Why Choose St. Joseph School?

Imagine a school where students and teachers pray together every day. Imagine a school that teaches the whole student – mind, body, and also spirit. Imagine a school that intentionally helps build the virtues you want your children to have as they grow into mature, loving, faith-filled adults.

It is in more than just your imagination – it’s right here at St. Joe’s.

St. Joseph School celebrates 73 years of Catholic education this year -- high quality, faith-based education. In this modern world, our kids and all of us need our faith more than ever. We need to know amidst an ever-evolving current culture that there is a place where our kids can feel safe, loved, and comfortable knowing they are beloved children of God. 

Matthew Kelly rightly said, “We become what we celebrate.” What does your child’s school celebrate? It is an important question to consider. St. Joseph School celebrates many things:

• The Eucharist – Weekly, we celebrate Mass together as a school, returning to “the source and summit of our faith,” where God feeds our souls with His very Self. Also, students are able to participate weekly in Eucharistic Adoration.
• The Faith – Everything we do is centered around our Catholic faith, which is grounded in Christ’s resurrection from the dead and His gift of the Holy Spirit.
• The Saints – One of the most inspiring days of the year is our All Saints Mass, led by our third graders, who each research, portay, and share about a particular saint. We have a special place in our hearts for our patron St. Joseph and for Mary our mother in heaven.
• Family – St. Joseph School is a family who love one another. You will hear it from any of our students, parents, staff, or alumni. While we all one family, we work very hard to support our individual families in raising godly children and honoring God’s holy institution of the family, which must often be defensively poised in today's culture.
• Service – We live out our faith in countless service opportunities, answering Christ’s call in our lives to serve one another and to serve the poor.

What we celebrate is who we are and what we are about. Yes, our students have outstanding test scores and academic achievement, and we are very proud of this fact. The truth is it only matters with Christ in our lives.

If you’re at all curious about what a Catholic education at St. Joe’s could mean for your child, give us a call at 248-693-6215 or send us a note from our contact us page. We would love meet your family and introduce you to ours.

Doris Fornasiero
Principal, St. Joseph School

ACCREDITATION: MANS/MNSAA (most recent accreditation in 2022)

TYPE: Roman Catholic

GRADES: Pre-K through 8

CURRICULUM: Religion, English, Literature, Math, Science, Social Studies, Physical Education, Music, Art, STEM & Media, and Spanish

ENROLLMENT: 460

AVERAGE K-8 CLASS SIZE: 22

CYO SPORTS OFFERED: Volleyball, Football, Soccer, Cross Country, Basketball (boys/girls), Baseball/Softball, Track & Field

EXTRA/CO-CURRICULAR OFFERINGS: Band, Choir, Destination Imagination, Boy/Girl Scouts, FIRST Robotics, LEGO Robotics, Writers Club, National Junior Honor Society, Chess Club, Running Club, and more!

ALL-SCHOOL MASS: Weekly

2024-25 TUITION: $7,358 (in-parish) with multiple-child discounts, if applicable
Please note that financial aid is available; we strive to meet 100% of demonstrated financial need. View detailed information about financial aid and tuition rates here.

2022 SCHOOL STAR TEST SCORES: The graph below shows the mean percentile rank of our students in reading and math, compared to other schools, both locally and nationally. Learn more on our test scores page.

Graduates of St. Joseph School have attended Orchard Lake St. Mary’s, Marian, Brother Rice, Everest Collegiate, Bishop Foley, Notre Dame Prep, Royal Oak Shrine, Academy of the Sacred Heart, Flint Powers, Cranbrook, Oakland Christian, Lake Orion HS, Oxford HS, and others.

St. Joseph School opened its doors in September of 1952 with an enrollment of 175 children. Five sisters of the Order of St. Joseph of Nazareth staffed the school, and Sr. Jude served as principal. The first lay teacher, Ann Greenlees, was hired in 1954 and remained on staff for 37 years.

The school continued to grow in the 1960’s with class sizes of 50 or more in the lower grades. By the end of the decade expansions were completed that included additional classrooms and a multi-purpose room. The 1970’s brought about many changes in Catholic education with the addition of more lay teachers and new changes associated with Vatican II. School operations became more costly and consideration was given to closing the school. Thankfully, the parish council felt the school met a definite need and petitioned the Archdiocese to keep it open, and permission was granted to continue operation.

During the early 1980’s, after thirty years of operation, the school was filled to capacity, and a kindergarten was added. In 1989, Sr. Theresa Darga became principal of St. Joseph School. Enrollment in the middle school was dropping and Sister was challenged with strengthening the overall program and promoting the benefits of Catholic education.

During the 1990’s the school and parish community continued to grow. St. Joseph School with its long tradition of strong academics and commitment to faith formation became an extremely desirable education option. Families would camp out for days in front of the school to register for the kindergarten openings each year. Realizing the need for expansion, a task force of volunteers from the vicariate created Vision 2000. For the first time in archdiocesan history, parishes collaborated to conduct a capital campaign to fund expansions for Catholic education.

In 2003, St. Joseph School doubled the number of classrooms and added a media center, computer lab, science lab, fine arts labs, extended care, and state-of-the-art technology throughout the school. The economic downturn of 2008 and 2009 led to a drop in enrollment. During the school's 2014 accreditation, St. Joseph School was identified as an innovative model school for other faith-based schools. This tradition continued with the addition of our cutting-edge STEM program in 2017.

Between the years 2020 and 2024, St. Joseph saw a large resurgence of interest in authentic Catholic education, as enrollment grew by 30%. While many families joined the school after the pandemic shutdowns, over 95% chose to stay even when their local school re-opened for in-person education, and enrollment continued to climb afterwards, with families reporting a desire for the values taught at home to be reinforced at school, in a school that maintains high academic standards and celebrates faith and love of God. The school currently has over 460 students enrolled, and St. Joseph School graduates continue to be successful leaders who live moral, faith-filled lives.