St. Simon the Apostle School

8155 Oaklandon Road

School District
Grade

PK-8
Type

private

GreatSchools Rating

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Reviews

Submitted by parent on March 26, 2024

I spent 10 years with children at St. Simon and another 8 years still to go at the school with my youngest. We've had a very positive experience, and my children have thrived at the school. While much of a child's character comes from what they learn and mirror at home, I believe St. Simon has strengthened their discipline and commitment to academics. They have made incredible friendships and are going to high school with great study and learning habits.
Submitted by parent on March 19, 2024

St Simon has been a great choice for our family. We have been members of the community for over 10 years, from Baptism through Junior High. The educational aspect of the school is superior to friends and family who have their children in other schools. This is based on test scores, district and archdiocese data, and feedback from tutors. We love the community and the majority of families that are part of it. Most of the teachers we have encountered have gone above and beyond from a communication and teaching standpoint. My children have some learning differences and we have had an extremely positive experience with the resource support staff in accommodating their needs. The sports offered are competitive and fun to participate in. There are also many clubs and afterschool activities for a variety of interests. There are also opportunities for parents to get involved from volunteering in the classroom, to attending field trips, and many parish community events. We especially love the faith based education, the students attend mass twice weekly and each grade has at least one service project per year that they participate in. Middle school has service hour requirements which we find a great way for our kids to think beyond themselves, especially when they are in a sheltered environment. The expectations for behavior, education, and participate is high, and we appreciate this.The only complaint we have is in how some families (large donors?) appear to be treated differently and their kids given additional chances compared to others. Bullying has also been a bit of an issue, not specifically my kids, but of others. We know this occurs in most schools, but perhaps it is more prevalent because of the small class and school size (800 kids from pre-school-8th grade). However, the small school (400 families), grade, and class size is also huge advantage and one of the reasons we selected St Simon, so you have to take the good with the bad.Overall, we highly recommend St Simon if you are looking for a faith based, small, rigorous, long term (great not having to change schools from pre-school-8th grade, so your kids can focus on school and not change), engaged community for your family.
Submitted by parent on March 08, 2024

I don't even know where to begin. All of my children attended St Simon and each of them say that they were extremely well prepared for high school and that the teachers are great. Everything they learned prepared them well for a higher education. They all tested out of algebra and were able to succeed in high school. The middle school teachers are truly phenomenal. My children all say that they learned so much world history from the religion teacher that it made AP World History easily manageable. The religion teacher also helped them formulate and apply their own thoughts and opinions, helped them to analyze the historical context of literary work, and prepare a synthesis essay. The English teacher helped them look under a literary lens and help understand the rhetorical devices authors use to convey a theme. The science teacher provides hands on learning and allows the kids to participate in cool experiments that increases their interest and love of science. Two activities that I can think of recently were dissecting an eye ball and learning the chemical reaction that occurs when you soak eggs in vinegar. All the teachers challenge them to analyze and annotate information. Not only are the teachers fantastic but St Simon encourages learning outside of the classroom. They have several clubs, including a robotics club, band and choir, Lego club, an art club, and a Science Olympiad club. The Science Olympiad club is highly competitive and competes at the state level. What the children learn outside of school in the various academic clubs makes St Simon stand out from other schools in the area.I could go on and on about the years of wonderful experiences we have had as a family with St Simon School but perhaps the greatest review is from my parents. Several times my parents have commented how they can tell the difference the education my children have received from St Simon. They are impressed at the knowledge my children display and how prepared they are for higher education. In addition, this education extends beyond math, reading, writing, history, etc. The children are taught to be compassionate and caring to others. I am aware that this is and can be taught in the home as well but when it is also reinforce, encouraged, and demonstrated in the educational setting, it tends to stick with a child as a form of life long learning to better oneself, think of the needs of others, and to serve the community.
Submitted by other on March 08, 2024

Just as a general overview this school sucks at best and is mentally damaging at worst. Attending St.Simon hurt me in a way that I will never recover. Everything they stand for at this school, while on the surface seems to stand for Christianity and it’s values, actually completely goes against God‘s teachings. When it comes to Learning here the school is average. They don’t do anything amazing but the teachers art bad at teaching. In fact, probably my only compliment, I think the English teachers specifically do a great job. Once I got to Highschool it became obvious that my peers didn’t know any of the basics of spelling and grammar unlike I did. St. Simon definitely did a good job teaching English. However, this school was terrible in ever other category. Especially if your student has a learning disability. St. Simon does not care about those kids, they do not have the properly trained staff and programs to help them. But besides that the students with disabilities were constantly bullied by both students and staff alike at this school. All of me and my friends had learning disabilities and often we would be singled out and punished for just having a disability. This behavior from the staff in turn would tell the other students that it was ok to bully those with disabilities. I actively remember on several occasions kids mocking and laugh at us all while a teacher stood and watched it happen. One of my friends even approached a teacher that was watching it once and ask if he would do anything about it. He just walked away. I also just want to inform everyone of a particularly disgusting moment that happened to me and the other girls in my grade that makes me question the safety of the female students at the school. During my 8th grade year when we were all 14 years old the principal pulled all of the girls in my grade out of class. She proceeded to sit us all down and talk to us about the length of our skirts. Inherently there is nothing wrong with that as the school does have pretty strict guid lines on dress. But the principal then proceeded to tell us that we needed to follow these guidelines because if our skirts were to short it would be “distracting to the male teachers” not male peers male TEACHERS. Originally when that happened I saw nothing wrong with it but now I am absolutely mortified that they said that to us and then proceeded to send us back to class with those teachers.
Submitted by parent on January 19, 2020

