Why should I send my child to St. John's?
Accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), the Saint John of San Francisco Orthodox Academy is an Eastern Orthodox Christian, co-educational, non-profit, college-preparatory, full-time day school for grades K-8. It follows the Classical model of education.
Our academic calendar is uniquely scheduled around the calendar of feast days and services of the Orthodox Church. Located in the spiritual heart of the Bay Area Orthodox community, we attract students from various ethnic and linguistic backgrounds. Our classes are conducted in English.
TO RAISE THEM IN THE HERITAGE OF THE UNIVERSAL, LIVING CHURCH
St. John’s Academy offers a rich Pan-Orthodox learning experience rarely found in the United States. Our students come from all over San Francisco and beyond because they value the opportunity to learn and live in the embrace of the Orthodox Church which they encounter in her full diversity of heritages — including Greek, Slavic, Antiochian, American, Georgian, Palestinian, and Serbian — as represented by the School’s teachers, students and Board of Directors. We cherish being under the heavenly protection of St. John, Wonderworker of Shanghai and San Francisco, who is universally venerated throughout the world, and being situated at the Holy Virgin Cathedral where he served and where his holy relics are venerated.
To prepare them to think analytically and critically and to express themselves with confidence
At St. John’s, we provide our students with the intellectual foundations necessary to engage critically with the world in which they live. The tools of analytical thought are established and honed, and children given the confidence needed to express themselves in the modern world. Our students are motivated by their surroundings to aim for excellence in all their endeavors, and to acquire it through hard work, dedication and a positive attitude.
To provide them with an education that is pastoral in all its dimensions
St. John’s Academy’s small size means that teachers know their students personally -- and know them well. Because of the small class sizes, students also come to know one another closely, including across grades, building friendships that foster their study and growth. A supportive school structure brings the pastoral care of our students into every dimension of life at St. John’s: daily prayer at the beginning and end of the school day; on-site clergy for spiritual and pastoral support; guidance counsellors and tutors for academic care; etc. Whether at prayer, at study, at rest or at play, our students receive a deeply personal, pastoral education in the embrace of the Church.
To teach them to see the world differently
Our students are prepared to be active, contributing members of society. Their studies foster skills that enable them to take part in the world around them, dedicated to learning, service and leadership. By fostering elements of a child’s education that are often left out of secular curricula (such as a strong sense of morality, ethical decision making, practical and devoted piety, a sense of authentic Christian identity in the world), our graduates are able to engage with the world and society more robustly, more wholesomely, and more fruitfully than many others.
To raise them in the heritage of the universal, living Church
St. John’s Academy is a unique educational experience rarely found in the United States. Our students live in the embrace of the Orthodox Church and encounter its full dimensions: the Russian Orthodox heritage of the Cathedral under whose domes it is situated; the Greek, Antiochian, American, Palestinian, Serbian and other Orthodox heritages represented by its teachers, students, and Board of Directors; and indeed the universal community of Orthodox Christians whose devotion to our patron, St. John the Wonderworker of Shanghai and San Francisco, incorporates every ethnic, local, cultural and jurisdictional tradition of the Orthodox Church.