2015 Catholic Schools Week supplement

Transcription

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO
Newspaper of the Archdiocese of San Francisco
SERVING SAN FRANCISCO, MARIN & SAN MATEO COUNTIES
www.catholic-sf.org
JANUARY 23, 2015
$1.00 | VOL. 17 NO. 2
Communities of Faith, Knowledge & Service
(PHOTO COURTESY ARCHBISHOP RIORDAN HIGH SCHOOL)
Why did God
make me?
Catholic schools exist
to help children learn
and live the answer
ARCHBISHOP SALVATORE J. CORDILEONE
O
ne of the highlights in my ministry
as a bishop is to visit our Catholic
schools and interact with our children
and young people. Invariably I find eager
learners who ask good (and sometimes
surprising!) questions, and teachers who
clearly love their students and what they
do for them. It’s always a “reality check”
for me, in that it helps me to keep focused
on why Jesus founded the Church in the
first place, and why he promised to stay
with her through the guidance of the Holy
Spirit until his return at the end of time.
The theme for
this year’s Catholic Schools Week,
“Catholic Schools:
Communities of
Faith, Knowledge
and Service,”
contains in it the
very reason why
the Church exists.
The theme suggests
the answer given
to one of the first
catechism questions
Catholic children
memorized in bygone eras: “Why did
God make me?” Our
Catholic schools are
one very concrete
realization of the
mission of the
Church to assist her
members to grow
in an ever deeper
knowledge and love
of God through a
vibrant life of faith that expresses itself
in prayer and service. Yes, God made each
one of us to know, love and serve Him in
this life so that we may be happy with Him
in the next, and our Catholic schools exist
to help our children learn and live this answer to this most important question in life.
But there is another word in the theme
for this year’s Catholic Schools Week
equally instructive as to what our Catholic
schools are all about: that all-important
first word, “community.” We know from
our Catholic theology that the Church
is not simply a collection of like-minded
people who share certain beliefs and prac-
The theme
for this year’s
Catholic Schools
Week, ‘Catholic
Schools:
Communities
of Faith,
Knowledge
and Service,’
contains in it
the very reason
why the Church
exists.
SEE CATHOLIC SCHOOLS, PAGE CSW3
(PHOTO BY VALERIE SCHMALZ/CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO)
National Catholic
Schools Week 2015
From top: Archbishop Riordan High School
students; Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone
with Our Lady of the Visitacion students Dec. 5;
St. Charles Borromeo kindergarten teacher helps
a student with writing skills; St. Raymond first
graders share an umbrella; A Marin Catholic High
School student in a moment of quiet.
(PHOTO COURTESY ST. RAYMOND SCHOOL)
(PHOTO COURTESY MARIN CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL)
CSW2 CATHOLIC SCHOOLS WEEK
CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | JANUARY 23, 2015
INDEX
Catholic culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CSW4
Sts. Peter & Paul
principal honored . . . . . . . . . . . . . CSW8
Southern San Mateo County
Catholic schools booming . . . . . CSW10
ST. JAMES SCHOOL:
FINANCIAL AID:
CATHOLIC PRESCHOOLS:
St. Raphael’s Veritas program . CSW14
Innovative Reading Club
boosting reading, writing skills
Information for
donors, applicants
Continue to open
across the archdiocese
‘Rock star’ science teacher. . . . . CSW18
PAGE CSW6
PAGE CSW12
PAGE CSW16
St. Ignatius drama . . . . . . . . . . . . CSW19
Students living Gospel values CSW20
CATHOLIC SCHOOLS WEEK CSW3
CATHOLIC SCHOOLS: Help
children learn and live the answer
FROM PAGE CSW1
tices, it does not exist merely for the
sake of fellowship. Rather, the Church
is the Body of Christ: we are organically related by faith to each other
under Christ our head. No one comes
to know, love and serve Christ all on
their own, as if in a vacuum. We do so
within the context of a community of
faith; the Church founded by Christ is
the way Christ unites us to Himself.
More than an association of believers
to offer each other spiritual and practical support, the Church is the sacrament of our encounter with Christ.
“Thus, the Church has been seen as ‘a
people made one with the unity of the
Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit’”
(Dogmatic Constitution on the Church
of the Second Vatican Ecumenical
Council, Lumen Gentium, n. 4)
We see this community dynamic at
work from the very beginning of Jesus’ ministry. As we just heard in the
Gospel reading at Mass last Sunday
(Second Sunday in Ordinary Time,
January 18th), two disciples ask Jesus,
“Where are you staying?”, and he responds with an invitation: “Come, and
you will see.” And we heard that they
stayed with him that day (John 1:39).
The disciples first learned about Jesus
by staying with him and with one
another, and that is how disciples have
learned ever since. And so it is that
our students learn as a community:
each of our schools is a kind of solar
Holy Angels preschool student.
system made up of children, teachers,
parents, administrators, priests and
staff – all circling around Christ our
Sun, receiving light from him directly
and also from his light reflected in the
lives of those around them.
When I look into the faces of our
Catholic school students, I see a future
full of promise. That promise will be
realized if our students stay strong in
their faith, grow in virtue and persevere in the values our faith teaches
us. Our Catholic school communities
– parents primarily, with teachers,
administrators and pastors assisting
them – exist to help our students grow
as disciples. The more faithful our
schools are to their Catholic mission,
the more effectively they will help our
children and young people truly thrive
in what really matters in life: they will
use their gifts and God-given talents to
know, love and serve Him in this life,
so that they will be happy with Him
forever in the next.
Catholic Schools Build
Great Communities
1949
ARCHBISHOP RIORDAN HIGH SCHOOL
EDUCATING YOUNG MEN IN FAITH,
INTELLECT, LEADERSHIP AND SERVICE
Summer Programs for boys and girls start
June 15! www.Crusader.Camp
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Communities of faith,
knowledge and service
E
ach year graduates from our
Catholic schools return to their
alma mater to reconnect with
the teachers, principals and the
friends they
left behind
after graduation. It is a
joy for teachers to see
these former
students and
bask in their
successes
and accomplishments.
MAUREEN
Alums and
HUNTINGTON
their teachers remember the bond
they shared during those formative
years together. A Catholic school
community is a family – young
people and adults working together toward a common goal. The goal
of forming lifelong Catholics and
lifelong learners is the mission of a
Catholic School.
The day-to-day experience of
a Catholic school student is one
where the personal dedication of
teachers and administrators is a
lived reality. This daily modeling
by adults powerfully exemplifies
the reason the Catholic Church
locally and nationwide expends so
many of its resources to educate
our children in our faith. Students
and adults learn what it means to
be a person of faith through their
interactions, observations, and
language. What we say, do, text,
and write, does count. Schools,
especially Catholic schools, are
places where children and teens
learn how to interact, connect, collaborate, cooperate, and compete
in appropriate and healthy ways.
In the classroom, on the athletic
field, on the stage, or just hanging
around school, children observe
how adults interact, solve problems, make mistakes, and enjoy
time together. Catholic schools are
teaching and learning environments that immerse students in
an atmosphere steeped in Jesus
Christ.
The benefits we received from
our Catholic school education
continue to enrich our lives every
day. During Catholic Schools
Week, take some time to reflect on
the many challenges and blessings
that lay before each of our Catholic schools and how you might
be able to assist in solving them.
Your prayers for our teachers,
principals, pastors, and students
will enable us to move forward into
the next decade, providing quality Catholic elementary and high
school education for our Bay Area
families.
HUNTINGTON is superintendent of the
archdiocesan Department of Catholic
Schools.
Catholic culture: How we practice the faith
R
eligious belief has become a “private” matter in secular American
culture. Americans understand
they are not supposed to reference
religion in
justifying their
political or social views and
attitudes. While
that may be the
way of things
in society, religion cannot be
a private matter in Catholic schools.
MELANIE MOREY
In Catholic
schools religious content and practice must be related to all the students are learning.
Teachers understand that learning requires making connections and
they help students make those connections. Good teachers link science
learning with literature and literature
with history and all of it with what
their students experience in their
daily lives. And learning requires repetition, doing things again and again
until they come easily or are mastered. This is the way children learn.
The same is true of how they learn
the Catholic faith, by understanding it
in relation to ordinary things, and by
knowing when and how to “practice
the faith.”
A Catholic school is a place where
Catholic faculty, coaches, administrators, and staff share their faith
(PHOTO COURTESY ST. CHARLES SCHOOL)
St. Charles students at the October Rosary Rally.
and are expected to do so. For some
Catholic school teachers, especially
those who have absorbed American
public cultural cues, this can be a
problem. But Catholic schools create
a private culture – a Catholic culture
and teachers are the ones who create
that culture for students. Doing so
requires they overcome their reticence to address Catholic beliefs and
practices. As long as parents support
the culture at home, most children
flourish in a religious culture, because
it makes so much sense to them.
A common definition for culture
– any culture – is “how we do things
around here.” Culture is not absorbed
through osmosis. Culture is about
doing. In other words, it is about
practices that when combined with
witness and content shape a person’s
entire way of being. In order to build
a strong culture, schools must develop
an intricate network of practices that
students engage in either daily or
weekly. Frequent and consistent practices shape personal habits and ways
of being. Occasional behaviors do not.
Most parents understand what it
takes to change children’s behavior.
It takes good modeling and countless
reminders. Repetition is the mother of
learning and of culture. And, as most
parents and teachers know, structure
helps children thrive. They enjoy
repetition, as long as it includes some
variation. Liturgical seasons, saints,
hymns, prayers, the Bible, sacraments
and the Catechism of the Catholic
Church offer both repetition and great
variation.
People young and old are always
trying to make connections. For many
young people, music is especially integrative. One reason why is that they
can relate it and the images conjured
up by lyrics to their own ideas and
to the emotions that well up within
them. For hundreds of years, sacred
music was popular music. Over the
centuries this music, with its meaningful phrases and repetition, helped
Catholics make connections. In many
ways Catholic culture is like sacred
music. By related patterns of repetition and meaning, it helps people
make critical connections.
In the heyday of American Catholic
schooling in the United States, Catholic cultural practices were an integral
part of the educational experience.
Whether it was putting a cross at the
top of all papers or saying prayers
before each class or going to Mass as
a community every week or making
daily visits to the church or chapel
or praying before each athletic event,
students constantly engaged in small
behaviors that reminded them again
and again of the Catholic faith. Without this kind of constant reinforcement, Catholic institutional culture
dissipates.
MOREY is the director of the newly created
archdiocesan Office of Catholic Identity
Assessment.
A.M.D.G. For the Greater Glory of God
Catholic Charities CYO Outdoor
Environmental Education programs provide
students with an extensive experience
that builds on academic understanding
and develops skills necessary for selfrespect, social cooperation, and strong
communities. Visit www.cyocamp.org
for more info about our Outdoor
Environmental Education programs or
call 707 874 0200.
ST. IGNATIUS COLLEGE PREPARATORY
Experience the difference an SI education makes
San Francisco’s Jesuit School Since 1855
CREATING TOMORROW’S
STEWARDS OF
GOD’S CREATION
Sign up today!
2136 Bohemian Highway, Occidental, CA 95465
707 874 0200 | [email protected]
www.cyocamp.org
SI has a student body rich in diversity (ethnic, socioeconomic & geographic),
drawing from 8 counties. SI encourages academic excellence and creativity in the
classroom, making best use of the latest technology. We inspire our students to
dedicate themselves to community service through our retreats and volunteer
experience. SI’s Performing & Visual Arts Programs are ranked among the best in
the Bay Area, and 70 percent of our student body participates in our top-flight
athletic program making use of state-of-the-art facilities.
