Why Choose OLW School

Why Choose Our Lady of the Wayside School
      Our Lady of the Wayside School is dedicated to enriching our students’ minds, fostering a deep and meaningful faith in each child, and expanding their talents. Each student is taught to understand and live the Gospel message of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
      Our teachers want each student to succeed and are ready to work with each student at their individual academic level. Our accredited staff also includes reading and learning resource teachers, a speech pathologist and a licensed school counselor. 
     In 2024, OLW applied for and was accepted for a National Blue Ribbon. The program was discontinued before we could officially celebrate. But the fact that our test scores were high enough for the Blue Ribbon is still worth celebrating. 94% of our students scored at or above grade level in Math. 88% of students scored at grade level or higher in Reading to start this school year. These scores are substantially higher than the national norm and other schools in our immediate area.
      We are located in Arlington Heights, IL, a northwest suburb of Chicago. We serve students in three and four year old preschool, kindergarten, and 1st through 8th grades. We offer all day and half day PK and K programs. We also offer before and after school care. 
A great way to understand why so many families choose OLW School is to take a peek inside.

Enriching Minds
Parents choose Our Lady of the Wayside School, in part, because of our tradition of academic excellence. OLW has twice been recognized as a National Blue Ribbon School, in 2015 and in 1997. We are proud of the great effort our teachers and students put forth every day. On standardized tests, our students consistently score very high in both performance and growth. That means that they are always striving to learn more. Our 8th graders routinely place into honors classes in high school. Both in and out of the classroom, our students are encouraged to develop critical thinking and organizational skills that prepare them for success in high school and beyond.

Fostering Faith
Parents choose OLW School because it offers students an authentic and rigorous formation in the Catholic faith. Our teachers provide students many opportunities to celebrate, deepen and share their faith by integrating worship, prayer, reflection and works of charity. Throughout the year, students participate in different service opportunities. Some activities involve the whole school, such as the Thanksgiving adopt-a-family activity. Individual grades also arrange service activities: middle school raises money and then shops for less fortunate families at Target; first graders meet with their buddies to make snack bags for PADS, preschool collects mittens for the unhoused in the area. Starting in fifth grade, students are asked to help in ways that benefit the entire school: flag raising, recycling, morning drop off, preschool and kindergarten helpers. The OLW Buddy Program pairs younger students with older students and offers opportunities for them to interact with and learn from each other.

Expanding Talents
We encourage each of our students to recognize, develop and share his/her God given talents to become leaders today and in the future. Extracurricular activities strengthen the sense of community for students and parents and help to create lifelong friendships. Extracurriculars include: sports teams starting in 5th grade; band starting in 3rd grade; Robotics Team; Girl Scouts, Lego Club, CORE, Student Council, Middle School musical; Scholastic Bowl.

We Are One Community
OLW parents say that “community” is what they love most about our school. We are a supportive community where teachers, administrators and parents all have a positive influence on the students. We are proud of the individual attention from caring teachers, the involvement of engaged parents and the example of other motivated students that make OLW a special place.

What our parents say about OLW:
“As an educator, I have worked at a number of different schools. Given this range of experience, I chose OLW for my children.  My family is very lucky to be a part of the OLW community. We love that the school provides so many opportunities for our children to build relationships and social skills, form wonderful friendships and develop empathy for others. The teachers genuinely care about our children, recognize their individual strengths and areas for development and provide an environment in which our children can grow as learners and as people.”
– Current Parent

“Our daughter is flourishing; we love the curriculum, and our overall experience has been amazing. We were originally going to public school after Kindergarten but decided to stay at Wayside because we’ve been so happy with the Catholic aspect and the teachers.”
Current Parent

“OLW has given us a beautiful life – a community of loving friends that are family. Our four children are growing up to be good, kind, independent, and faithful young adults that are critical thinkers with strong convictions and traditional values, learning to stand on their own.”
– Current Family

“We want our children at OLW so they have the faith-filled lifestyle that OLW provides during their early childhood years. Those years are so critical to their faith and character formation.”
– Current and Alumni Parents

“One of our greatest parenting decisions was sending our children to Our Lady Of the Wayside where they received an enriching academic education, a tremendous faith foundation, and cultivated lifelong friendships. I’m forever grateful for the basis my children were given at OLW – they have built their lives as productive adults because of their early education.”
– Alumni Parent

“I feel that what I have learned (at Wayside) is important because it isn’t just numbers and words, it’s morals and becoming a mature and respectful person as I move on in my life. I am prepared for high school because of the great teachers here.”
– OLW graduate class of 2024