National Catholic Schools Week is the annual celebration of Catholic education in the United States.

The celebration starts the last Sunday in January and continues all week. In 2014 the observance was Jan. 26 to Feb. 1.

Schools typically observe National Catholic Schools Week with masses, open house and other activities for students, families, parishioners and community members. Through these events, Catholic parochial schools focus on the value Catholic education provides to young people and its contributions to the church, the community and the nation.

St. Thomas More School, in Salisbury Township, used a variety of activities to help raise awareness of the school and its place in the lives and education of area youngsters.

"As it is every year, the St. Thomas More School community enjoys the activities centered around Catholic Schools Week," said Peter Schutzler, principal of STM. "This annual event is an opportunity to open our doors so that everyone can see and enjoy the wonderful things that are happening in our school.

"Each day we recognized a different group who make up a part of our school. This recognition is meant to say 'thank you' for the hard work that is put into making STM the great school that it is," Schutzler said.

On Jan. 26 the school hosted special liturgies, an open house at the school featuring a used uniform sale and registration for new kindergarten students.

Family and faith appreciation day took place Jan. 27. Classrooms were opened for visits and report cards were issued.

Student appreciation day was observed Jan. 28 and featured an out-of-uniform day and no homework assignments. At lunch, volunteers served a special ice cream sundae dessert for each student.

The event schedule Jan. 29 featured an honors assembly and, a school year highlight, a scholastic scrimmage game. The scrimmage featured four male students, one each from fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth grades, who made up the Talented Thinkers team, and four girls, one from each of the fifth through eighth grades who made up the Saintly Scholars team.

On stage, with a signal device in front of each student, questions were posed to test memories and scholastic skill with history, trivia, math and faith-education questions. The students on the scrimmage teams were chosen by votes cast by classmates. The scrimmage was held in the school gym with classmates cheering on their favorite team.

Teacher appreciation day took place Jan. 30 and included a faculty luncheon.

On Jan. 31 activities included a closing liturgy and an enthusiastic student pep rally in the gymnasium.