Go to www.siprep.org/summer in March to check out our exciting summer activities.
Courage to Lead; Passion to Serve
UI"WFOVF4BO'SBODJTDP$"t t www.siprep.org
Innovative Reading Club boosting reading,
writing skills at St. James School
CHRISTINA GRAY
Adriana entered first grade at St. James School in
September with English language proficiency skills
six levels higher than when she started kindergarten. So did her classmate Aliyah, while Larenz,
Cologero and Alyssa each progressed five levels.
School faculty and families are seeing student
vocabulary and reading comprehension skills
advance quickly since 2013 when St. James introduced a multiage literacy program known by the
students as the Reading Club.
“The main point of Reading Club is to ensure
that we are reaching the individual needs of each
student,” said teacher Cynthia Caputo. “We want to
ensure that each child feels successful and is being
challenged but not overwhelmed.”
In the Reading Club, students in kindergarten
through third grade are assessed and placed in one
of three tiered learning groups based on their English language skills rather than by grade level. Students are continually assessed and move up as they
gain proficiency.
During a visit by Catholic San Francisco on
Jan. 6, a Reading Club group populated by kindergartners, first, second and third graders worked
together with Caputo in an animated vocabulary
building exercise. Students were engaged, enthusiastic and eager.
In this environment, Caputo said, students who
are struggling have more support so they can catch
up to where they should be and those students who
(PHOTO BY CHRISTINA GRAY/CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO)
Teacher Cynthia Caputo works with a student in Reading Club.
need more challenge are at their level rather than
limited by their grade level.
St. James principal, Dominican Sister of Mission
San Jose Mary Susanna Vasquez, said the new program is an important initiative at the San Francisco
Mission District school where 60 percent of the
school’s 125 families reported in a school survey that
English is not the household’s first language. Eightysix percent of the student population is Hispanic.
Students enter every grade level with a wide
range of English vocabulary, reading and comprehension skills. “The reason we implemented the
Reading Club is because we have so many English
language learners or bilingual students here,” she
said.
“We believe it is very important to lay a strong
foundation in the early years, particularly with
English language skills because it has a ripple effect on other subjects and will impact their future
academic achievements and future,” Sister Susanna said.
Sister Susanna, teachers and staff developed
the Reading Club based on the English Language
Development curriculum used by the San Francisco Unified School District. Its goal is to ensure
students acquire the skills to use proper conversational and academic English in complete sentences
with correct grammar and expression.
An English Language Development representative came out to give the school some sample
lessons and strategies. “Other than that, we’ve
just taken the idea and what we know and played
around with it,” Caputo said.
“When students are placed at a level that is
comfortable for them, they will experience success
every day and learn to be happy readers,” Sister
Susanna said.
Parents, in general, like Reading Club, said
Caputo. The school gives families regular reading level reports based on the Fountas & Pinnell
Reading Program and Assessment Kit. The report
provides a student’s reading level rating, which
helps parents find the proper books to develop the
reading abilities of their child.
“The multiage literacy program at St. James is
unique,” said Maureen Huntington, superintendent
of archdiocesan Catholic schools. “I wish more of
our schools would follow this example.”
Saint Philip the Apostle School
665 Elizabeth Street
San Francisco, CA 94114
415-824-8467
Rev. Tony P. LaTorre, Pastor
and Mrs. Remy Evere, Principal
invite you to our
OPEN HOUSE
Sunday, January 25, 2015
Pre-school 10:30 a.m. to Noon
Notre Dame Belmont Celebrates
Catholic Schools Week
6th & 7th Grade Day
Monday, March 30, 2015
3:30 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
K-8 Grades 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Liturgy Celebraon 10:30 a.m. at the Church
Providing Academic Excellence & Faith
Since 1938
Visit our campus and faculty.
Great opportunity to speak with
current students and parents!
Catholic and
Apply online!
www.ndhsb.org
Non-Catholic Families
[email protected]
[email protected]
Welcome
D a l y
C i t y
C o l m a
Our Lady of
Perpetual Help School
Our Lady of Mercy
Elementary School
Holy Angels
Elementary School
"Top of the Hill, Daly City"
80 Wellington Avenue
(between Mission & Brunswick Sts.)
(650) 755-4438 • www.olphdc.org
e-mail: [email protected]
– CALL SCHOOL FOR PRIVATE TOUR –
Open House: Sun., Jan. 25 11:00–1:00 pm
7 Elmwood Drive, Daly City 94015
(650) 756-3395
Fax: (650) 756-5872
www.olmbulldogs.org
Tours everyday at 9:15 a.m.
Open House: Sun. January 25 1:30 – 3:00 pm
20 Reiner Street, Colma 94014
(650) 755-0220
Fax: (650) 755-0258
www.holyangelscolma.com
Open House:
Sun., January 25 11 am – 2 pm
School tours by appointment
South
San Francisco
All Souls Catholic School
479 Miller Avenue
So. San Francisco 94080
Preschool - 8th Grade
(650) 583-3562 • Fax: (650) 952-1167
www.ssfallsoulsschool.org
Sunday, January 25, 9:00 am Mass
followed by Open House / Science Fair
CATHOLIC
ELEMENTARY
SCHOOLS
OF NORTH
SAN MATEO
COUNTY
South
San Francisco
St. Veronica Catholic School
Celebrating 50 years of:
Students who live our Faith,
Open and honest communicators,
Active members in our community,
Responsible, Life-long learners
We welcome you to attend
9:30 a.m. Mass
January 26,
25,2014
2015
Sunday, January
followed by our Open House
434 Alida Way
(650) 589-3909
So. San Francisco, CA 94080
www.saintveronicassf.org
Applications are now being accepted
Call for school tours and visit dates
SV Falcons are the best. We SOAR above the rest.
P a c i f i c a
S a n B r u n o
M I L L B R A E
Good Shepherd
Elementary School
Saint Robert
Catholic School
St. Dunstan
Catholic School
909 Oceana Boulevard
Pacifica 94044
(650) 359-4544
Fax: (650) 359-4558
www.goodshepherdschool.us
Open House:
Sun., January 25 11:00 am – 2 p.m.
School Tours by appointment
345 Oak Avenue
San Bruno 94066
(650) 583-5065
Fax: (650) 583-1418
www.saintrobert-school.org
Open House: Thurs., January 29
7:00 pm – 8:00 pm
School tours by appointment
1150 Magnolia Avenue
Millbrae 94030
(650) 697-8119
Fax: (650) 697-9295
www.st-dunstan.org
Open House: Sun., January 25
10:00 am Mass followed
by Open House
School tours by appointment.
National Catholic Education Association
honors Sts. Peter & Paul principal
CHRISTINA GRAY
1690 Church Street
(415) 648-2055
Fax: (415) 648-1920
www.stpaulsf.net
Open House:
January 25, 2015
9:15 Mass followed by Open House
School Tours by appointment
The nation’s top Catholic professional education
association has singled out the principal of Sts. Peter and Paul School as
one of nine principals in the country
to be awarded the 2015 Distinguished
Principal Award.
Lisa Harris will receive the award
from the National Catholic Educational Association at its convention
in April in Orlando, Florida.
Lisa Harris
The K-8 school with a current
enrollment of 232 students is located
across from Washington Square Park in North Beach.
Serving the families of Sts. Peter and Paul Parish
since 1925, it has been under the direction of the
Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, or Salesian
Sisters, since 1950.
Harris, 54, learned of the award just before the
school holiday break in a phone call from NCEA. “A
very nice gentleman from the NCEA said he had an
early Christmas present for me,” Harris said in an
interview with Catholic San Francisco on Jan. 6.
According to the NCEA website, the organization’s
Elementary Schools Department presents the annual
award to one principal in each of the geographic
regions into which the department divides the country in recognition of the “vital leadership role that
principals play in American Catholic education.”
Candidates are nominated by the local superintendent
of schools. The nominee’s application also includes
written testimonials from educators, parents and the
community.
Maureen Huntington, superintendent of Catholic
schools for the Archdiocese of San Francisco, said she
nominated Harris because she is an “extraordinary
administrator” and “a wonderful example of quality leadership in Catholic schools.” Huntington will
join Harris and her family in Orlando for the awards
ceremony.
“We identified Lisa as someone who had all the
qualifications of an ideal candidate,” Huntington said.
“It’s a very prestigious award in Catholic education.”
Harris has been an educator in the archdiocese for
30 years, 29 of which have been spent at Sts. Peter and
Paul School. Her father attended the school as a child
and both her mother and sister are longtime teachers
in the junior high.
“I have a strong family connection to this parish and
school,” Harris said.
Harris was hired as a teacher at the school after
graduating from San Francisco State University and
earning a teaching credential and later, a master’s
degree in education. She went on to become vice principal from 1992-1998 and after earning her doctorate in
education at the University of San Francisco, became
the school’s first lay principal in 1998.
In her candidacy application, Harris was asked to
detail some of her strengths and achievements. The
creation of a Leadership Team was at the top of that
list. The team is composed of six faculty members
who share responsibility with Harris for decisions
about student learning and school policies.
“We really operate the school as a team,” she said.
Being a principal today is an ever-expanding job, she
said, really too big for one person. Schools are big
businesses, with multimillion dollar budgets and large
staffs and constituencies to manage. “To have these
people in place has been amazing.”
She is also proud of the school’s mentoring program
that gives outgoing students a better than 98 percent
first-choice acceptance rate in the competitive San
Francisco high school application pool.
When asked to characterize her award-winning
style of leadership as principal, Harris was quick to
deflect much personal glory. Instead, she said she is
accepting the award on behalf of all the extraordinary
people she works with and other school principals in
the archdiocese.
“On behalf of our category of workers, of all Catholic school principals, I am happy to accept this on their
behalf,” she said.
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Junípero Serra High School in San Mateo
is much more than an outstanding
Catholic college preparatory school for
young men. It is a place where classmates
become brothers, teachers become
mentors and ordinary moments become
extraordinary experiences. Located
in the heart of the Peninsula between
San Francisco and Silicon Valley, Serra
students take advantage of all that the Bay
Area has to offer.
At Serra, you will be known and you will belong.
451 West 20th Avenue
San Mateo, CA 94403 650.345.8207
A Catholic College Preparatory
www.serrahs.com
MARIN COUNTY ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
O ur Lady of Loretto School
CALL FOR A TOUR! 415-454-4455
A Christ-centered community focused on the development of students who
are Compassionate, Humble, Responsible, Involved, Spiritual Thinkers.
Celebrating 125 Years
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TEACHING 21st CENTURY SKILLS
●
Excellence in education grounded in the Catholic faith
TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATION
PREPARING FAITH-FILLED LEADERS
www.straphaelschool.com
CONTACT: srsoffi[email protected]
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OPEN HOUSE: Sunday January 25, 2015 10 a.m.- 12 noon
One Trinity Way, San Rafael, CA 94903
www.stisabellaschool.org
Please call to schedule a school tour (415) 479-3727 ext. 112
or email our Admission’s Director, Rob Pheatt, at
[email protected]
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Saint Hilary School is a Catholic community where children
receive a strong religious and academic foundation allowing
them to develop their unique personal and intellectual gifts.
s Safe & nurturing values-driven education in a warm community
s Rigorous standards-based curriculum
s Apple Distinguished Technology School with 1:1 iPads in grades 3–8
s Full-day Junior Kindergarten and Kindergarten programs
s Rich co-curricular programs including: %ZOBNJD%SBNBUJD"rts &
Music Programs, Spanish, CYO Sports and "GUFSTDIPPM&lectives
[email protected] or (415) 435-2224
www. sa inthila r yschool .org
S A I N T H I L A RY S C HO OL s 76 5 H I L A RY DR I V E , T I BU R O N , CA L I F OR N I A 9 4 9 2 0
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Kindergarten Information Session
on January 21st at 9:00
1st & 2nd Grade Information Sessionon
January 22nd at 9:00
Open House on February 8th 11:00-12:30
Please call 415-454-8667
for more information
Outstanding students graduate
every year from the Catholic
elementary schools in Marin County.
