Saint Elizabeth Parish School in Chester Springs will celebrate its recognition as a 2025 Blue Ribbon School by the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) with a “Blue Christmas” event. The school, which serves 196 students from Pre-K to 8th Grade, is the only private Catholic school in Pennsylvania to receive this distinction and the only one named in the Exemplary High Performing category.

The celebration is scheduled for December 10, 2025, at the school's gymnasium. Reverend John E. Donia, Pastor of Saint Elizabeth Parish, will lead a prayer service for the school community. Afterward, students will participate in group activities at eight “Minute to Win It” stations and enjoy Christmas music and ice cream with blue toppings.

Andrew McLaughlin, Ed.D., Secretary for Elementary Education for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, and Bernadette Doughtery, Assistant Superintendent for Elementary Education for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, are expected to attend.

On September 23, 2025, Saint Elizabeth Parish School was selected as part of PDE’s inaugural cohort of Pennsylvania Blue Ribbon Schools. Thirteen schools were recognized across two categories: Exemplary Achievement Gap Closing School or Exemplary High Performing School. According to the PDE’s announcement, Saint Elizabeth’s was recognized as an Exemplary High Performing School based on top performance on state assessments or nationally normed tests. The PDE plans to honor these schools at its annual SAS Conference on December 9 in Hershey.

In addition to this state-level recognition, Saint Elizabeth Parish School received acknowledgment from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s Office of Catholic Education (OCE) as an Archdiocesan School of Distinguished Instruction this year. This places it among sixty-two parish and regional schools honored by OCE.

Founded in 2006, Saint Elizabeth Parish School aims to provide a rigorous academic education within a faith-based environment focused on lifelong learning and leadership development.

More information about Saint Elizabeth Parish School can be found at https://stelizabethparishschool.org/.