[St. Jams’ Episcopal School] After being formally installed as head of St. James’ Episcopal School in Austin, Texas, Ellen Jockusch looks forward to late August when a new program for toddlers and two-year-old children highlights the opening of fall term.
“Our new Active Learning Program will enhance each child’s social-emotional, language, physical and cognitive development,” said Jockusch who joined the St. James’ community last summer as interim head of school. “Active Learning nicely complements our school’s existing curriculum for children aged three to five—a unique blend of strong Montessori-based pedagogy with an enriched and lively kindergarten-readiness curriculum,” she said.
Jockusch was formally installed as head of school during a festive ceremony this past May with scores of students and their parents filling St. James’ Episcopal Church across the playground from the school. The Rt. Rev. Dena Harrison, bishop suffragan of the Episcopal Diocese of Texas, officiated at the ceremony that featured many students past and present.
Jockusch directed lay theological education master’s degree programs at the Episcopal Seminary of the Southwest in Austin before coming to St. James’. The San Antonio native attended St. Stephen’s Episcopal School in Austin and earned degrees from Stanford and the University of Texas.
Beginning its fifteenth academic year August 22, St. James’ School draws 75 students from 27 different Austin area zip codes. The school’s racial mix is exemplary, as is the economic diversity of its students’ families. Fifty percent enrolled with generous financial aid. Working parents appreciate the school’s full-day program.