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These students are well-rounded,
faith-filled, and service-oriented.
They excel in academics, the arts, music,
athletics, technology and leadership skills.
Southern San Mateo County Catholic schools booming
VALERIE SCHMALZ
Catholic elementary schools in southern San Mateo County are bursting at the seams – most with
each grade full to the maximum classroom size.
Burlingame Catholic schools are also on the
enrollment upswing. And All Souls School, in the
heart of South San Francisco, saw an enrollment
spike over the past five years, up from 252 to 329
students this year.
“The last three years have been huge booms
for us in terms of enrollment,” said Our Lady of
Mount Carmel School principal Teresa Anthony.
“We are presently at capacity with a total school
enrollment of 300 in grades kindergarten through
eighth grade and we have waiting lists for most of
our classes,” said St. Raymond School principal
Dr. Tara Rolle. Maximum class size is 34 at the
Menlo Park parish school, where grades K-5 have
two teachers. St. Raymond has seen its enrollment
grow from 244 in 2009-10 to 300 in the current 201415 school year.
Catholic school leaders attribute the rise in enrollment to an increase in families with young children in the area and the attraction of the Catholic
values and academic excellence the schools offer.
“The greatest marketing is word of mouth,” said
Carol Trelut, principal of the School of the Nativity
in Menlo Park.
Our Lady of Mount Carmel and St. Pius schools
in Redwood City, St. Charles in San Carlos, and St.
Raymond and School of the Nativity are all experiencing increased demand with high enrollment and
waiting lists.
Other San Mateo schools which saw big enrollment spikes over the past five years include St.
Catherine of Siena in Burlingame with an increase
from 287 to 322 in October 2014 and Our Lady of
Angels, also in Burlingame, which had enrollment
go from 313 to 384 in the same time period.
St. Pius School’s enrollment grew from 300 to 344
during the five-year span, according to archdiocesan statistics, recorded in October 2014.
“We are experiencing growth due to a number of
young families seeking faith-based development for
their children,” said St. Charles principal Maureen
Grazioli. St. Charles School has waiting lists for
four of the nine grades in the K-8 school, Grazioli
said. “It also helps that our student achievement is
ST. J/HN C!4(/L)#SC(//, (K–8)
IMAGE: SONPHOTO.COM
where community matters
offering traditional
faith-based education
while incorporating
cutting edge technology
Students at Our Lady of Mount Carmel School (above) and St. Raymond School (below).
high, particularly in reading, mathematics, science
and social studies.”
In San Carlos, the area’s demographics have
shifted from a graying population where the sidewalk rolled up at 5 p.m. to a city full of families,
with fields full of picnics and soccer games, said St.
Charles-San Carlos pastor Father David Ghiorso.
“I think the economy has really helped,” said Our
Lady of Mount Carmel principal Anthony. “Redwood City is doing a tremendous amount of building and bringing in those tech companies, those
startup companies.”
In addition, the school markets itself well, en-
couraging families to tell friends about the school
and conducts tours twice a week. The school was
established in 1885 and “attracts third and fourth
generation families who bring along their friends
from preschool,” she said. Newer Hispanic immigrants make up a large portion of the parish and
their children are attending Mount Carmel, lending
the school greater ethnic diversity, she said.
Mount Carmel parish supports the school with a
second collection for tuition assistance, contributing $24,000 a year, Anthony said.
“I believe Catholic schools are seeing a positive
increase in enrollment because school leaders are
becoming more proficient at celebrating and promoting the strengths of Catholic education,” Rolle
said, adding: “Catholic education will withstand
the test of time because it is grounded in valuescentered, mission-driven education for the whole
child.”
The southern San Mateo County Catholic
elementary schools trend runs counter to the aggregate archdiocesan statistics. The archdiocesan
Department of Catholic Schools recorded a drop in
overall elementary school enrollment – although a
rise in total high school enrollment (see Page 19). In
October 2014, the Department of Catholic Schools
recorded 257 fewer Catholic elementary school
students compared to last year, counting students
from preschool to grade 8. However, in San Mateo
County, the total drop was just 31 students concentrated in areas closer to San Francisco.
The BASIC Fund is a privately funded program
dedicated to broadening the educational
opportunities for children by helping low-income
families afford the cost of tuition at private schools.
SCHOLARSHIPS ARE FOR A MAXIMUM
OF $1,600 ANNUALLY PER CHILD.
For information and Application Please Call
Bay Area Scholarships for Innercity Children
#(%.%29342%%4s3!.&2!.#)3#/#!
www.stjohnseagles.com
415.584.8383
268 Bush Street, No. 2717 / San Francisco, CA 94104
Phone: 415-986-5650 / Fax: 415-986-5358
www.basicfund.org
Delivering on the Power and the
Promise of Catholic Education
Catholic Elementary Schools of
Southern San Mateo County
Southern San Mateo County parish schools have been providing Catholic education to
children on the San Francisco Peninsula for more than 125 years. Combining the power of
Catholic faith formation and the promise of academic excellence, students and families
enjoy the benefits of a fully credentialed faculty, a clear mission, vision and values, and the
commitment of principals and pastors to prepare children for high school and beyond.
Immaculate Heart of Mary School
St.
St. Charles
Charles School
School
1000
dede
LasLas
Pulgas,
Belmont
1000Alameda
Alameda
Pulgas,
Belmont
www.ihmschoolbelmont.org
www.ihmschoolbelmont.com
Pre-K
-8
tel 650-593-4265
fax 650-593-4342
tel 650-593-4265 fax 650-593-4342
[email protected]
See us on Facebook at Immaculate Heart of Mary, Belmont
PreK-8 Open House: Jan 30, 10:30 am –1:30 pm
Open House: January 25, 2015, 10:30 am–1:00pm
850
Avenue,
SanCarlos
850Tamarack
Tamarack
Avenue,
San Carlos
www.stcharlesschoolsc.org
www.stcharlesschoolsc.org
tel
fax 650-593-9723
tel650-593-1629
650-593-1629
fax 650-593-9723
Open House: January 25, 2015, 9:45am–12:00pm
Open House: January 23, 10:00 am –12:30pm
St Gregory
G
S h l
St.
School
1250 Laurel Street, Menlo Park
www.nativityschool.com
Preschool K - 8
tel 650-325-7304 fax 650-325-3841
2701 Hacienda St.
San Mateo, CA 94403
(650) 573-0111 fax (650) 573-6548
www.stgregs-sanmateo.org
Open House: January 25, 2015,
Kindergarten open house 9:00am–10:00am
General open house and Science fair 11:00am–1:00pm
Notre Dame Elementary
St. Pius School
An educational ministry in the tradition
of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur
1200 Notre Dame Avenue, Belmont
www.nde.org
tel 650-591-2209 fax 650-591-4798
K-8, Open House: January 24, 2015, 9:30am–11:00am
1100 Woodside Road, Redwood City
www.stpiusschool.org
Pre-School - 8
tel 650-368-8327 fax 650-368-7031
[email protected]
Open House: January 25, 2015, 10:30am until Noon
Our Lady of Angels
St. Matthew Catholic School
1328 Cabrillo Avenue, Burlingame
www.olaschoolk8.org
tel 650-343-9200 fax 650-343-5620
Open House: January 29, 2015, 6:00pm–8:00pm
910 S. El Camino Real, San Mateo
www.stmatthewcath.org
tel 650-343-1373 fax 650-343-2046
Family Mass 10:45am
Nativity School
Our Lady of Mount Carmel School
301 Grand Street, Redwood City
www.mountcarmel.org
tel 650-366-6127 fax 650-366-0902
Mass January 25, 2015 10:00am
Pre-School-Grade 8, including Transitional Kindergarten
Financial aid Presentation at Noon
St. Catherine of Siena School
1300 Bayswater Avenue, Burlingame
www.stcos.com
tel 650-344-7176 fax 650-344-7426
St. Raymond Catholic Jk-8 School
1211 Arbor Road, Menlo Park
www.straymond.org
Pre-K - 8
tel 650-322-2312 fax 650-322-2910
K-8 Open House: January 25, 2015, 11:00am–1:00pm
St. Timothy School
Junior High - Elementary - Kindergarten
1515 Dolan Avenue, San Mateo
www.sttimothyschoool.org
tel 650-342-6567 fax 650-342-5913
K-8 Open House: January 25, 2015, 10:15am–12:00 pm
All schools are fully accredited by the Western Catholic Educational Association and the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.
(PHOTOS BY CHRISTINA GRAY/CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO)
Students at St. Raphael School in San Rafael.
T
Financial aid for Catholic school children
Information for donors, applicants
he parishes of the Archdiocese of San Francisco conducted a campaign to fund an educational endowment. This campaign was known
as the TSTL: Today’s Students Tomorrow’s Leaders. Although this campaign
officially came to a close in
2006, the educational endowment fund that was created
with this campaign is still
open and accepting direct
donations and estate gifts.
This educational endowment campaign raised over
$16.5 million in endowed
funds that are distributed
ANNETTE BROWN annually to students who
live in the archdiocese who
attend Catholic elementary
and high schools. It is this fund, combined with
the resources of other endowments and funds,
created by other generous donors, that last year
reached $25 million, enabling us to fund approximately $1 million in archdiocesan family grants
and scholarships to our families on a need basis.
Generations of students and their families have
and will receive assistance because of the generosity of the parishioners in the Archdiocese of
San Francisco.
Each high school has its own sources of additional financial aid and scholarships, averaging
15 percent of the tuition revenue. In addition to
those funds, the archdiocese was able to award
ST. CHARLES SCHOOL
located at 3250
18th street near South Van Ness
invites all to our
School Open House
Saturday January 31st 12 noon to 5pm
Alumni Mass 5:30pm
Alumni Dinner 6:30pm to 9pm
in Moriarty Hall
for more information please call
the school at (415) 861-7652
351 high school students an additional scholarship of $550 or $1,600; the total amount of awards
provided by the archdiocese to the high schools
was $519,600 in school year 2014-15. Some elementary schools have their own sources of financial
aid, averaging 7 percent of the tuition revenue. In
addition to those funds, the archdiocese was able
to award 796 elementary school students an additional scholarship of $400-800; the total amount
of awards provided by the archdiocese to the
elementary schools was $487,650 in school year
2014-15.
April 15 is the elementary student deadline for
submitting all information to the third-party need
evaluation company that we use to collect the
financial data from our families. Late applications
will not be considered. Students must live in San
Mateo, San Francisco or Marin counties. We expect to announce the awards to students’ families
at the end of May. The high schools have their
own deadlines ranging from November-January,
and archdiocesan scholarships are announced directly to the high schools; the schools then convey
the award to the families of the students in their
acceptance package (for the incoming freshmen)
or as part of the tuition contract with the family
for continuing students.
