Mater Carmeli School - Novaliches, located at Sacred Heart Village, Novaliches, Quezon City, is owned and managed by the Carmelite Missionaries of the Province of Fr. Francisco Palau, Philippines. It was founded in 1986 on a piece of property adjacent to the Novitiate House of the Carmelite Missionaries in Quezon City. In 1982 when the Novitiate House was transferred to Sacred Heart Village, Novaliches, Quezon City, the sisters did not have in mind the founding of the school beside the Novitiate. Once the Novitiate House stood, people passing by the highway mistook it for a school and there were inquiries as to what grade levels were offered. The homeowners of the village prodded the sisters to put up a school. The Sacred Heart Village Homeowners Association formalized their appeal by sending a letter of request to the Provincial Council of Carmelite Missionaries in the Philippines. It was granted by the General Council of Carmelite Missionaries in Rome, Italy. A feasibility study was made and Mater Carmeli School - Novaliches was born.
Early years
The school started its operation on June 1986 with 20 Kindergarten pupils under the tutelage of Sr. Flordeliza Presquito, Sr. Asuncion Villalba, and Reynaldo Duremdes, a janitor. While the construction of the school building in the adjacent lot was going on, morning class was held in a lent one-storey, two-room building intended to be classrooms of novices and junior sisters. On June 1987, the second school year, two classes of Kindergarten and Prep were added, and one section for both grade one and two levels. They occupied the first floor of the building while construction of the second and third floor was underway.
Expansion
The finished buildings were named after the Carmelite luminaries like Our Lady ofMount Carmel, St. Teresa of Avila, and Blessed Francisco Palau. The last and the biggest building constructed was named Sinon Building, in honor of the school engineer, the late Leonardo Sinon. In late 2015, the school started construction of the St. Therese of the Child Jesus building, an expansion for senior high school students near the school gymnasium. The building was completed in 2017.
Information
Curriculum
The school follows the Enhanced Basic Education Curriculum by the DepEd, in compliance with Republic Act 10533. In 2016, the school offered the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics strand under the Academic Track. In 2017, the school started to offer the Humanities and Social Sciences strand. Traditionally, for every year, for every grade there would be ~8 Honors, a Salutatorian and a Valedictorian, but starting SY 2017-1018 there would be The with Honors, The with High Honors and with Highest Honors all combined would equal to ~20 people. They are chosen by Average.
Admission of students
Students must pass the entrance examination and the interview conducted by the Guidance Counselor and by the Principal for grade school and high school, and by the Pre-school coordinator for Kindergarten and Preparatory school.
Religious formation
School recollections for students are held once during the year. A three-day retreat is provided to graduating students and their parents, and for the faculty and non-teaching staff. This is held at the Carmelite Missionaries Center for Spirituality at Tagaytay City. There is a monthly celebration of the Sacraments, such as grade/year level celebration of the Eucharist and the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Faculty, non-teaching staff, and service operators have their regular spiritual formation. They enter into spiritual exercises at the start of the school year. Advent and Lenten seasons are given inputs for their spiritual growth. They are sustained by their weekly "faith sharing" in their respective organized BECs. Parents are invited to the two-day parenting recollection-seminar in their child respective grade/year level called Hakbang Tungo sa Mabisang Pamamaraan ng Pagkamagulang.
School Quality
The sections of each level are all named after Values / People. The sections do have banners of the School's Values, a cross and an altar. Each section has ~40 students per year.
The Foundation Day of the school is celebrated in the first week of November. The culmination of the yearly celebrations is on November 7 in commemoration of the feast day of Blessed Francisco Palau, the school's patron.
