We love AVS! This gem of a school has been amazing for my two boys. The teachers are top notch -…read morethey are incredibly skilled at providing customized, differentiated instruction that engages students. From the music department to math, our kids have been provided with enriching learning experiences. Teachers meet their students where they're at - my boys have each received some extra guidance in areas where they required practice (spelling! writing) and have also had the opportunity to advance beyond the traditional grade level curriculum in areas where they excelled (e.g., math). We've been super impressed with the school's response to COVID - administration has juggled the priorities and needs of families who wanted their children to return to in-person instruction, and re-opened the campus as soon as the city permitted it - as well as the needs of families who have chosen to keep their kids in virtual instruction.

My son is thriving at Alta Vista School and I can't wait to send my second son there. Moving from…read morea preschool environment where he didn't have clear focus and seemed distracted, my son transformed almost upon entry to Alta Vista. The small class sizes and nurturing attention of his teachers have been invaluable. Even the head of school attends to each child -- he knows them well and they love him. He also teaches science to the children of all grades. It's amazing to have a head of school in the classroom like that! At AVS, my son has learned about the world in an integrated way, using math, science, art, history, reading, music and play in innovative ways that help the children to really understand the projects they work on. The AVS teachers are amazing! They develop their own curriculum, meet in grade level teams for collaboration, attend creative professional development education and spend each day engaged, caring, and earning the much deserved respect of their students who love them. I know AVS is new, but there is no other school in the city where I would rather have my children.

This is my daughter's 4th year at The San Francisco School (we started in preschool 3), and we have…read morebeen very happy here so far! The teachers and staff are warm and nurturing, and the community is very down to earth and kind. We especially love the strong SEL program and excellent music program. We also very much appreciate the school's Extended Day (aftercare and summer camp offerings) as a family with two parents who work full-time. SFS rocks!

We have two kids at The San Francisco School (SFS) and couldn't be happier. Incredible teachers, a…read morewelcoming community, and a well run organization that includes great extended day and summer offerings. Would recommend to anyone looking for a great place for their preschooler to middle schooler!

everyone here is really mean and gaslights you. the teachers do nothing to help you learn and just…read moreyell at you or give u lunch detention if you just don't understand. they don't spend time going through the lesson again to thoroughly teach you to make sure you understand the concept, instead they yell at you or ask u why u didn't pay attention in the first place. this is also really harsh because there could be students who have trouble learning who didn't pay attention the first time and need to listen to it for the second time. the bathrooms are really dirty as people pee on the floor and don't flush their unfinished business. they place their pads on the school walls and always make the floor so wet that its so easy to slip in. i would not recommend this school.

My son has gone to this school since kindergarten and it has been the best place for him. They go…read morefrom K-8 and all the kids are close so are the parents. There is help for people that need help with tuition.

We have been with Golden Bridges for four years and our daughter is currently entering second…read moregrade. To say we have been delighted with the teachers, curriculum and staff would be an understatement, the preschool in his Waldorf, certified and almost all teachers have received Waldorf training, which is exactly what we were looking for. They also presented a strong social justice ethos in which everyone seem to engage with in one way or another. We went to the open houses of all Waldorf and Waldorf inspired schools in San Francisco and Marin and ultimately chose Golden Bridges not only for their amazing program, but also because all of the parents with which we interacted were the kind of people we like to hang out with. We also love the fact that their pricing was lower than many private schools and that they offered tuition assistance as much as they can to those in need. There are also plenty of opportunities to engage in helping other families, as well as the school, and we have found a strong sense of community Helping one another in so many ways. This new school season has been even more exciting as the growth of the school has greatly expanded! The school has an amazing farm in San Francisco, which is my favorite part and I think my child's too. Planting, harvesting, taking care of the chickens; taking care of the Earth is definitely deep rooted in GBS. We have awesome parties and workday spread out throughout the year and we even do extra volunteering because we love it so much. The school is also right next to McLaren Park and one day a week my child gets to hike through the park while stopping and engaging in learning. During the pandemic for two years, it was basically a forest school which was the most incredible thing I could've wished for. The overall nurturing vibe of the school is incredible and community and care is definitely felt at every turn. I could not recommend this school more if I tried and I am truly jealous yet joyful how much my child loves school!

We have been at Golden Bridges school for going on 4 years now and we absolutely love it! We knew…read morethat we wanted an outdoor and play based education for our kiddos entry into school, and GBS is just that- every week there is one day in McLaren park, one day at the school Farm (Hawk Creek Farm), and then only three days "inside". But even the inside days have plenty of outdoor playtime and the classrooms themselves are like enchanted forests. I also love how easy it is to communicate with the teachers and admin- I feel like we are all a team working in tandem to raise our kiddos in community. We are also so excited and proud to be part of a school that is making anti-bias an active and critical part of the everyday curriculum. If you are looking for a school for your kiddo you should check them out! They host all Sorts of tours and info sessions throughout the year to make it really easy to learn more.