We encourage elementary families to also apply
to the BASIC Fund (www.basicfund.org). The
BASIC Fund is not an endowment-based fund, but
raises funds each year for distribution on a need
basis. We also encourage families to inquire with
their principal about the availability of their own
school and parish scholarships.
The Archdiocese of San Francisco continues to
look for opportunities for system-wide grants and
endowment funds. The educational endowment
funds are all open and accepting direct donations and estate gifts which are then distributed
in perpetuity to our students. Since this endowment was started, we’ve been able to contribute
$1 million per year directly toward tuition for
our neediest families in our archdiocese. We are
especially grateful to all donors who contributed
to these educational endowments. We respectfully
request their and your continued generosity to
fund and encourage future generations of Catholic students.
To apply for an archdiocesan grant, log onto our
third-party processor’s website at www.mytads.com
and choose Financial Aid Assessment. Create an account, and start with the name of the school your child
attends or will attend. For more information contact
Annette Brown at (415) 614-5662 or [email protected].
BROWN is associate superintendent for planning and
finance for the archdiocesan Department of Catholic
Schools.
NORTH
SAN
FRANCISCO
DISTRICT
SCHOOLS
Financial District - Chinatown - North Beach
A TRUE INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL! Year-round Exchange Programs with China.
Strong Language Arts/Speech
Mandarin daily & weekends
SCHOOLWIDE
STEM PROJECTS FAIR
January 23 Friday
1:15 pm - 3 pm
January 24 Saturday
12 pm - 4 pm
January 25 Sunday
11 am - 3 pm
PUBLIC INVITED - OLD ST. MARY’S CATHEDRAL, 660 California St. @ Grant Ave.
Summer Academic & Enrichment
Please call for school tour
Kindergarten Preparation
Bilingual Preschool
Saint Vincent de Paul
School
SS

Sa
Saint Vincent de Paul School
Vincent
de Paul
ASaint
WASC/WCEA
accredited
A
WASC/WCEA
accredited
Kindergarten
Kindergarten
through 8 th grade
School
through 8th grade elementary school
elementary school
A strong academic
experience in a faith
A WASC/WCEA
accredited
filled environment includes
art, drama,
grade for
Kindergarten
8 thtechnology
music, P.E.,through
Spanish, and
elementary
all gradeschool
levels.
Extracurricular activities include CYO
Sports, Chess club, Choirs, Legos,
Dance, and many student driven clubs.
Extended Care is available.
AD
SALESIAN
SS. Peter and Paul School
2350 Green Street
San Francisco
415-346-5505
Saints Peter and
Paul Salesian School
660 Filbert St.
San Francisco
415-421-5219
www.sspeterpaulsf.org
Please Call for tours
and information
We are Pre-Kinder to Grade 8
Saints Peter and Paul School
660 Filbert Street
S.F., CA 94113
415.421.5219
[email protected]
www.sspeterpaulsf.org
Princial: Lisa Harris, Ed.D.
St. Monica School
Where Students Are Loved and Challenged
Our 95th Year of Offering a
Quality Catholic Education!
K-8 grades
Extended Care & After school
Enrichment Programs
(including a Chinese Language Program)
5950 Geary Blvd. (@ 24th Ave.)
415-751-9564
www.stmonicasf.org
SCHOOL TOUR:
Tuesday, January 27, 8:30am
Please call to RSVP
COMMUNITY OPEN HOUSE:
Sunday, April 19th, 11:30am - 1:30pm
Check our website for additional tour schedule
5950 Geary Blvd., San Francisco, CA 94121
415-751-9564 • www.stmonicasf.org
Star of the Sea School
360 9th Avenue
Terry Hanley, Principal
(415) 221-8558
[email protected]
Academic Excellence
Values-Based Curriculum
Nurturing Community
Grades K-8
Tours Available by Appointment Only
Please Visit Our website
WWW . STAROFTHESEASF . COM
Saint Brigid
School
Over100 years of excellent
Catholic
education.
A WCEA/WASC accredited elementary
academic foundation.
school with strong
Be our guest! Please call (415) 673-4523
to schedule an appointment.
www.saintbrigidsf.org
St. Raphael’s Veritas program:
‘Be who God meant for you to be’
CHRISTINA GRAY
“Be who God meant for you to be
and you will set the world on fire.”
The words of St. Catherine of
Siena, a third-order Dominican
canonized in 1461, are the inspiration
for the Veritas program launched
this fall at St. Raphael School in San
Rafael.
“Our goal is to provide a quality
Catholic education accessible to any
family that desires to partner with
us in the goal of preparing leaders in
our church and world,” said principal
Lydia Collins. “The Veritas program
focuses on the strengths of each
individual child and empowers them
to ‘set the world on fire.’”
St. Raphael School has experienced
a change in student demographics
which reflect the changing demographics of the parish and of Marin
County. The diversity is a huge plus,
she said. “But how do we provide
academic excellence and a Catholic
education to all students? We realized
we can’t be doing what we’ve always
been doing.”
Collins said the Veritas program is
based on a philosophy that seeks educational equity for all students. By
helping students identify and appreciate the unique strengths that their
lived experiences have provided,
they can more easily discover God’s
purpose for their lives.
Third-grade teacher and Veritas
(PHOTOS BY CHRISTINA GRAY/CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO)
St. Raphael’s Veritas program is schoolwide.
program coordinator Francesca
Previtali said educator and school
parent, Dr. Juan Carlos Arauz
helped the school craft the program.
Arauz, whose two children attend
St. Raphael School, is the founding executive director for E3ed.org,
a San Rafael-based nonprofit that
works to close the education gap for
underprivileged students around the
country.
In every grade teachers cultivate
five foundational skills: innovation,
critical thinking, cross-cultural communication, adaptability and teamwork. Students are taught to recognize when they are using these skills.
“One of the ways to help under-
served students is by tapping into
their life experiences, which might
be different than other students,”
Previtali said. For example, living
in close quarters with others could
mean a student is highly adaptable,
well-versed in cross-cultural communication and able to work as a part of
a team.
Veritas prepares all students,
regardless of economic or ethnic
background, to meet the challenges
of living in a global community. “It’s
not enough to simply graduate with
4.3 or 4.5 (grade point average) anymore,” Collins said.
Students can be academically brilliant but if they lack the practical
and personal skills to translate what
they know into the real world, they
will find it difficult to fulfill God’s
purpose for them, she added.
“We expect our children to graduate with faith, and act with intelligence, responsibility and excellence,”
Collins said, noting the Dominican
Sisters of San Rafael, who founded
St. Raphael’s, taught with the same
philosophy.
Helping every child to be who
God meant them to be is what every
Catholic school should be doing, Collins said. “If you plant that message
from day one, they leave you with a
sense that ‘I have a duty to share my
gifts with the world.’”
Serra community
service is
hands-on
Educating young women
according to Gospel values
in the Mercy tradition since 1952
inspired intelligent inventive involved incredible interested independent interconnected insightfull
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Are
innovative ingenious intuitive invested intentional invigorated intrigued inspired intelligent inventive
involved incredible interested independent interconnected insightful innovative ingenious intuitive
invested intentional invigorated intrigued inspired intelligent inventive involved incredible interestedd
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intrigued inspired intelligent inventive involved incredible interested independent interconnected insightfull
Dominic Pacheco, a freshman from
Junipero Serra High School, helps to
reach out to others in the community
as a result of Serra’s Christian Service
opportunities. He was one of 25 students and staff members who joined a
group organized by admissions director
Randy Vogel to sort and pack food
at Second Harvest Food Bank in San
Carlos in the fall.
(PHOTO COURTESY JUNIPERO SERRA HIGH SCHOOL)
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Saint Hilary School is a Catholic community where children
receive a strong religious and academic foundation allowing
them to develop their unique personal and intellectual gifts.
s Safe & nurturing values-driven education in a warm community
s Rigorous standards-based curriculum
EMI
C EXCELL

Where Young Women Prepare To Make A Difference In The World
SAN FRANCISCO
SI
STERHOOD

LE
ADE
ME RCY
s Apple Distinguished Technology School with 1:1 iPads in grades 3–8
s Full-day Junior Kindergarten and Kindergarten programs
s Rich co-curricular programs including: %ZOBNJD%SBNBUJD"rts &
EN
NTEGRIT
I
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San Francisco
AD
CE
Mercy High School
RSHIP
AC
3250 NINETEENTH AVENUE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94132 | WWW.MERCYHS.ORG
Music Programs, Spanish, CYO Sports and "GUFSTDIPPM&lectives
[email protected] or (415) 435-2224
www. sa inthila r yschool .org
S A I N T H I L A RY S C HO OL s 76 5 H I L A RY DR I V E , T I BU R O N , CA L I F OR N I A 9 4 9 2 0
Marin Catholic
We support our Catholic Elementary Schools in celebrating
Catholic Schools Week.
Our Lady of Loretto
St. Hilary
St. Raphael
St. Rita
Nicole Marino
Matthew Biasotti
Janet Miramontes
Santino Ambrosini
San Domenico
St. Patrick
St. Anselm
St. Isabella
Brady McCallister
Taylor Wirth
Peter Jankowski
Natalie Ho
- Volunteer, Atria Senior Living
- Crossroads Service Trip
- AP Scholar
- Committed to UCSB for Softball
- Volunteer, Special Olympics
- National Honors Society
- Golf, Soccer, Basketball
- Volunteer, The Redwoods
- Outstanding Student
Scholarship Award Recipient
- Golf
- Volunteer, El Carmen Project
- Outstanding Student
Scholarship Award Recipient
- AP Scholar
- Volunteer Leader, E3: Education,
Excellence, Equity Summer Program
- Cross Country, Captain- Track & Field,
- Kairos Leader
- Volunteer, El Carmen Project
- Junior Class Council Publicity Officer
- Team Chaplain, Varsity Tennis
- National Honor Society
- Volunteer, Marin General Chaplaincy
Services
- AP Scholar
- Team Chaplain, Water Polo & Swim
- Volunteer, Aldersly Garden Retirement
Community
- National Honor Society
- AP Scholar
Our Lady of Loretto — Novato
St. Anselm — San Anselmo
Outstanding students
are admitted every year to
Marin Catholic from each of our
Catholic elementary schools.
St. Hilary— Tiburon
St. Isabella — San Rafael
St. Patrick — Larkspur
St. Raphael — San Rafael
These students are
well-rounded, faith filled, and
service oriented. They excel in
academics, arts, music,
athletics, and more.
It is on the solid foundation
established in our parochial
schools that we build our legacy
at Marin Catholic — a legacy of
faith, knowledge, and service.
St. Rita — Fairfax
San Domenico — San Anselmo
Visit www.marincatholic.org for more information.
FAITH
KNOWLEDGE
SERVICE
Catholic preschools continue
to open across the archdiocese
Italian Catholic physician and educator who opened her first Montessori school in 1907. Hill has brought
her philosophy of education to three
schools so far in the archdiocese.
She started the Star of the Sea preschool in 2007, Immaculate Heart of
Mary’s preschool in Belmont in 2010
and St. Pius in 2013.
“She had a pretty profound understanding,” said Hill about Montessori. “It really is about community
building, allowing the family to have
one central community supporting
their faith – 3-year-olds through
eighth grade.”
“What makes it different than a
state school or secular school is really the spiritual development of the
child and the spiritual development
VALERIE SCHMALZ
The number of Catholic preschools
in the Archdiocese of San Francisco
has increased dramatically in the
last dozen years. From six in 2002,
there will be 23 by the end of this
school year.