If your family is looking for a Catholic school in the northside of Indy/Fishers, St. Simon should be considered. It is a great community of faith with high academic expectations. My children were well-prepared (both religiously and academically) when they went to high school.
Submitted by parent on January 18, 2020

St. Simon was a great school for my kids and family. My children attended St. Simon from pre-school through 8th grade. They received a great education with faith and academics. We love the family feel of St. Simon and are thankful for all the teachers and administrators that made our family's experience so great.
Submitted by parent on November 19, 2019

I would rate the experience a 6 out of 10. St. Simon has some very great memoriable experiences. I felt some of the teachers we had an amazing experience with. But I feel it damaged my child in the sense of "the whole child" and the heart. I feel as though there is alot of judgement going on at the school of who is who and the staff (especially assistant principal) I feel entertains this to happen. I did enjoy the principal however, I felt she had things really well taken care of for safety, keeping things current on what is going on in the world today and educating the children. The assistant principal however, seems to run the show most of the time. Lovely experiences as stated above but often stomped out by the negative culture.
Submitted by parent on November 09, 2016

I have one child who graduated from St. Simon and one who is a current student. The older one is doing great in high school thanks to the academic and behavioral instruction, leadership training and overall encouragement and enrichment in the K-8 experience. My younger one is also doing well there. I give very high marks to the principal and vice principal for their strong leadership and caring demeanor. The teaching staff overall is competent, trustworthy and caring. The Catholic teaching and environment were important for our family in choosing St. Simon. We would certainly recommend it to other families.
Submitted by parent on May 26, 2014

This catholic school is becoming a little less Catholic everyday due to some leaders on the school commission, the head administrator, who thankfully is leaving, and the parish priest. These "leaders" are letting a large group of parents act as though this is a private prep school/country club. The Christ Centered environment remains in the classrooms thanks to the many excellent teachers, but beyond the doors of the classrooms many students act entitled just like their parents. Most of the teachers pre-k -5 provide an excellent education and are loving. The middle school needs a lot of change to return to its former above average state. Hopefully, the new principal will lead us in the right direction. She will need to stay true to her integrity and be student centered to avoid the negative influence of those parents who think everything is perfect and want to avoid the truth about the state if the school's Catholic Integrity.
Submitted by parent on May 18, 2014

I am a parent at this school and I can honestly say the school is pretty good. Like most private Catholic schools you have a minority of helicopter parents who have all the answers on everything that should happen on day to day basis. If those people would stick to parenting instead of critiquing the way in which teachers and administrator's use the bath room the school would be perfect. The bottom line is the school is a great place for a child to experience faith based learning. I like the fact my child is challenged in a way he can build relationships and knowledge for his future. Education is a team process and not an individual one. Unfortunately in today's society people spend time blaming everyone but the person in the mirror.
Submitted by other on March 16, 2014

I'm a middle school grade student at SSTA, and most of the school is great! One problem, though, a lot of students seem to be bullied, I don't mean like punch you in the mouth and mock you in front of that person, but like behind the back stuff. It just makes me mad that teachers won't do anything about it. Also, it seems that if I am myself, I'm not accepted, and I need to be an entirely different person, to be accepted, by teachers and students. It is sad to see our current principal leave, although I know many parents don't like his decisions, I think he was pretty good, despite the shoe and sock rules.
Submitted by parent on March 02, 2014

Unfortunately, our school of many years has gone way down hill. Parents with money have much control, and those without so much money are unheard - even when serious problems abound. The school and parish have become very divided. Many problems exist, but administration has a way with words to appease some - but they are not fooling others. If they would just acknowledge that the concerns are valid, so much could be accomplished. They prefer to continue to act as though all concerns are unfounded and refuse to accept responsibility for the downhill decline over the past few years. Very sad situation.
Submitted by parent on April 30, 2013

This school has gone from very good academically and spiritually to a very negative and academically deteriorating environment over the last 3 years. The administration is ineffective at best and their lack of vision and micromanagement has driven some of the quality teachers to leave and left others that remain unhappy and unfulfilled. Students are overworked, over stressed and frequently reprimanded and punished for extremely petty things. The mutual lack of respect and lack of trust between administrators, teachers, parents and students is destroying what was formerly a Christ-centered culture in the school. Most parents of middle school students are counting down the number of days that they have before there students get to escape to High School.
Submitted by parent on April 01, 2013

I have three kids at the school and could not say enough positive remarks about their academic and spiritual growth. The 99% ISTEP passing rate illustrates that. Most kids who transfer into St. Simon at later grades are at least a year behind but do catch up. My kids love the school because they have obtained a great sense of achievement from working hard. As a parent, you must be willing to help your child with homework in the early grades. If you want an easy school this one is not for you. And yes, the student review below is correct; the teachers will punish your child if they misbehave. Sorry.
Submitted by parent on February 28, 2012

I have a 4th grader and preschooler and couldn't be happier. The teachers have been very involved in the academic and social development of my children. Part of the reason we send our kids to a parochial school is for the discipline and we are fine with the strict uniform restrictions.
Submitted by parent on March 01, 2011

Absolutely excellent school. I have a 6th, 3rd and 1st grader. We live in a neighborhood where most of the kids go to a very well respected township school and when I compare the knoweledge that my kids have over theirs it amazes me. The academics are tough, but well worth it. I know my kids will be very well rounded and enter into the transition of high school with ease. In addition to the excellent academics, the community and moral values that are being instilled into my children are impecible. We are truly blessed to have our children at this school and to be a part of its community.