SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug 21, 2024--
Stratford Schools, a preschool to grade 12 private school network in California, has spent the last 25 years serving as a beacon of educational innovation. Starting from humble beginnings in 1999 with one school in Danville comprised of only four classrooms in the back of a church, Stratford Schools has grown into a vast network of private schools with over 30 campuses across California, serving over 9,000 students, and employing over 1,300 teachers and administrators annually.
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“We are honored to have spent the last 25 years serving children in communities throughout California with quality education and a safe place to learn,” said Stratford Schools Founder Sherry Adams. “Our goal has always been to establish Stratford as the premiere school, academically and artistically, inspiring children to think critically, reach their full potential, and find success in their unique futures.“
Stratford continues to expand with a new early education campus coming to Santa Clara this October and a second high school opening in fall 2025 in Milpitas. They have additional openings planned in the near future as they seek to bring a Stratford Schools education to more communities within the Bay Area. Stratford has also been busy expanding programs to meet the needs of their existing families. Select campuses now offer early preschool programs for children age 2, with no potty training required, along with Mandarin Bilingual programs. To prepare students to thrive in a global world, many schools now offer Mandarin as a specialty language option, in addition to Spanish which is taught starting in preschool.
Twenty-fifth-anniversary celebrations will be taking place across campuses throughout the rest of 2024. The events will be a fun celebration for the whole school community with special guests and activities. The next two events will be on August 23 at the Stratford San Jose Middle School and August 24 at the Stratford San Francisco De Montfort School.
Stratford’s advanced STEAM-based curriculum provides students with a well-rounded education experience across science, technology, engineering, art, and math disciplines. Stratford is a school that aims to instill in children a love for learning, with a focus on STEAM and the fine arts. Additionally, they strive to provide exceptional customer service both internally and externally, with the goal of becoming an employer of choice and a school that partners with parents.
For 25 years, Stratford Schools has committed to improving the communities it serves beyond the classroom. With its Stratford Cares initiative, the network of schools participates in a variety of fundraisers throughout the school year, including a long-standing partnership with the American Heart Association. Throughout the school’s history, over 1.7 million dollars has been donated to the American Heart Association, plus countless volunteer hours, food, toys, and other impactful community donations through local drives. Stratford students are instrumental in choosing and organizing all community-giving efforts.
For more information about the Stratford Schools brand, please visit https://www.stratfordschools.com/.
About Stratford Schools:
Established in 1999, Stratford School is a leading independent private school, founded with a vision of creating a unique, multi-dimensional, educational foundation for children from preschool now through 12th grade, with the opening of Stratford’s first high school campus, Stratford Preparatory. Stratford offers an accelerated yet balanced curriculum with an emphasis on the areas of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) and incorporates music, physical education, foreign language, and social skills development. Stratford’s goal is to prepare and mentor students for admission to competitive high schools, colleges, and universities. All students are provided with the necessary tools to excel and are encouraged to participate actively in leadership, community service, and extracurricular activities. Visit www.stratfordschools.com for more information.
Stratford Schools celebrates 25 years! (Photo: Business Wire)
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — With inflation subsiding, the European Central Bank cut interest rates again on Thursday to prop up tepid growth with lower borrowing costs for companies and home buyers. The U.S. Federal Reserve likely won’t be far behind in joining the rate-cutting process.
The bank’s rate-setting council lowered the deposit rate from 3.75% to 3.5% at a meeting at its skyscraper headquarters in Frankfurt.
It was the second rate cut as the bank starts to withdraw some of the swift rate increases it imposed to snuff out a burst of double-digit inflation that broke out after Russia cut off most natural gas supplies over its invasion of Ukraine.
But experts don't expect a rapid series of rate cuts from either the ECB or the Fed central bank to anywhere near the rock-bottom levels from before the 2020 outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. They say the ECB will tiptoe, rather than slash, and might cut rates only one more time this year. Inflation's down with the help of lower oil prices.
Inflation in the 20 countries that use the euro currency fell to 2.2% in August, not far from the ECB’s 2% target, down from 10.6% at its peak in October, 2022.
At her post-decision news conference, bank President Christine Lagarde said recent data had confirmed “our confidence that we are heading towards our target in a timely manner.”
But she steered clear of any guidance on further cuts. She said the bank would make rate decisions on a meeting by meeting basis depending on incoming information about the economy and was "not pre-committing to a particular rate path.”
Policy makers must keep an eye on simmering inflation among services companies and rising wages as workers push to make up for purchasing power lost to the outburst of inflation that followed the end of the pandemic.
The ECB cut once in June and then hit pause in July before going on summer break in August. The rate-setting council led by President Christine Lagarde has to juggle concerns about a disappointing outlook for growth against - which argues for cuts - against the need to make sure inflation is going to reach the bank’s 2% target and stay there - which would support keeping rates higher for a bit longer.
Consumer prices spiked after Russian cut off most natural gas shipments to Europe over its February, 2022 invasion of Ukraine, sending utility bills higher. The rebound from the pandemic also led to bottlenecks in supplies of parts and raw materials, further boosting inflation that then spread more broadly to services, a broad category that includes medical care, personal services such as haircuts, restaurants, hotels and entertainment.
The ECB and the Fed responded with swift rate rises, the ECB bringing its benchmark rate to a record high of 4%, since cut in June to 3.75%.
The central bank’s benchmark rate strongly influences what private-sector banks pay to borrow - and through that rates across the rest of the economy. Higher rates cool inflation by making it more expensive to borrow and buy things, holding back price rises. But high rates can slow growth, and that worry is coming into focus.
Higher rates in Europe and the U.S. have meant increased mortgage costs for home buyers, and higher payments for people who run credit card balances or buy cars on credit. But they have been a boon to savers and retirees who like interest income and are getting visible returns on their bank holdings or money market accounts after years of zero returns.
The Fed is also expected to make a first cut in its benchmark rate at its Sept. 17-18 meeting from a 23-year high of 5:25%-5.5%. Consumer prices rose 2.5% in August from a year earlier, down from 2.9% in July. It was the fifth straight annual drop in inflation. Core inflation excluding volatile fuel and food - which can be a better guide - was higher at 3.2%.
“The long-awaited Fed easing cycle is upon us,” said Brian Coulton, chief economist at Fitch Ratings, but the Fed rate-setters “will be cautious after the inflation challenges of the past few years. The pace of rate cuts will be gentle and monetary easing won’t do much to boost growth next year.”
Europe growth has been sluggish, at 0.3% in the second quarter of this year and a roughly 1.0% annual rate based on performance in the first half. That follows more than a year of near-zero stagnation. Hopes for a more robust pickup have been dampened by recent indicators of business and consumer sentiment, and by a stream of bad news from the eurozone’s biggest economy, Germany.
Germany contracted by 0.1% in the second quarter and its outlook remains gloomy amid a global slowdown in manufacturing. On top of that come long-term factors such as an ageing population, shortage of skilled workers, lagging implementation of digital technology, and excessive bureaucracy that slows down business creation and expansion. Major employer Volkswagen has dropped its no-layoffs pledge that was to run through 2029 as it seeks to cut costs, and has warned it may need to close one or more factories in Germany amid weaker demand for its new electric vehicles in Europe and in China.
FILE - A light installation is projected onto the building of the European Central Bank during a rehearsal in Frankfurt, Germany, Thursday, Dec. 30, 2021. (Photo/Michael Probst, File)