St. Pius Preschool in Redwood City
opened during the 2013-14 school
year and Holy Angels Preschool
in Colma opened its doors Nov. 3.
School of the Nativity in Menlo Park
just finished a 900-foot wing for the
preschool which is slated to open
this spring.
“Enrollment’s thriving. The need
for preschool is tremendous,” said
Lauri Hill, director of St. Pius
Preschool, a Montessori influenced
school. Maria Montessori was an
Holy Angels preschool director Concepcion Gonzalez with students.
SEE PRESCHOOLS, PAGE CSW17
Maria Montessori’s educational philosophy
nurtures preschoolers’ relationship to God
LAURI HILL
Since opening her first school, Casa
dei Bambini at San Lorenzo, Italy, in
1907, Dr. Maria Montessori’s work has
inspired Catholic educators around
the world. There are no cultural
boundaries within her method for it
is the spirit of God – inherent in every
child – which is at the heart of her
educational philosophy.
Montessori’s Catholic faith is the
basis of her philosophy, centering
on the relationship between God and
the child. She said, “We must take
into consideration that from birth
the child has a power within him. We
must not just see the child, but God
in him. We must respect the laws of
creation in him.”
Montessori was a remarkable woman, even before she developed her
educational philosophy, graduating in
1896 from medical school to become
one of Italy’s first female physicians.
Today, the American Montessori Society counts more than 22,000 Montessori schools in at least 110 countries
worldwide. In the Archdiocese of San
Francisco, many of our preschools
use educational methods influenced
by Montessori.
For more than 100 years, Catholic
educators have greatly benefited
from Montessori’s teachings, which
emphasize the child’s development,
the role of the educator and the environment. As Jesus says in the Gospel
of St. Matthew: “Truly I say to you,
unless you are converted and become
like children, you will not enter the
kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:3)
As Catholic educators, what exactly
is being asked of us? We as parents
and teachers know that we must grow
and change, but what is it about the
child that God is asking us to become?
Maria Montessori’s work seeks to
answer that question. As adults we
must follow the child, keenly observing the way in which he or she learns
and grows.
Montessori believed that the child
is uniquely driven by an internal
spiritual force leading to his or her
optimal development. Her interest
was in educating the whole child:
physically, intellectually, emotionally,
psychologically and morally. But her
‘We can talk about God.
Really talk about him.’
LAURI HILL
Director of St. Pius Preschool
primary emphasis was nurturing the
child’s spiritual development.
In most social settings a young child
seems to know what is of the essence
and seeks necessary encounters for
self-fulfillment. There is a power
within the child’s soul directing him
or her toward a precise goal. A young
child filled with wonder, imagination
and curiosity will enthusiastically
engage in activities meaningful to
him or her. The child is not driven by
abstract ideas, rather by motivation
from within to concretely engage and
discover. Thereby he or she develops
a sense of meaning and purpose in
life. Montessori said, “The use of
things shapes man, and man shapes
things. This reciprocal shaping is a
manifestation of man’s love for his
surroundings.” The child, in love
with his or her surroundings, seeks
knowledge and understanding in and
through encounters.
Therein lies the sacred simplicity
of childhood, one that is enthusiastic,
engaging and loving. The child has a
deep and abiding relationship with all
life, developing independently while
contributing to the growth of the
community. As Catholic educators
we are asked to recognize the spirit
of God working in all our lives, and
to nurture that love for the good of
the individual, the society, and the
church.
As educators we are called to collaborate with the work of God already
begun in the child. We do this by
drawing out the spirit of God within
the child, allowing him or her the
freedom to fully engage in a loving
environment. We offer children the
freedom to grow by providing a rich
and supportive environment where
their imaginations can flourish and
God can be encountered and affirmed.
As Montessori said, “It has been
said that man’s greatest delight is to
possess things. No! Man’s greatest
delight is using them! Using them to
perfect himself and at the same time
to improve his environment.”
Maria Montessori observed the constant interaction between a child and
his or her environment and passed
on her discoveries to us. When we
provide a calm learning environment,
promoting concentration, independence, order, and communication,
children are then able to joyfully
engage in meaningful exploration
with deep interest and focus. Montessori believed that concentration
is key to self-mastery and central to
the child’s sense of self. His or her
spiritual need for self-development is
satisfied through deep concentration.
Given these necessary skills – and
understanding ways to implement
them – the child can achieve success,
and a love for lifelong learning.
Montessori’s Method supports our
mission to proclaim the Gospel, build
community, and serve one another.
When we acknowledge our true identity as children of God, we can better
participate in the loving enhancement of all God’s creation.
LAURI HILL founded and is director of St. Pius
Preschool in Redwood City, the third of the
Archdiocese of San Francisco Montessori
inspired preschools she has founded.
PRESCHOOLS: Continue to open across the archdiocese
FROM PAGE CSW16
within the families,” said Hill. “We
can talk about God. Really talk about
him. We can live it. We don’t teach
religion. I tell parents, ‘it’s in everything we do.’”
There were just six Catholic
preschools in 2002, when Maureen
Huntington began her tenure as
superintendent of Catholic schools
in the archdiocese. In April 2009,
preschools were placed within the
Catholic school system, just as the
number of preschools accelerated.
As of September 30, 2014, archdiocesan Catholic schools had 820 preschoolers enrolled, Huntington said.
Nationally, preschool enrollment
is on the rise as well, according to
National Catholic Education Association statistics. In the 2013-14 school
year, 158,537 students were enrolled
in preschool, up from 150,422 a
Holy Angels preschool teacher helps a student learn to cut with scissors.
decade earlier. That compares to
an aggregate national decline in
elementary enrollment during the
same time period from 1.9 million to
1.4 million, according to the NCEA
website.
“Preschools are good for the families and the children, and certainly
for the enrollment,” Hill noted. Preschools are an excellent feeder to the
elementary school’s kindergarten,
school officials said.
For Hill, the preschool is also a
wonderful way for young families
to return to the Catholic Church,
beginning with the parents’ visit to
the preschool to check it out without
their child.
“That’s the beauty of the parents I
meet. They come in, young 30s, and
say, ‘We’ve been away for a while,
sorry. Now we have this most precious thing in our lives.’ And we just
say, welcome home,” said Hill.
ARCHDIOCESE OF SAN FRANCISCO CATHOLIC PRESCHOOLS
SAN FRANCISCO COUNTY PRESCHOOLS
(8 PRESCHOOLS)
HOLY NAME PRESCHOOL
Director: Alice Ho Seher
1560 40th Avenue
Ages: 2.6-6
Preschool phone: (415) 664-4753
Website: www.holynamesf.com
Email: [email protected]
LAURA VICUNA KINDERGARTEN
Director: Barbara Simons
660 Filbert St.
Ages: 4-5
Website: www.sspeterpaulsf.org/prek/
SAINT ANNE PRESCHOOL
Director: Judy Glaeser
1362 A 14th Avenue
Ages: 3-5
Website: www.stanneps.com
SAINT PAUL LITTLEST ANGEL
PRESCHOOL
Director: Peg Lazzarini-Kayser
221 Valley Street Ste. X
Ages: 2 years 9 months-5 years
Website: www.LittlestAngelPreschool.com
SAINT PHILIP PRESCHOOL
Director: Holly Veldhuis
725 Diamond Street
Ages: 3-5
Website: www.saintphilippreschool.org
SAINT THOMAS THE APOSTLE
PRESCHOOL & PREKINDERGARTEN LEARNING CENTER
Director: Hope Peterson
710 40th Avenue
Ages: 3-5
Website: www.sfsta.org
STAR OF THE SEA PRESCHOOL
Director: Jacqueline Paras
360 9th Avenue
Ages: 3-5
Website: www.staroftheseasf.com
UTOPIA PRESCHOOL
Director: Michelle Ovando
50 Thomas More Way
Ages: 3-5
Website: www.stthomasmoreschool.
org/preschool
MARIN COUNTY PRESCHOOLS
(3 PRESCHOOLS)
SAINT RAPHAEL PRESCHOOL
Director: Sister Joan Hanna, OP
1100 Fifth Avenue
SanRafael, CA 94901
Ages: 3-5
Website: www.saintraphael.com
SAINT RITA PRESCHOOL
Director: Glenda Davidson
102 Marinda Drive
Fairfax, CA 94930
Ages: 3-5
Website: www.strita.edu
SAN DOMENICO PRESCHOOL
Director: Kate Reeser
1500 Butterfield Road
San Anselmo, CA 94960
Ages: 3-5
Website: www.sandomenico.org
Email: admissions@sandomenico.
org
SAN MATEO COUNTY PRESCHOOLS
(9 PRESCHOOLS)
ALL SOULS PRESCHOOL
Director: Lauren Balcaceres
479 Miller Avenue
South San Francisco, CA 94080
Ages: 3-5
Website: www.ssfallsoulsschool.org
IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY
PRESCHOOL
Director: Katrina Reyes
1000 Alameda de las Pulgas
Belmont, CA 94002
Ages: 3-5
Website: www.ihmschoolbelmont.org/
preschool
HOLY ANGELS PRESCHOOL
Director: Concepcion Gonzalez
20 Reiner Street
Colma, CA 94014
NATIVITY PRESCHOOL
Opening soon
1250 Laurel St. Menlo Park, Ca 94025
Ages: 4-5
Website: nativityschool.com
OUR LADY OF ANGELS
PRESCHOOL
Director: Lysette Cukar
1341 Cortez Avenue
Burlingame, CA 94010
Ages: 3-5
Website: www.olaparish.org
OUR LADY OF MERCY PRESCHOOL
Director: Kelly Walsh
7 Elmwood Drive
Daly City, CA 94015
Ages: 3-5
Website: www.olmbulldogs.org
OUR LADY OF MOUNT CARMEL
PRESCHOOL
Director: Maureen Arnott
601 Katherine Avenue
Redwood City, CA 94062
Ages: 3-5
Website: www.mountcarmel.org
SACRED HEART PRESCHOOL &
KINDERGARTEN
Director: Cee Salberg
150 Valparaiso Avenue
Atherton, CA 94027
Ages: 3-5
Website: www.shschools.org
SAINT MATTHIAS PRESCHOOL
Director: Mary Ornellas
1685 Cordilleras Avenue
Ages: 3-5
Website: www.stmatthiasparish.org
SAINT PIUS PRESCHOOL
Director: Lauri Hill
1100 Woodside Road
Ages: 3-5
Website: www.stpiusschool.org
SAINT RAYMOND PRESCHOOL
Director: Anne Reed
1211 Arbor Road
Menlo Park, CA 94025
Ages: 4-5
Website: www.straymond.org
‘Rock star’ science teacher creates curiosity
VALERIE SCHMALZ
Boiling water while the water gets
colder runs counter to every common assumption.
That experiment was a day in the
life of the chemistry class at Sacred
Heart Cathedral Preparatory recently, where “rock star” chemistry
teacher Ramsey Musallam’s goal is
to “create curiosity.”
Musallam is a bit of an Internet
sensation in the education world,
with an April 2013 TED talk that
has 1.6 million hits and counting, an
award-winning high energy Internet
TV show, “Infinite Thinking Machine,” as well as a blog cyclesoflearning.com. He is also adjunct professor at University of San Francisco
where he obtained his doctorate in
education in 2010. The 38-year-old
married father of four children
consults around the world and gives
talks at technology and education
conferences.
