Welcome to St. Thomas Catholic School! We have been proudly serving southeast Champaign County since 1905. We hope as you visit our website you will see our dedication to providing our preschool and K-8 students a faith-based education that is focused on forming, not just educating, the whole child—spiritually, academically, emotionally, and physically.

A Catholic school education provides dividends for life. Dividends such as faith, morals, discipline, and knowledge represent the foundation upon which Catholic education is built. Our students have the opportunity to prosper in these areas on a daily basis. Through the efforts of our teachers, staff, parents, and volunteers, we are confident that our students are well prepared to become adults who will live lives strong in faith and service.

St. Thomas Catholic School has a long and rich history in southeast Champaign County. For over one hundred years, it has provided a home away from home to thousands of students, a place where families have become friends, and faith has become the foundation of all we do.

Within a nurturing and structured environment, our students develop their own personal strengths and receive support where needed. The focus of our education program is to meet the individual needs of each child. Our curriculum, based on Illinois State and Common Core Standards, goes above and beyond the minimum requirements, providing opportunities for growth and challenge. We strive to nurture the whole child, with academic, spiritual, athletic, and fine arts opportunities available to all students.

We invite you to discover your child’s future at St. Thomas Catholic School, where we “Live, Love, and Serve as Christ.”

Independent Research Evidence

Empirical evidence in the U.S… indicates that education performance and attendance are greater in Catholic schools in contrasts to its public counter-parts.…attendance at Catholic schools in the U.S. increases the probability of completing high school or commencing college by 13%. …through comparing previous examination by private and public schools concluded that students in private education outperform those from government schools on all educational, social and economic indicators.   Francis, Vella (1999), “Do Catholic Schools Make a Difference?”, The Journal of Human Resources (Un Wisconsin Press) Vol. 34, No. 1: 208–224 

America’s parochial schools have often served … Unburdened by the bureaucracy and lethargy that bedevil most big-city school systems, and with a tradition of emphasizing discipline and academic rigor, they have generally been able to turn out better graduates — while often spending less than half the money per pupil.Time Magazine: Can Catholic Schools Do It Better?, By Sam Allis/Boston Monday, May 27, 1991