St. John School strives for academic excellence with an emphasis on independent thinking and life-long learning. Our goal is to produce well-rounded students that are well-prepared to succeed in the high school, and university, of their choice.
St. John School provides affordable private Catholic school education to San Francisco and Bay Area students grade TK through 8th. We welcome children of all faiths and families. St. John has a long history of encouraging understanding, education, and compassion within a diverse community. After exploring our website, the best way to learn about our school is by visiting us.
TK, KINDERGARTEN & ELEMENTARY
St. John School welcomes students as young as 4 years old through our transitional kindergarten program. After TK, our students graduate to kindergarten and then join our lively elementary program. TK, kindergarten, and elementary classes each have a main teacher who is supported by our dedicated lower school Resource Teacher. In addition, our Athletic Director provides physical education and nutrition instruction to each class twice a week. The Athletic Director augments elementary instruction by providing special classes that emphasize healthy food and activity choices.
MIDDLE SCHOOL/JUNIOR HIGH
Grades 6-8 continue to grow academically and socio-emotionally through expanding curriculum that emphasizes critical thinking and presentation skills. Our upper-grade students learn to master time management to support the increasing demands of Middle School/Junior High. Middle/junior high students meet daily with their grade-based homeroom teacher, then rotate through science, math, language arts, social studies, and religion. In addition, our Athletic Director provides physical education and nutrition instruction to each class twice a week.
St. John School middle school students also receive foundational training in leadership and service. Throughout the year, middle school students lead the school by planning, executing, and encouraging student participation in a variety of service projects and drives that support the poor and needy in our San Francisco community and around the world.
LANGUAGE STUDIES AND FINE ARTS
To supplement the core curriculum, St. John provides opportunities for our students to participate in language studies and fine arts. Spanish is part of the St. John curriculum for all grades. Our Fine Arts program includes 6-week rotations through Art, Music, and Dance. After-school programs, such as guitar and STEM/Robotics classes, are also available and vary by semester.
HOW WE USE TECHNOLOGY
iPads are used at all grade levels throughout the school year as part of the reading and math curriculum. Technology is integrated into the standard curriculum and increases in complexity and application as the grade level increases. St. John School benefits from grants for several education apps, including Lexia and Kids A-Z for literacy development and Mathletics and STMath for expanding Math proficiency. Additional applications and resources are added as students move into upper grades, providing students with a foundation in the tools they will need for high school classwork. Most apps are available for St. John students to use in school and at home.
LIBRARY AND TECHNOLOGY RESOURCES
The St. John School library contains over 5,000 volumes that are constantly refreshed through Library Fund drives and Book Fairs. The library has iPads available for student use and printer resources. Our staff librarian provides academic resources to the classrooms. In addition, our librarian provides instruction in storytelling, speech, current events, and critical thinking skills.
CROSS-GRADE MENTORING
St. John’s buddy system encourages students to take responsibility for others and to practice their own growing skills while building our school community from within. Third through eighth grade classes are assigned a lower school class to buddy with. Older and younger students work together to encourage literacy development and academic confidence across grades. As a result of this buddy-based learning practice, older students commonly acknowledge younger students by name as they pass in the hallways and at recess, and demonstrate concern for their well-being. A thread of self-awareness and accountability runs through St. John School’s student community. Older students recognize their behavior is a real-life model for their young “learning buddies”.
TUTORING
Each homeroom, in both the elementary and middle school grades, offers free after-school tutoring twice a week from 3:15-4:15pm.