Distinct Elizabeth Seton School Programs
Elizabeth Seton School offers specialized academic frameworks and co-curricular programs built on the principles of constructivism, where students learn by doing, exploring, and creating. Each program emphasizes entrepreneurship, technology integration, and the development of 21st-century skills.
KAI Dual-Diploma Program
Through its partnership with KAI Global School, Elizabeth Seton School offers a dual-diploma program. High school students can earn an Ontario Secondary School Diploma (OSSD) while completing their local high school requirements.
Key Features:
- Official Ontario credits: Students take courses that earn official Ontario credits, taught by Ontario-certified teachers.
- Live instruction and guidance: Students attend structured live classes and receive academic advising.
- Global university pathways: The OSSD is a globally recognized framework that prepares students for competitive university admissions worldwide.
- Collaborative support: Both schools share a student-first educational philosophy and stay in regular communication to support each student.
The House System
Elizabeth Seton School has always believed in forming its students through distinctive activities that develop life skills and mega skills. This commitment is anchored in the school’s Mission-Vision and in the values of its patron saint, Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton: Faith, Love, and Selfless Service.
The House System is a vertical structure that groups students across different ages and grade levels. It aims to strengthen community life and deepen each student’s sense of belonging to the Setonian family. House activities center on academics, citizenship, sports, culture, entrepreneurship, and community service.
A point system tracks each House’s performance throughout the school year. At the end of the year, the House with the most points is named the Mother Seton Cup Champion.
More than a competition, the House System is a caring and supportive environment where every student is a valued member of a “small” family within the “larger” school family. It powerfully fosters belonging and builds a strong school culture.
TLE Entreprenureship Business Simulation
The Business Simulation is the creative application of the Elizabeth Seton School Entrepreneurship Program. It is a term-long activity that engages all Grade 10 students in planning, running, and evaluating a real business.
The simulation draws on the knowledge and skills from the competency-building and career pathway materials and turns them into tasks for setting up a business. Students gain hands-on experience starting an enterprise while learning the skills to plan their own.
Tasks are divided among four teams: Management, Marketing, Finance, and Production. Some tasks involve the whole class and bring the teams’ decisions together as one business.
To maximize participation and give students a chance to earn a profit, each class runs a restaurant. Students plan the restaurant’s theme, set up the venue and its ambiance, create promotional materials and strategies, plan the menu and food preparation, handle budgeting, costing, and pricing, provide customer service, and apply basic accounting.
Through this experience, the program develops attitudes and values that contribute to effective personal, family, and community living.
Robotics
The Robotics Program helps Junior and Senior High School students build 21st-century skills, especially the 4Cs: Collaboration, Communication, Critical Thinking, and Creativity.
The program has three levels: High Beta, High Alpha, and VEX. It helps students understand scientific phenomena and mathematical concepts in depth, and apply them to solving the problems society faces now and in the future. Working in groups, students plan and carry out missions in each module, all based on real-life situations.
Along the way, students practice strategic problem-solving and higher-order thinking skills, including critical, analytical, and logical decision-making. These skills are central to 21st-century education and help students understand complex concepts in Math and Science. The program also promotes collaboration, responsibility, resourcefulness, and respect.
Zest for Learning and Living
The Zest for Learning and Living (ZLL) Program is an empowerment program for Elizabeth Seton School students. It aims to develop the multiple intelligences of every student and help them discover the interests and needs that will shape their future careers. As students learn to make their own decisions, they strengthen both their leadership and followership skills.
ZLL offers an enriching, practical, dynamic, and responsive learning experience. It gives learners the freedom to choose the opportunities they believe matter most for their growth, at any stage of their development.
The program covers three areas: Career, Creative, and Kinesthetic. Within their chosen area, students plan their own activities, chart their course of action, carry out their plans, evaluate the results, and recommend ways to improve.
Specifically, the program:
- Recognizes the individual needs and interests of every student
- Integrates values into all activities
- Lets students freely choose their areas of involvement
- Creates opportunities for students to solve problems and resolve conflicts in practical ways
- Promotes self-evaluation
- Encourages students to find joy in their work
ESS Sports Program
Recognizing that students have multiple intelligences, Elizabeth Seton School supports the holistic development of its athletes. The sports program builds physical fitness, camaraderie, teamwork, and sportsmanship, balanced with academic proficiency and excellence.
The ESS Sports Program aims to:
- Develop student athletes and spark interest in sports across the student body
- Form well-rounded athletes who excel in both academics and sports
- Pursue excellence that produces quality teams and players
- Promote the values of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, expressed in sports as Faith in God, Love of School, and Service to Team
The program begins in the classroom, where every student learns the value of physical fitness, camaraderie, teamwork, and sportsmanship. Students then try different sports and discover their kinesthetic abilities. Those who show potential, or who want to develop their skills further, join the school’s varsity program.
The varsity program is the highest level of the school’s sports development program. It prepares athletes to compete in highly competitive settings. ESS athletes train to high standards and compete in inter-school, regional, national, and international competitions.
ESS Theater
Elizabeth Seton School is a leading learner-centered, transformative institution devoted to forming principled, competent, lifelong learners. It pursues this goal by tapping into the multiple intelligences of its students. Its activities and theater productions showcase students’ diverse talents and skills. They especially help students discover and develop their gifts as storytellers through dance, song, and music.
In 1987, the school staged Indak Himig, a celebration of Filipino songs, music, and dance. It was followed by Under ASEAN Sky, which featured the cultures of ASEAN countries through music and dance. The late National Artist Ramon Obusan directed both productions.
In 2005, for the school’s 30th founding anniversary, On Wings of Music presented excerpts from Filipino and Broadway musicals. Five years later, Milestones and Music celebrated the school’s 35-year history. All four productions were staged at the Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo (Main Theater) of the Cultural Center of the Philippines.
In 2015, the school mounted another major production for its 40th anniversary, this time at The Theater at Solaire. 40tude is an Attitude was a two-part musical documentary designed to be interactive. Its songs and production numbers were linked by poetry readings, voice-overs, video segments, live feeds, and interviews.
In 2025, Elizabeth Seton School celebrated its 50th anniversary. For its golden jubilee, the school partnered with the Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA) and returned to The Theater at Solaire with its largest cast yet: over 1,300 performers. The production’s theme was This Is Where It Begins.
