St. Catherine of Siena, a private, Catholic school in Phoenix, has been teaching students for more than 70 years.

The school has 230 students, ranging from pre-K to eighth grade, and a student-to-teacher ratio of 24 to 1. The school wants to ensure that every student receives the proper Catholic education they need to succeed in life, its website states.

The school not only focuses on education but also on extracurriculars, including creative arts, band, yearbook, Spanish, robotics, sacred music, athletics and service to others. St. Catherine's goal is to integrate knowledge with the Catholic faith so that students will know, love and serve God, but it also wants students to pursue knowledge in ways that will improve local communities, according to the website.

| https://www.stcatherineschool.org/

St. Catherine's was conceived in 1949 as St. Catherine of Siena Catholic School by the sisters of St. Catherine's Convent. Those sisters included Srs. Mary Felix Clarey, Oliva Hamilton, Rita Marie Hokamp and Marie Elizabeth Leonard. The sisters would commute from Chandler to Phoenix to teach the children at St. Catherine of Siena Parish between 1948 and 1949. 

The school was then founded and Sister Macaria Nestor became the first principal of the new parish school, the website states.

In the beginning, the school had only approximately 100 students who were taught by the Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill, who also served as religious education directors, administrators and principals for several years. The sisters eventually withdrew from the school in 1988, and the last of the sisters to be principal was Sister Mary Denise Diethrich.

The current principal of the school is Xochitl Ramirez, the website states. The website notes that the students at the school are taught in an environment that is dedicated to developing them socially, intellectually and emotionally.

The school website also notes that there are approximately 5.8 million students attending private schools in the United States. It notes that taxpayers can direct portions of their state taxes toward Catholic Education Arizona for the Private Education Tax Credit to help the students at St. Catherine's.