The San Francisco School

Story

The San Francisco School is an independent, coeducational day school. Founded in 1966, the school is an established, vibrant educational community with a multicultural enrollment of 270 students, an experienced and dedicated faculty, and supportive and involved parents.

* The preschool program centers on the ideas of Maria Montessori.
* The elementary and middle school program reflects the ideals of a progressive, child-centered approach.

The school also includes an extended care program, parent education opportunities, and summer recreational activities.

Suitably characterized by a parent as “an urban school with a village atmosphere,” the school embraces San Francisco’s ethnic, cultural, and economic diversity. Our progressive approach to education encourages children to develop self-reliance, solid academic skills, integrity, and a sense of social values.

The school is respected for a strong sense of community, personal attention to students, and a dynamic arts program. Our students graduate academically prepared, inquisitive, compassionate, and eager for the challenges ahead.

Program and Curriculum

The San Francisco School program is designed by the faculty and to stimulate conceptual understanding, critical thinking, and creative expression. Teachers encourage students to approach learning in a variety of ways and through various disciplines, and subject matter from a given discipline is often interwoven throughout the program. Overarching themes such as “When are we learning?” in Kindergarten, and “How does education transform society?” in the Eighth Grade provide the student perspective that binds all facets of the school experience.

* The balanced content includes Spanish language instruction, an integrated approach to technology in the curriculum, a comprehensive visual arts program, and world renowned Orff music instruction.
* The academic curriculum emphasizes learning in a firsthand manner, with an experiential approach in science, hands-on math, frequent in-depth projects, field trips, environmental oversights, and an eighth grade trip to Mexico.
* The curriculum reflects a strong multicultural focus.
* Gender, race and inclusion are important topics.
* A Writers’ Workshop approach, individual student-teacher reading conferences, journals, student selected projects, student-teacher goal setting conferences and portfolio assessment assure much personalized attention and interest driven learning.
* Students also learn and share in a variety of cross-age groupings. Students and teachers come together often and with much ceremony to acknowledge and celebrate special events and their own learning.

Mission

The San Francisco School cultivates and celebrates the intellectual, imaginative, and humanitarian promise of each student in a community that practices mutual respect, embraces diversity, and inspires a passion for learning.