For Musallam, however, the media
is far from being the message – the
medium is just a tool, and no whizbang technology can compensate
for a hardworking creative teacher
who approaches each class with new
ideas, and a new lesson plan.
While a traditional approach has
been to give a lecture and then perform the experiment, Musallam frequently flips the process, a process
dubbed flip teaching – and he creates
phone videos for each class to access
for more information when they do
their homework at home. Each class
receives an individually created
lecture and approach and each year
is different, he said.
“I hate when people say you’ve
Sacred Heart Cathedral science teacher Ramsey Musallam shows class how to boil water
while it gets colder.
been teaching for 14 years, you can
just pull out the old stuff. No one
would say that to Picasso,” said Musallam, who has a bachelor of science
from UC Davis in molecular and cellular biology. “My job is way harder
the more veteran I get.”
“I feel like I’m working 50 times
harder than I did my second or third
year teaching,” Musallam said. He
teaches two classes in Sacred Heart
Cathedral’s new Inquiry and Innovation program as well as serving as
program director and teaches three
Advanced Placement (AP) chemistry
classes.
Creating an intellectual disso-
nance is key to Musallam’s teaching
method. “Student questions are the
seeds of real learning,” Musallam
said in his TED talk.
“Anyone who knows a 4-yearold, knows they want to ask why,”
Musallam said in his TED talk, with
a photo of his 4-year-old daughter on
the screen behind him. “I can teach
this kid anything because she is curious about everything. The challenge
for her future teachers is – how will
they grow this curiosity?”
TED is a nonprofit devoted to
spreading ideas, usually in the form
of short, powerful talks. TED began
in 1984 as a conference where Tech-
nology, Entertainment and Design
converged and now TED talks have
created a global community and the
talks cover almost all topics in more
than 100 languages.
“I used the talk to call out educational technology,” Musallam said.
In the six-minute talk, Musallam
both uses technology – as he does in
his classroom – and demonstrates
the importance of human beings as
teachers.
Superintendent of Catholic Schools
for the Archdiocese of San Francisco
Maureen Huntington calls Musallam
a “rock star” science teacher. “He is
fabulous!” said Huntington.
The discovery of an aneurysm
at the base of his aorta in 2010
jolted Musallam out of 10 years of
“pseudo-teaching” he said in the
talk, and the attitude of the surgeon
who saved his life transformed his
approach to teaching. He says that
it harder to prepare and teach now
than when he started teaching,
but he believes he is a much better teacher. “Curiosity drove him
to ask hard questions about the
procedure,” said Musallam of the
surgeon, who said he found “surprising moments of comfort in the
confidence of my surgeon.” The surgeon’s willingness to embrace “the
messy and inevitable process of trial
and error,” and with intense reflection to find a procedure that worked
meant that “with a steady hand, he
saved my life.”
“I believe that learning in the
classroom should mirror how problem solving and learning actually
happens,” Musallam told Catholic
San Francisco. “When you learn
something it is because you feel an
intrinsic need to learn something.”
Marin Catholic launches new sacramental prep program
SISTER MIRIAM
MARIN CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL
One exciting development this year
at Marin Catholic High School has
been the implementation of its new
sacramental preparation program
for students who want to be baptized
into the Catholic faith or to enter into
full communion with the Catholic
Church.
With opportunities to encounter
Christ, such as retreats, Mass, and
eucharistic adoration, students are
drawn to him and desire the grace of
the sacraments. In the last couple of
years, the number of students asking
to be baptized or to enter into full
communion with the Catholic Church
has increased.
Marin Catholic encourages youth
to be actively engaged in their parishes and to receive the sacraments
there. However, a portion of students
seeking greater conversion and
discipleship are unable to receive the
sacraments through the parishes in
the usual manner. The preparation
program at Marin Catholic complements and enriches topics already
present in theology classes.
Students meet once a week to delve
deeper into the tenets of the Apostle’s
Creed, to prepare themselves for
the graces of the sacraments, and to
enter more deeply into the spiritual
life. The Rite of Christian Initiation
of Adults process has a number of
rites which will be celebrated within
the Marin Catholic community. The
(PHOTO COURTESY WESTON KIRBY/MARIN CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL)
Students work through sections of the YouCat, or Youth Catechism of the Catholic Church, as part of the Marin Catholic sacramental preparation program.
first of these rites was the rite of
acceptance to the catechumenate
which took place at the schoolwide
Immaculate Conception Mass on Dec.
8. The sacraments of initiation will be
celebrated by San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone at St.
Patrick’s parish in Larkspur May 25. Marin Catholic is proud of these
young students for seeking deeper
union with Christ in such a tangible
and public way. The school community offers its prayerful encouragement
and support. SISTER MIRIAM of the Dominican Sisters
of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, who
teaches chemistry at Marin Catholic, is
on the campus ministry team. She leads
the sacramental preparation program,
coordinates the high school liturgy choir,
and leads retreats.
Seeing double at St. Ignatius –
Drama director casts most roles twice
VALERIE SCHMALZ
St. Ignatius seniors Madison Sidwell and Francesca Izzo are very good friends
who shared the spotlight – every
other night – this fall.
Both were cast as Dolly Levi, the
central character in “Matchmaker,” St. Ignatius College Preparatory’s fall production which ran Nov.
12-15 and Nov. 19-22. The drama
program traditionally double-casts
each of its productions, a tradition
Ted Curry
that goes back decades.
Madison said it helped. Francesca is one of
her best friends: “We talked about our character
together.” Knowing there was someone to fall back
on if something went wrong or she forgot something was comforting, Francesca said. “We respect
each other so much because we know we are all
very talented,” Francesca said of the cast. Both
Francesca and Madison plan to major in theater in
college, with auditions in the spring.
SI drama director Ted Curry usually casts two
students for each role in both the fall play and the
spring musical, he said, continuing a tradition that
predates his arrival 15 years ago. Curry, who graduated from the Jesuit high school in 1982, owned a
professional interactive mystery theater company
at Fisherman’s Wharf and acted professionally for
years. He speaks nationally to theater education
conferences about double-casting.
Double-casting’s biggest advantage is it allows
twice as many students to participate in the drama
program at the nearly 1,500 student coeducational
San Francisco high school, he said. St. Ignatius also
has a fall drama festival and a spring cabaret, with
the aim of giving more students opportunities, he
said.
“That’s why I double and triple cast – to get more
kids involved. This show (“Matchmaker”) is written for 13 actors – and double cast, so 26 actors,”
said Curry, who grew up in Westlake, attended Our
Lady of Mercy School and graduated from St. Ignatius in 1982. He studied theater at San Francisco
State University and has a Bachelor of Science
(PHOTOS COURTESY PAUL TOTAH/ST. IGNATIUS COLLEGE PREPARATORY)
Madison Sidwell
Francesca Izzo
from University of San Francisco in organizational
behavior and leadership.
Whenever he speaks nationally about doublecasting, Curry said he gets pushback from other
drama directors. “The argument against this is they
say how can you give each individual time? You are
naturally going to like one more than the other.”
That doesn’t happen, said Curry, a married father
of two now young men. “I treat it as a team, creating each character.”
The teamwork and lack of student acting ‘stars’
that necessarily go with double-casting roles help
prepare students who go on to perform in college
and professionally, he said.
However, Curry said he single cast “Westside
Story” last year and came away with a desire to
spend more time with each individual actor. In the
fall, during the double-cast productions he scheduled individual one-on-one time and also set aside
time to work separately with each cast as a group.
“What you call the teams is massively important,” Curry said. Never does he call one team
the A team and the other the B team. “We have an
opening cast and a closing cast. Everyone asks,
what’s your better cast? That doesn’t exist.”
The two casts perform alternate nights and
when they are not on, they understudy the cast
performing. It helps in emergencies. Recently
the school produced “Dead Man Walking” and
the student playing Sister Helen Prejean fainted
on stage. The understudy took over, Curry
recalled. “Halfway through the second act, the
audience figured out it was a different girl,”
Curry said.
St. Ignatius’ drama program bills itself as the
longest continuously running theater program
west of the Mississippi with 143 consecutive theater
seasons as of last year, according to the St. Ignatius College Preparatory website. Students have
gone on to professional acting careers. Curry said
he has two former students starring in television
series right now: Jacqueline Toboni stars in NBC’s
“Grimm” and Colin Woodell is the lead in “Devious
Maids” on Lifetime.
Double-casting takes nothing away from each
individual’s crafting of a role, Curry said. “You end
up learning by watching others act. I always tell the
actors, you will be making your own choices. You
could make the same choice and yet it will come
across differently.”
Catholic high school enrollment increases buoyed by economy, mini-baby boom
VALERIE SCHMALZ
More students are attending Catholic high
school in the Archdiocese of San Francisco.
Thirteen of the 14 Catholic high schools in the
archdiocese increased the number of students enrolled from last year to this year and many have
seen overall jumps in enrollment over the past
five years, according to statistics gathered by the
archdiocesan Department of Catholic Schools.
“The mini baby boom in 2000 is now 14 years old
and in high school,” said Maureen Huntington,
Catholic schools superintendent. “The improved
economy is allowing schools to offer more tuition
assistance and more families to trust in their
future earning capacity to afford tuition and college.”
Enrollment in secondary Catholic schools is up
by a total of 215 students for a total of 8,094 students enrolled in Catholic high schools in Marin,
San Mateo and San Francisco counties, according
to statistics collected by the archdiocesan Department of Catholic Schools.
All four archdiocesan high schools saw enrollment increase, in some cases substantially, from
last year to this year. Most saw solid gains when
comparing this year to five years ago, according
to the archdiocesan schools department data.
All but one of the 10 independent Catholic
high schools owned by religious communities
increased enrollment from 2013-14 to this school
year, according to data compiled by the schools
department. Many also increased enrollment over
the past five years.
(PHOTO COURTESY JUNIPERO SERRA HIGH SCHOOL)
Junipero Serra High School students at a November Spirit rally.
High school enrollment is up overall over the
past five years in San Francisco and Marin counties, but San Mateo county high schools have seen
an aggregate drop in enrollment during that period of 9.7 percent. However, from 2013-14 to this
year, Catholic high school enrollment increased
overall in San Mateo County by close to 1 percent.
The four archdiocesan Catholic high schools all
increased enrollment.
Marin Catholic High School increased enrollment by 5.1 percent from 2009-10 to 2014-15 from
712 to 748 students. Sacred Heart Cathedral
Preparatory, also coeducational and the largest
archdiocesan high school, increased enrollment
from 1269 to 1289 which is close to capacity for the
San Francisco school. Junipero Serra High School
in San Mateo, an all-boys archdiocesan high
school increased its enrollment from last year to
this year by 3 percent, up to 885 students.
Archbishop Riordan High School in San Francisco, also all-boys, saw its enrollment grow
nearly 18 percent over the past five years, from
575 in 2009-10 to 678 this school year. Riordan’s enrollment rose 6.1 percent from 2013-14 to this year.
“It takes a community to raise a young person,”
said Riordan admissions director Derek Tate,
summarizing the attraction of faith-driven and
academically excellent Catholic schools. “As a
school, we have to do a great job of being there for
kids when they are successful and helping them
when they are not. That’s all part of the educational process.”
Serra president Lars Lund noted faith is the underlying foundation for Catholic schools. “Since
1944, we’ve focused on educating men of faith,
wisdom and service-leaders who build community
and seek to make a difference in the world,” said
Lund.