This is a great up and coming school with tons of resources. While test scores are low, they are…read moretrending in the right direction and additional resources focusing on literacy, wellness and enrichment have been very helpful. Plus, they have a great partner in award-winning nonprofit Real Options for City Kids (R.O.C.K.) that provides daytime support, free after school program and plenty of other resources to support students and their families.

Great staff, no grass fields. That could really sum it all up. My kids go here, for the second…read moreyear in a row since we moved to SF. The principal is a really nice, young (looking) hip dude, who always looks dapper in his attire and trendy haircut. That aside, he also knows all the childrens' names- that seems cool. The teachers have their work cut out for them, as a lot of these kids have tons of energy from the Flamin' Hot Cheetos and Pepsi their parents gave them for breakfast in the car on the way to school, cuz they done forgot to set their alarm, and their Metro PCS phone alarm never works when they need it to... wow! anyhow, there are a lot of challenges facing this school, every year they lay off half of the teachers due to the city's budget cuts, some of whom are re-hired towards the end of the school year. I'm not saying the city is unfair in it's school spending- it's all one district, can you believe that? I'll save that rant for a review on the SFUSD later. What did I say about grass fields? Oh yes. When I was a wee lad, all of the schools in my town had acres of grassy fields, with several playgrounds and very high and dangerous things to climb on/jump from. Here, not so much. For one thing, there's no room in the city for silly things like grass at schools. Just put down some asphalt, put in a tetherball pole, a play structure for 5 year olds that the whole school shares, and for God's sake cover the windows with steel grates to protect them from Kickball tournaments at recess! One huge great thing I am impressed with: the amount of field trips these teachers take the students on. Seriously, between my two kids, it has to be at least 3-4 per month. That seems like a lot to me, but I love it! I got to go to some cool places and see some kids get carsick. Fun!

Horrible 2 of the teachers liked kids when I went there and all the "staff" are useless and doesn't…read morehelp with any of the kids. They also choose and pick who they like.

I am very happy that my two kids can study in VVES because they are very happy to school every…read moreday, and enjoy at school activities. teachers in this school are humble and nice and kind to students . they support students and try to let them improve from heart. they patiently because every student is special. They may have their own personality and abilities, I am appreciative that teachers are very nice to my kids. I can feel the atmosphere at this school is kind, nice, peaceful .

News and Calendar Photos and Videos…read morePartners and Supporters Jobs In the News 1.jpeg Highlights from 2016-2017 details here About Our School VVMS Mission Background Background Education has not changed much in the last 100 years, however our society has changed incredibly. We are now in a technology revolution and we cannot afford for our community to be left behind. Historically, many students of color, students from low income backgrounds, and new immigrants have not been fully served by our educational system. Visitación Valley Middle School exists to break that cycle, to interrupt forms of systemic oppression, and to empower our students to realize their dreams. We believe that all our students are capable of excellence and success. We support our students to take flight, through a vision of Love, Literacy, and Liberation. Mission Statement Our diverse and unique students will develop strong, long-lasting academic knowledge along with the social and emotional skills, that will allow all to be successful in high school and beyond.

Went to school here around 1975 to 1978. Got into lots of trouble. Visitation Valley was still a…read morerough area. The Sunnydale projects were just around the corner from us. As well as the Geneva towers. We lived in one of the brick houses there. Almost quitting school during my second eighth grade, Mr. Celeste save me by pulling me into his ESL class. Even though I spoke English very well. Thank you sir.

My son attended Cornerstone since Kindergarten. The school runs the lower grades very well,…read moreespecially pre-school and elementary over at the Silver site. But as they moved on to middle school, they somehow tends not to have enough parent teacher conferences as they used to have before. However, they do keep all the Field Trips going. The teachers are all wonderful and caring, which gives me a peace of mind at work when I leave my kid there for the day . Parking on campus is a breeze as they have their own gated parking lot, which is a big plus. I do not feel the school is overly heavily influenced on Christianity at all, never do they force parents to attend any church events. They do use some (not all) text books that would have Christian values, but would usually just lightly touched on the subject. I am a Christian myself, so this doesn't bother me at all. Also it's very clear that this is a Christian school, so what would you expect? I really appreciate that over the years they never force students to sell chocolates or other stuffs to meet a target for fund raising. Donation to the school is on a voluntary basis. My son left Cornerstone for Public High School and one thing he told me is Cornerstone teachers really cares and that already said it all!

