More Than Just Academics
Discover spiritual growth, enrichment activities, and unforgettable experiences that shape well-rounded students and lifelong memories.
Table of contents
Spiritual Development
As a Christian school, GPCS complements the efforts of the Christian home and church in helping students discover their purpose and destiny in Christ. We want every student to hear the good news of Jesus Christ; to come to personal, saving faith in Him; and then to grow in their relationship with Christ.
With the goal of training students to view every aspect of life through the lens of God’s Word, GPCS teachers integrate biblical truth with every subject area. At GPCS, God’s natural creation and His supernatural Word come together to form a comprehensive Christian worldview, providing students the solid foundation they need to understand themselves and their world and to evaluate their culture. Developing a Christian mind helps students fulfill the First Great Commandment:
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37).
Spiritual development is also cultivated by providing a school environment where we seek, however imperfectly, to honor Christ in our actions, attitudes, and words. This begins with our school leadership, faculty, and staff, who have been carefully selected not only for their professional credentials and expertise, but also because they are committed to traditional biblical values and to the spiritual development of our students.
Bible classes, weekly chapels, daily prayer and Bible reading, community service activities, mission trips (high school) and an emphasis on biblical character are some of the other ways we nurture the spiritual growth of our students.
Elementary Enrichment
Elementary students enjoy a wide range of enrichment activities designed to enhance their learning experience, including art, field trips, special speakers, theme days, celebrations, concerts, and other educational experiences. In recent years, those opportunities have included:
- Cumberland County Fair exhibits
- Maine Agriculture Day
- Elementary musicals
- “Forget Me Not” Valentines for shut-ins
- Grandparent/VIP Day
- 100th Day Celebrations
- “Buddy Class” partnerships with secondary classes
After-Care Program
GPCS teachers provide daily after-school care for students in Kindergarten through 8th grade for a modest fee. Teachers provide this supervision on a rotating basis, usually in their own classrooms. Students should come prepared with a snack, homework, books to read, or games or other activities to do while under a teacher’s care. While AfterCare teachers do not provide tutoring or activities for students, they will answer questions or help with schoolwork if needed.
Hours
3:00pm – 5:30pm, Monday – Friday, following the GPCS school calendar. Students must be picked up by 5:30pm at the latest. AfterCare is not available on early-release days, any day school is not in session, elementary concert days, or on the day of high school graduation. The program begins the first Monday after school starts. Students in Kindergarten through 8th grade who are still under school care at 3:00pm will be taken to AfterCare for their safety and supervision, and the parents will be billed accordingly.
Charges
2025-26 rates, subject to change
| Picked Up Between: | ||
| Number of Children | 3:00pm – 4:00pm | 4:01pm – 5:30pm |
| First child: | $15 | $20 |
| Two children: | $21 | $28 |
| Three children: | $24 | $31 |
Billing and Payment: Parents are charged for the days of AfterCare used. Invoices are sent after the end of the month, and payment is expected within 7 school days. GPCS reserves the right to require pre-payment for this service.
Additional Charges: There is an additional $10 late fee for the first occurrence of pickup after 5:30 pm. The fee increases to $20 for the second occurrence of late pickup. Three late pick-ups in a year may result in loss of AfterCare eligibility.
AfterCare Policies
Sign-up: Parents sign up for AfterCare each month through the main office, either by filling out the AfterCare calendar or by emailing the office with the dates needed for that month, being sure to include the names & grades of each student. Drop-in AfterCare may be available if there are open spots; enrollment in the program is capped, and the number of openings varies each day. Contact the Main Office to ask about openings for drop-in care and to sign up.
Pickup: Please come to the Main Entrance (the left front door if facing the school building from Broadway), call 207.808.8350, and enter the extension number of the teacher on duty that day. The teacher will let you in to collect your children. Children cannot be released to anyone other than those individuals pre-authorized by parents. A photo ID may be required by the teacher on duty before a student is released.
Sickness: If a student becomes ill during AfterCare, he/she must be picked up when the AfterCare provider calls the parent. The same policies regarding illness that apply to the school day and school attendance also apply to AfterCare.
Student Conduct/Discipline: AfterCare follows the same conduct and disciplinary policies found in the GPCS Family Handbook that apply to the school day.
Secondary Enrichment
Secondary students enjoy a number of extracurricular and co-curricular activities designed to enrich their outside-the-classroom experience at GPCS. Opportunities include:
- National Honor Society
- Student Council
- Yearbook
- Model UN
- Cultural immersion trips (biennially)
- Homecoming and Alumni Games
- Senior Banquet
- Field trips
Our school is a member of the Maine Principals’ Association and the Maine Christian School Sports League, providing students with several competitive athletic opportunities at the interscholastic level.
High School Trips Abroad
The Spanish teacher leads a group of high school Spanish students on a cultural immersion trip, usually to work with a church or Christian school, about every other year. Previous destinations have included Mexico, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Ecuador, and El Salvador. On alternate years, the Travel Club may plan educational trips to places such as the United Kingdom (2011), Italy and France (2013), and Greece and Turkey (2015). One year they went as far as Australia!