,” he said. “That’s just a tremendous validation of the work of literally hundreds of people who have dedicated work to making this school as strong as possible.” •