Enrollment increased 20 percent from 2009-10 to
this school year at all-girls Immaculate Conception Academy, a Dominicans of Mission San Jose
school which converted to the Cristo Rey Network
model in September 2009. The students work five
days a month at a corporate site – the school has
more than 100 corporate sponsors which fund
about 50 percent of its costs – and annual tuition
of $2,900 is also frequently mitigated by financial
aid. Enrollment rose from 248 in the 2009-10 year
to 299 this school year. Principal Lisa Graham
said the Cristo Rey model makes “ICA a true option for those who could not otherwise afford a
Catholic, college prep high school education.”
Catholic school children living Gospel values
1
2
(PHOTO COURTESY STUART HALL HIGH SCHOOL
3
4
(PHOTO COURTESY IMMACULATE CONCEPTION ACADEMY)
1
ST. MARY’S SCHOOL, SAN
FRANCISCO: Fourth graders from
St. Mary’s School, San Francisco,
performed an Our Lady of Guadalupe
play Dec. 12 at Old St. Mary’s Cathedral
in Chinatown. Shown are the students,
pastor Paulist Father Bart Landry, fourth
grade teacher Angelina Gonzales.
5
– Notice of Non Discriminatory Policy as to Students –
2
STUART HALL HIGH SCHOOL,
SAN FRANCISCO: Students traveled en masse to Alcatraz in early January to explore the concepts of freedom
and power at the Ai Weiwei @Large
exhibit on Alcatraz. The trip by 240
students, teachers and administrators
was part of an annual Values Day at the
school. San Francisco Interfaith Council
executive director Michael Pappas,
joined the group on Alcatraz.
3
IMMACULATE CONCEPTION
ACADEMY, SAN FRANCISCO:
Congratulations to Jessica Batres,
Ronette Herico, Stephanie Camacho and
DJ Mathews; the members of the Girl
Rising Club were awarded third place
for their anti-bullying video in “The Bye
Bye Bullying” video contest sponsored
by the San Francisco Unified School
District and others. San Francisco District
Attorney George Gascon presented the
award along with former Warriors head
coach Al Attles.
4
MARIN CATHOLIC HIGH
SCHOOL: The St. Vincent de Paul
Club hosted a bake sale to raise funds
for the Catholic refugees of ISIS in the
Mideast. The club also hosted a dinner
to raise money for the Lenten drive. The
SVdP Club exists to help the poor and
unfortunate through its clothing drive
and Lenten charity drive.
5
ST. ANTHONY-IMMACULATE
CONCEPTION SCHOOL AND
(PHOTO COURTESY MARIN CATHOLIC/JENNIFER SKINNER).
ST. JAMES SCHOOL, SAN FRANCISCO: Four eighth graders in two
San Francisco elementary schools
were awarded Robert M. Holstein, Jr.
Scholarships by the Dominican Sisters
Vision of Hope. Katherine Hernandez
and Senji Allegro are students at St.
Anthony-Immaculate Conception
School, and Ashley Sosa-Cativo and
Alex Doroliat attend St. James Catholic
School. Both schools are operated by
the Dominican Sisters of Mission San
Jose. Vision of Hope annually selects two students at each of its eight
elementary schools to receive $1,500
Holstein scholarships.
All Souls School, So. San Francisco; Archbishop Riordan High School, San Francisco; Convent of
the Sacred Heart Elementary School, San Francisco; Convent of the Sacred Heart High School,
San Francisco; De Marillac Academy, San Francisco; Ecole Notre Dame des Victoires, San
Francisco; Good Shepherd School, Pacifica; Holy Angels School, Colma; Holy Name School, San
Francisco; Immaculate Conception Academy, San Francisco; Immaculate Heart of Mary School,
Belmont; Junipero Serra High School, San Mateo; Marin Catholic High School, Kentfield; Mercy
High School, San Francisco; Mercy High School, Burlingame; Mission Dolores Academy, San
Francisco; Nativity School, Menlo Park; Notre Dame Elementary, Belmont; Notre Dame High
School, Belmont; Our Lady of Angels School, Burlingame; Our Lady of Loretto School, Novato;
Our Lady of Mercy School, Daly City; Our Lady of Mount Carmel School, Redwood City; Our Lady
of Perpetual Help School, Daly City; Our Lady of the Visitacion School, San Francisco; Sacred Heart
Cathedral Preparatory, San Francisco; Sacred Heart Preparatory, Atherton; Saint Anne School, San
Francisco; Saint Anselm School, San Anselmo; Saint Anthony-IC School, San Francisco; Saint
Brendan School, San Francisco; Saint Brigid School, San Francisco; Saint Catherine of Siena
School, Burlingame; Saint Cecilia School, San Francisco; Saint Charles Borromeo School, San
Francisco; Saint Charles School, San Carlos; Saint Dunstan School, Millbrae; Saint Finn Barr
School, San Francisco; Saint Gabriel School, San Francisco; Saint Gregory School, San Mateo;
Saint Hilary School, Tiburon; Saint Ignatius College Preparatory, San Francisco; Saint Isabella
School, San Rafael; Saint James School, San Francisco; Saint John School, San Francisco; Sacred
Heart Lower and Middle Schools, Atherton; Saint Mary School, San Francisco; Saint Matthew
School, San Mateo; Saint Monica School, San Francisco; Saint Patrick School, Larkspur; Saint
Paul School, San Francisco; Saint Peter School, San Francisco; Saint Philip School, San Francisco;
Saint Pius School, Redwood City; Saint Raphael School, San Rafael; Saint Raymond School,
Menlo Park; Saint Rita School, Fairfax; Saint Robert School, San Bruno; Saint Stephen School,
San Francisco; Saint Thomas More School, San Francisco; Saint Thomas the Apostle School, San
Francisco; Saint Timothy School, San Mateo; Saint Veronica School, So. San Francisco; Saint
Vincent de Paul School, San Francisco; Saints Peter & Paul School, San Francisco; San Domenico
Middle, San Anselmo; San Domenico Primary, San Anselmo; San Domenico High School, San
Anselmo; School of the Epiphany, San Francisco; Star of the Sea School, San Francisco; Stuart Hall
for Boys, San Francisco; Stuart Hall High School, San Francisco; Woodside Priory, Portola Valley;
Woodside Priory Middle School, Portola Valley; admits students of any race, color, national and
ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made
available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color or national
origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan
programs, and athletic and other school-administrated programs.
A CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL
CAN MAKE ALL THE DIFFERENCE!
➠ Challenging college preparatory curriculum
with over 98% continuing on to college
➠ Athletic programs affording a wide range of
team and individual participation
➠ Education which provides ethical and moral
foundation of Christian values
➠ Programs which foster leadership in
community service
➠ Education which addresses personal growth
of the whole person
➠ Dedicated faculty, staff and administrators
committed to Catholic education
➠ Education in a supportive family atmosphere
➠ Variety of extra curricular activities provide
opportunity for individual interests
➠ Education for service, justice and peace
All schools are committed to serving children who desire an excellent Catholic education.
Substantial scholarship and financial aid programs for students and families who qualify are available.
ARCHBISHOP RIORDAN HIGH SCHOOL
175 Phelan Avenue, San Francisco 94112
(415) 586-1256 Web Site: www.riordanhs.org
NOTRE DAME HIGH SCHOOL
1540 Ralston Avenue, Belmont 94002
(650) 595-1913 Web Site: www.ndhsb.org
CONVENT OF THE SACRED HEART HIGH SCHOOL
2222 Broadway Street, San Francisco 94115
(415) 292-3125 Web Site: www.sacredsf.org
SACRED HEART CATHEDRAL PREPA RATORY
1055 Ellis Street, San Francisco 94109-7795
(415) 775-6626 Web Site: www.shcp.edu
IMMACULATE CONCEPTION ACADEMY
3625 - 24th Street, San Francisco 94110
(415) 824-2052 Web Site: www.icacademy.org
SACRED HEART PREP HIGH SCHOOL
150 Valparaiso Avenue, Atherton 94027
(650) 322-1866 Web Site: www.shschools.org
JUNÍPERO SERRA HIGH SCHOOL
451 West 20th Avenue, San Mateo 94403
(650) 345-8207 Web Site: www.serrahs.com
SAN DOMENICO SCHOOL
1500 Butterfield Road, San Anselmo 94960
(415) 258-1905 Web Site: www.sandomenico.org
MARIN CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL
675 Sir Francis Drake Boulevard, Kentfield 94904
(415) 464-3800 Web Site: www.marincatholic.org
ST. IGNATIUS COLLEGE PREPARATORY
2001 - 37th Avenue, San Francisco 94116
(415) 731-7500 Web Site: www.siprep.org
MERCY HIGH SCHOOL – BURLINGAME
2750 Adeline Drive, Burlingame 94010
(650) 343-3631 Web Site: www.mercyhsb.com
STUART HALL HIGH SCHOOL
1715 Octavia St. (at Pine), San Francisco 94109
(415) 345-5812 Web Site: www.sacredsf.org
MERCY HIGH SCHOOL – SAN FRANCISCO
3250 – 19th Avenue, San Francisco 94132
(415) 334-0525 Web Site: www.mercyhs.org
WOODSIDE PRIORY SCHOOL
302 Portola Road, Portola Valley 94028
(650) 851-8221 Web Site: www.WoodsidePriory.com
A Catholic high school can make all the difference in your child’s teenage years and for the rest of their lives!
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL SCHOOLS
CELEBRATING CATHOLIC SCHOOLS WEEK!
SAN FRANCISCO COUNTY
1 Epiphany Elementary School
2 Holy Name of Jesus Elementary School
1560 40th Ave. 94122
(415) 731-4077 Fax: (415) 731-3328
Web Site: www.holynamesf.com
Grades: K-8, D/Extended Care
12
5
Pine
8
Mi
ssi
on
29
20
Holy Name Pre-school
Ages: 2 1/2-6 (415) 664-4753
9 7
23
19
Broadway
ss
Van Ne
25
Octavia
600 Italy Ave. 94112
(415) 337-4030 Fax: (415) 337-8583
Web Site: www.sfepiphany.org
Grades: K-8, Extended Care
Ellis
26
3 St. Anthony-Immaculate Conception
13
28
16
Holloway
15 21
18
Phelan St.
19th Ave.
5 Notre Dame des Victoires
11
17
Guererro
4
24
3371-16th St. 94114
(415) 346-9500 Fax: (415) 346-8001
Web Site: www.mdasf.org
Elementary School
659 Pine St. 94108
(415) 421-0069 Fax: (415) 421-1440
Web Site: www.ndvsf.org
10
Church St.
2
37th Ave.
