Accepting new students for the first grade of the “Regular Course” terminated in 2024.
In April 2025, we started a new course, “Plus Haut Course” in the place of the Regular Course, so new first graders in 2026 will be placed either in Class A for the “Plus Haut Course” or Class B for the “International Course”.
１．Background of the Establishment of the “Plus Haut Course”
Fr. Dominic Shigeru Tagawa, the founder of our school, passed away in July 2023 at the age of 97. He was a priest of the Society of Mary, an educational congregation, who lived faithfully to the teachings of its founder, Fr. Chaminade, and devoted his life to the spread of education.
His educational policy was simply expressed by the phrase “Plus Haut”, which means “higher” in French. The French word “plus” is equivalent to the English word “more” and “haut” is equivalent to the English word “high”.
The opening of the new course and the naming of this course are an expression of our strong determination to carry on the legacy of our founder, Fr. Tagawa, on the occasion of his return to God.
Another reason for the establishment of this course is that, in recent years, the majority of the attended people to our school briefing sessions and class tours had expressed a desire to enroll their children in the International Course.
It seemed to be a reflection of the parents’ expectations that they wanted their children to learn to speak English.
However, in order to enroll in our international course, children must be English speakers beforehand. Therefore, we thought of preparing a new course for those who have high academic potential but have given up on applying to our school due to a lack of English proficiency.
We want them to take our entrance examination without regard to their English proficiency at the time of admission, and to improve their overall academic ability while making progress in English day by day after admission.
２．Goals of the “Plus Haut Course
Not differently from the goal of the International Course, the goal of the Plus Haut Course is to nurture individuals who will serve the world as “the light of the world,” which is the educational goal of our school.
This is the educational creed of our founder, Fr. Tagawa, and comes from the words of the Bible. In the Gospel of St. Matthew, it is written: “You are the salt of the earth. If salt has lost its efficacy, what can restore saltiness to it? The salt is no longer of any use; it is thrown out and trampled on by men. You are the light of the world. A city that is on a mountain cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father who is in heaven.”(Matthew 5-13)
In order to serve as a useful person (light of the world) in society, one must have the ability to be useful, like salt that is useful to people because of its saltiness.
What if you can speak only Japanese at an international conference?
You will not be able to be useful.
What if you are in front of a sick person and have no knowledge of medicine?
You would not be able to cure his/her illness.
In addition to the major goal of studying the Bible and acquiring a respectable human nature as a human being, our goal is to develop human resources who can contribute to the world by honing the talents of each individual given by God as we follow these teachings in this Gospel.
３．Contents and Features of the “Plus Haut Course
- The Plus Haut Course offers the following educational contents, and aims to achieve the spirit of the course title of “Plus Haut” (“Higher”).
(1) In order to give children who do not have an English-speaking environment at home plenty of time to come into contact with English, foreign teachers serve as homeroom teachers and use English not only in class but also in the entire classroom activities. - Japanese primary education is provided in both English and Japanese using Japanese textbooks.
- Current first grade students take English, math, life science, and arts and crafts classes in English.
Japanese teachers join them as needed. Japanese, religion, music, and physical education classes are taught in Japanese.
From the 3rd grade, in addition to math, social studies and computer studies classes will be taught in English, and science classes are planned to be taught in Japanese. - It is very beneficial for parents to have English proficiency in communicating with the school, but it is not necessarily required.
Communication between homeroom teachers and parents is conducted with a communication application with a translation function. If necessary, a Japanese teacher will join in. - Math drills are in Japanese.
- In the future, in the spirit of “Plus Haut,” we will use high-level exercise books in combination with other activities to foster the students’ deeper thinking and their ability to devise new ways of thinking.
- We strive to stimulate the students’ intelligence by teaching general subjects in a language other than their native tongue.
- English proficiency is not required for admission of the first graders.
- We welcome students who, while maintaining their Japanese identity, aspire to work in the medical or natural science fields in the future as bilingual human resources in English and Japanese.
- After graduation, the students will be connected to the Advanced Course in our school’s junior and senior high school,
where they will continue to receive English language education at different levels and aim to enter competitive universities. Students can also go on to the International Course or John’s School in our Junior-Senior High School.