Keep deleting my reviews but I will keep the reviews up…read more The school made participation in events like prom, homecoming, and open house to be mandatory, which badly damaged ss, who had social problems or faced bully as I do. If ss did not attend these events, then ss must pay and go to Saturday school. Same thing for some holidays. Some religious holiday was not allowed to take a break with the reason that no ss in the school followed Christ's religion while the school was originally based on a Christian school. In addition, myself is a Catholic follower. This clearly was a violation of ss's rights. The religion teachers did not hesitate at all to show bias. She asked other ss easy questions and always hard questions for me. I studied extremely hard in her class but still got a C-. When I could not take her bias anymore, I did everything to drop her class despite the threat from the principal that I would not graduate if I drop her class. The ss leader in against bullying program bullied me. I had no idea how could she accept that position without feeling any shame. She threw a ball into my head during the pe class. I burst into tears. Teachers did nothing but looked at me like I was the troublemaker. There was a pair of siblings that I played with at the beginning. Soon, I figured out they were not real friends because they walked off when I was in a hard time. I stopped playing with them. However, the sis kept being around and annoying me. She even intentionally touched my hair. The bro thought he was smarter than I did when he almost failed the history class. After every time the bro was rude to me. He would be like "I did nothing". Such a coward. One year, there were two new ss. I was so glad that finally I can have some friends but I was wrong. I should never talk with them. They participated with the rest to bully me. Worst, these two girls even perform cyberbullying. At this time, I learned enough to fight back and at least protect myself from them. A Chinese girl was so rude. She would say that I was ugly to shut me down. She told me to not bother her friends and herself. I tried to stay away from her but she kept following me and harassing me. In the last year, she tried to upset me again but I learned and successfully locked her mouth up. lol Most ss in this school were Chinese or relevant to Chinese. I was the only Vietnamese in the school. I would say that I am not racist, I obtain a stereotype of Chinese according to what ss in this school has shown me. Most of them always carried poker faces and were rude. They always asked for respect when they did not respect anyone at all. Sometimes, acts of violence were even being performed. Until now, I feel insecure when I see Chinese. It was natural that I was alone, which I felt safer than interacting with other ss, in this school. The dean of the ss whispered to my enemy behind my back that, "I would never change". Today, my answer is "why the fuck do I have to change?" as I am independently doing so well in college. Each school has challenges to help ss grow. This school had a really good one, which was to challenge ss to transfer to another school. The challenge of this school successfully worked as the school successfully shut down. I try so hard but still cannot forget all of the horrible things that I face in this school. The memories are still haunting me. However, these experiences make me become a very strong person today. Yet, it still does not make any case for the school to violate ss's rights, for teachers to be irresponsible and ignorant, and for pp to verbally or physically hurts other pp. STOP THE VIOLATION.

We started at St. Paul's as a transfer family from SFUSD several years ago, and I can confidently…read moresay that it was an excellent decision that I wish we'd made sooner. My kids are thriving at the school thanks to the excellent teachers, high level of academics, and warm community environment. My kids especially love all the extracurriculars during school hours - Spanish, library, music, technology and PE class, as well as the extended care program where they can finish homework, play outside, and socialize (screen-free) with their friends. My kids have also taken advantage of the fun rotating specialized after school enrichment class options (like chess, Lego STEM, sewing, sandcastle building, tennis, etc), as well as the CYO sports teams. With respect to academics, teachers tailor instruction for kids individually as needed, so students can work to their highest ability, whether they're ahead of the curve or need a little extra help to catch up in a subject. There is also a learning support specialist to assist students. The community of families and staff feel like the village everyone talks about - people are kind and truly care about one another. We've always felt very safe at the school, both on the physical property and neighborhood, and from things like bullying. Teachers are very responsive to our questions and concerns, and the principal, Ms. Jacqueline Curran, is amazing. She has deep family ties to St. Paul's and truly has a heart for the school and community. We highly recommend St. Paul's for any family looking for a K-8th grade school in San Francisco!

I cannot with clear conscience recommend St. Paul's Elementary. On several occasions my wife and I…read morecomplained of bullying and a threat of gun violence and NOTHING was done. This issue spanned across the tenures of 3 different principles. The only reason we stayed was because we were assured that the problem would be rectified, which it was not. Your kids are better off elsewhere.

Both our children are current students at SFCS and we are so impressed by their staff. The…read moreenvironment is very warm and welcoming for our whole family. We love how our children are getting a quality education and learning to grow up to be responsible and kind adults. The tuition is very affordable for what they are offering. Our kids look forward to school in the morning and they have fun learning.

My daughter just started high school and I moved my 4th grader here as well. The teachers are…read moreloving and the class sizes are small, so both kids are getting the attention and care resulting in an easy and smooth transition. The staff is wonderful and friendly to provide such a safe and collaborative environment. It has exceeded our family's expectation by far!!!