4 Mission Dolores Academy
M
ark
et
Elementary School
299 Precita Ave. 94110
(415) 648-2008 Fax: (415) 648-1825
Web Site: www.saicsf.org
Grades: Tk-8, Extended Care
14
24th
3
22
29th
27
6 Our Lady of the Visitacion
7 Convent of the Sacred Heart
Elementary School
2222 Broadway St. 94115
(415) 563-2900 Fax: (415) 563-3005
Web Site: www.sacredsf.org
Grades: K-8, Girls, Extended Care
8 DeMarillac Academy
175 Golden Gate Ave. 94102
(415) 552-5220 Fax: (415) 621-5632
Web Site: www.demarillac.org
Grades: 4-8
9 Stuart Hall For Boys Elementary School
2222 Broadway St. 94115
(415) 563-2900 Fax: (415) 563-3005
Web Site: www.sacredsf.org
Grades: K-8, boys, Extended Care
10 Saint Anne Elementary School
1320 – 14th Ave. 94122
(415) 664-7977 Fax: (415) 661-6904
Web Site: www.stanne.com
Grades: PreK-8, Extended Care
Saint Anne Pre-school
Ages: 3-5 (415) 731-2355
11 Saint Brendan Elementary School
940 Laguna Honda Blvd. 94127
(415) 731-2665 Fax: (415) 731-7207
Web Site: www.stbrendansf.com
12 Saint Brigid Elementary School
2250 Franklin St. 94109
(415) 673-4523 Fax: (415) 674-4187
Web Site: www.saintbrigidsf.org
13 Saint Cecilia Elementary School
660 Vicente St. 94116
(415) 731-8400 Fax: (415) 731-5686
Web Site: www.stceciliaschool.org
Mi
ssio
n
Elementary School
785 Sunnydale Ave. 94134
(415) 239-7840 Fax: (415) 239-2559
Web Site: www.olvsf.org
14 Saint Charles Borromeo
Elementary School
3250 18th St. 94110
(415) 861-7652 Fax: (415) 861-0221
Web Site: www.sfstcharlesschool.org
15 Saint Finn Barr Elementary School
419 Hearst Ave. 94112
(415) 333-1800 Fax: (415) 333-9307
Web Site: www.stfinnbarr.org
16 Saint Gabriel Elementary School
2550 41st. Ave. 94116
(415) 566-0314 Fax: (415) 566-3223
Web Site: www.stgabrielsf.com
17 Saint James Elementary School
321 Fair Oaks St. 94110
(415) 647-8972 Fax: (415) 647-0166
Web Site: www.saintjamessf.org
Grades: K-8, Extended Care, Multi-Age
Literacy Program
18 Saint John Elementary School
925 Chenery St. 94131
(415) 584-8383 Fax: (415) 584-8359
Web Site: www.stjohnseagles.com
19 Saint Mary School
838 Kearny St. 94108
(415) 929-4690 Fax: (415) 929-4699
Web Site: www.stmaryschoolSF.org
Grades: K-8, Extended Care, Mandarin and
Cantonese classes
20 Saint Monica Elementary School
5950 Geary Blvd. 94121
(415) 751-9564 Fax: (415) 751-0781
Web Site: www.stmonicasf.org
1
6
21 Saint Paul Elementary School
1690 Church St. 94131
(415) 648-2055 Fax: (415) 648-1920
Web Site: www.stpaulsf.net
Grades: Pre-School-8, Extended Care
Saint Paul’s Littlest Angel
Ages: 2yr 9mo - 5 yr (415) 824-5437
22 Saint Peter Elementary School
1266 Florida St. 94110
(415) 647-8662 Fax: (415) 647-4618
Web Site: www.sanpedro.org
Grades: K-8-D, Extended Care
23 Saints Peter and Paul
Elementary School
660 Filbert St. 94133
(415) 421-5219 Fax: (415) 421-1831
Web Site: www.sspeterpaulsf.org
Laura Vicuña Kindergarten
Age: 4-5 (415) 296-8549
Email: [email protected]/prek
24 Saint Philip Elementary School
665 Elizabeth St. 94114
(415) 824-8467 Fax: (415) 282-0121
Web Site: www.saintphilipschool.com
Saint Philip Pre-school
Ages: 3-5 (415) 282-0143
25 Saint Vincent de Paul
Elementary School
2350 Green St. 94123
(415) 346-5505 Fax: (415) 346-0970
Web Site: www.svdpsf.com
26 Saint Thomas the Apostle
Elementary School
3801 Balboa St. 94121
(415) 221-2711 Fax: (415) 221-8611
Web Site: www.sfsta.org
Saint Thomas the Apostle Pre-school
& Pre-kindergarten Learning Center
Ages: 3-5 (415) 387-5511
27 Saint Thomas More Elementary School
50 Thomas More Way 94132
(415) 337-0100 Fax: (415) 333-2564
Web Site: www.StThomasMoreSchool.org
Utopia School
Ages: 3-5 (415) 317-6269
28 Saint Stephen Elementary School
401 Eucalyptus Dr. 94132
(415) 664-8331 Fax: (415) 242-5608
Web Site: www.ststephenschoolsf.org
29 Star of the Sea Elementary School
360 9th Ave. 94118
(415) 221-8558 Fax: (415) 221-7118
Web Site: www.staroftheseasf.com
Star of the Sea Pre-school
Ages: 3-5 (415) 221-7449
MARIN COUNTY
1 Saint Rita Elementary School
5
1
2
4
7
6
3
8
3 Saint Patrick Elementary School
102 Marinda Dr., Fairfax 94930
(415) 456-1003 Fax: (415) 456-7946
Web Site: www.strita.edu
120 King St., Larkspur 94939
(415) 924-0501 Fax: (415) 924-3544
Web Site: www.stpatricksmarin.com
Saint Rita Pre-school
Ages: 3-5 (415) 456-1843
4 Saint Anselm Elementary School
40 Belle Ave., San Anselmo 94960
(415) 454-8667 Fax: (415) 454-4730
Web Site: www.stanselmschool.com
2 San Domenico School
1500 Butterfield Rd., San Anselmo 94960
(415) 258-1910 [Primary]
(415) 258-1908 [Middle]
Fax: (415) 258-1911
Web Site: www.sandomenico.org
Grades: PreSchool-8
5 Our Lady of Loretto Elementary School
1181 Virginia Ave., Novato 94945
(415) 892-8621 Fax: (415) 892-9631
Web Site: www.ollnovato.org
Grades: Tk-8, Extended Care
San Domenico Pre-school
Ages: 3-5 (415) 258-1946
6 Saint Raphael Elementary School
1100 Fifth Ave., San Rafael 94901
(415) 454-4455 Fax: (415) 454-5927
Web Site: www.saintraphaelschool.com
Saint Raphael Pre-school
Ages: 3-4 (415) 456-1702
7 Saint Isabella Elementary School
1 Trinity Way, PO Box 6188, San Rafael 94903
(415) 479-3727 Fax: (415) 479-9961
Web Site: www.stisabellaschool.org
8 Saint Hilary Elementary School
765 Hilary Dr., Tiburon 94920
(415) 435-2224 Fax: (415) 435-5895
Web Site: www.sainthilaryschool.org
Grades: JK-8
SAN MATEO COUNTY
1 All Souls Elementary School
909 Oceana Blvd., Pacifica 94044
(650) 359-4544 Fax: (650) 359-4588
Web Site: www.goodshepherdschool.us
9
All Souls Pre-school
Ages: 3-5
(650) 871-1751
2 Saint Veronica Elementary School
14 Good Shepherd Elementary School
5
7
479 Miller Ave., So. San Francisco 94080
(650) 583-3562 Fax: (650) 952-1167
Web Site: www.ssfallsoulsschool.org
15 Woodside Priory School
302 Portola Rd., Portola Valley 94028
(650) 851-8221 Fax: (650) 851-2839
Web Site: www.prioryca.org
Grades: 6-8
2 1
14
434 Alida Way, So. San Francisco 94080
(650) 589-3909 Fax: (650) 589-2826
Web Site: www.stveronicassf.org
Grades: K-8 , Extended Care
22
8
16 Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Elementary School
301 Grand St., Redwood City 94062
(650) 366-6127 Fax: (650) 366-0902
Web Site: www.mountcarmel.org
4
3 Notre Dame Elementary School
1200 Notre Dame Ave., Belmont 94002
(650) 591-2209 Fax: (650) 591-4798
Web Site: www.nde.org
12
Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Pre-school
Ages: 3-5 (650) 366-6587
20 21
Early Learning Center
Ages: 3-5 (650) 508-3519
Email: [email protected]/elc
6
4 Our Lady of Angels Elementary School
1328 Cabrillo Ave., Burlingame 94010
(650) 343-9200 Fax: (650) 343-5620
Web Site: www.olaschool8.org
17 Saint Pius Elementary School
19
3
1100 Woodside Rd., Redwood City 94061
(650) 368-8327 Fax: (650) 368-7031
Web Site: www.stpiusschool.org
18
18 Saint Charles Elementary School
16
23
17 10
Our Lady of Angels Pre-school
Ages: 3-5 (650) 343-3115
13
11
5 Our Lady of Perpetual Help
Elementary School
1000 Alameda de las Pulgas,
Belmont 94002
(650) 593-4265 Fax: (650) 593-4342
Web Site: www.ihmschoolbelmont.org
Immaculate Heart of Mary
Ages: 3-5 (650) 593-2344
7 Our Lady of Mercy Elementary School
19 Saint Gregory Elementary School
2701 Hacienda St., San Mateo 94403
(650) 573-0111 Fax: (650) 573-6548
Web Site: www.stgregs-sanmateo.org
Elementary School
80 Wellington Ave., Daly City 94014
(650) 755-4438 Fax: (650) 755-7366
Web Site: www.olphdc.org
Grades: K-8
6 Immaculate Heart of Mary
850 Tamarack Ave., San Carlos 94070
(650) 593-1629 Fax: (650) 593-9723
Web Site: www.scharlesschoolsc.org
15
8 Saint Dunstan Elementary School
1150 Magnolia Ave., Millbrae 94030
(650) 697-8119 Fax: (650) 697-9295
Web Site: www.st-dunstan.org
9 Holy Angels Elementary School
20 Reiner St., Colma 94014
(650) 755-0220 Fax: (650) 755-0258
Web Site: www.holyangelscolma.com
10 Sacred Heart Schools Lower and Middle
7 Elmwood Dr., Daly City 94015
(650) 756-3395 Fax: (650) 756-5872
Web Site: www.olmbulldogs.org
150 Valparaiso Ave., Atherton 94027
(650) 322-9931 (MAIN) Fax: (650) 475-9088
Web Site: www.shschools.org
Our Lady of Mercy Pre-school
Ages: 3-5 (650) 756-4916
Sacred Heart School Pre-school
Ages: 3-5 (650) 322-0176
11 Saint Raymond Elementary School
1211 Arbor Rd., Menlo Park 94025
(650) 322-2312 Fax: (650) 322-2910
Web Site: www.straymond.org
St. Raymond Pre-kindergarten
Ages: 3-5
12 Saint Catherine of Siena
Elementary School
1300 Bayswater Ave., Burlingame 94010
(650) 344-7176 Fax: (650) 344-7426
Web Site: www.stcos.com
13 Nativity Elementary School
1250 Laurel St., Menlo Park 94025
(650) 325-7304 Fax: (650) 325-3841
Web Site: www.nativityschool.com
20 Saint Matthew Elementary School
910 South El Camino Real, San Mateo
94402
(650) 343-1373 Fax: (650) 343-2046
Web Site: www.stmatthewcath.org
Grades: K-8, Day/Extended Care
21 Saint Timothy Elementary School
1515 Dolan Ave., San Mateo 94401
(650) 342-6567 Fax: (650) 342-5913
Web Site: www.sttimothyschool.org
22 Saint Robert Elementary School
345 Oak Ave., San Bruno 94066
(650) 583-5065 Fax: (650) 583-1418
Web Site: www.saintroberts-school.org
23 Saint Matthias Pre-school
1685 Cordilleras Ave., Redwood City, 94062
Ages: 3-5 (650) 367-1320
At SHC, we design challenging
curricula to engage the
whole student.
Fearless, We Pursue
EXCELLENCE
Find out more
at shcp.edu
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ELLIS
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