Our Lady of Mount Carmel is one of the oldest schools in the Peninsula. It is a Catholic Pre-School – 8 elementary school in the Archdiocese of San Francisco, serving the Redwood City community since 1885.
All of the teachers are fully credentialed and have been teaching for a combined average of 15 years; many hold advanced degrees. The faculty includes teacher aides in all primary grades, Physical Education, Music and Spanish instructors for all grades, school band and after school sports programs for grades 4 – 8, as well as both Resource and Enrichment teachers.
More than just an educational institution, Our Lady of Mount Carmel emphasizes community service and giving back to the community. A year-round service program is a large component of the education. In 1999, the Citizens Scholarship Foundation of America awarded the school a grant for recognition of community involvement. In the past couple of decades, the Sequoia Foundation—an organization that recognizes Redwood City students and adults for outstanding volunteer service to their community—has awarded 12 Mount Carmel graduates. Alumni are always involved in the school and 50-year reunions are held with regularity.
Seaport Academy is an independent private school. With a small enrollment, it can focus on individual students. Students learn basic skills plus cultural and aesthetic experiences. By teaching grades kindergarten through 12th grade, the educators can monitor progression throughout the child's entire schooling.
North Star Academy is an elementary school that offers a "Differentiated Instruction" program, which avoids the repetitive education that can occur in traditional classrooms. A constantly changing curriculum ensures students won't tire of their classes and broadens their perspective and knowledge across subjects. The Enrichment Program allows students to participate in a range of activities from puppetry to stock market studies to multimedia presentation. All activities culminate in a project or exhibit demonstrated at a school-wide assembly.
Students must apply to attend North Star and are scored according to a rubric based on: math academic scores, language arts/reading academic scores, SAGES-2 Reasoning assessment scores, academic performance based on student report cards, and task commitment based on student report cards.
Students who acheive an above-expected score are eligible to attend if spots are available. If there are not enough spots, a lottery of eligible students is held.
Adelante Spanish Immersion School is a California Distinguished School teaching kindergarten through grade 6. The school combines Spanish-speaking and English-speaking students in the classroom to adapt to the rapidly changing bilingual world. In addition to learning another language, students can partake in each other's culture and acquire a more diverse academic experience. The two-way immersion instructional program is unique in the Redwood City School district.
Half the students are Spanish-speaking and half are English-speaking. Approximately 70 percent of students are of Latino background. By the time they graduate, students will demonstrate high proficiency in both languages.
The School has a non-profit: Unidos y Adelante, which plans social and fundraising events to bring the two communities together and strengthen ties. Every spring, the Adelanted School plans a Latino Kermesse, a nighttime celebration of food, dance, and music amongst the community.
It is one of four "Schools of Choice" in the Redwood City School District. A School of Choice does not base attendance on neighborhood boundaries like all the other schools do. All students must fill out a "Schools of Choice" application and a student registration form. All students within the district are eligible to apply.
Located in the St. Matthias Parish School Building, children have access to large facilities but also fixtures like child-size bathrooms that cater to children. Complete with a playground to a bike path to athletic fields, the pre-school is equipped with diverse facilities to keep children entertained. This open physical space is matched by academics and an education of Christian values. The pre-school places children not just by age but by development level as well.
The Henry Ford School teaches kindergarten to fifth grade in a unique staff program called the "Professional Learning Community." The staff is experienced in differentiating instruction so all students can learn in a curriculum that best suits their needs.
The school is dedicated to "work hard, play hard" and offers a number of "character education," art, music and physical education classes. The school garden provides students an area where they can learn about sustainability and nutrition. Police Activity League (PAL) sports, Redwood City Park and Recreation Services and a Child Development Center (CDC) are all on site.
Some of the school's traditional events include the annual Fall Fiesta, Field Day, Movie Nights and the end of the year Pasta Dinner. We liaison with private enterprise and our own staff to bring after-school programs such as art and individual music lessons.
Throughout the nine months in school, students focus on the following characteristics in this order: respect, trustworthiness, responsibility, caring, fairness, citizenship, integrity, friendship, cooperation, and leadership/teamwork.