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.

I have a fairly well-rounded perspective on Burton considering that between me and my younger…read moresisters and cousins, we were enrolled there back-to-back from 1995 until 2010. It was much better when I went there. It was an Academic high school so they required 280 credits. That meant that anyone who wasn't serious about school would eventually transfer out, since you needed 4 years in every subject. We also had to wear uniforms. Since I graduated, the school dropped the uniform and the "academic" requirement. They now require only the minimum 220 credits to graduate, making it like most other San Francisco public schools. Based on my sisters' and younger cousins' experiences at this school, here's what I think of Burton NOW: - The school is overwhelmed with problem kids. They have a teen counseling program, but not many students take advantage of it. No surprise there. - Fights are a fairly regular occurence. If your kids go there, you've probably hear them talk about it all the time. - When I went to Burton, we were known for having the highest pregnancy rate in the city. I'm not sure what worse - high pregnancy rate or high rate of drug use. It's not the school's fault, obviously. But it does represent the makeup of alot of the students who attend the school. They do have a football team, soccer team, basketball team, an excellent school choir (Touch of Class choir represent!) and ASU student government. So there are plenty of extra curricular activities to keep your kids distracted from all the problems that other kids bring to the school. Unfortunately, the public school system in San Francisco leaves few resources for schools to do the best job they can. I know - I'm a product of that system. There were times we didn't even have toilet paper for the bathrooms, and we used torn textbooks that were 10 years old. But now that San Francisco has dropped their zoning requirement, it allows your child to enroll in any SF school regardless of what SF district they live in, granted space is available. It's a bit unfair of me to give them 2 stars because they're limited to the resources they have. But alas, I must be honest. Anyhow...go Pumas!

C/o '03! GO PUMAS!…read moreBlack & Teal, baby! haha.

Best middle school 100% no fights whatsoever, will NOT get bullied! Only well raised and confident…read morestudents ready to learn!

This was the best times of my life. i have so many great memories with this school that i can just…read morewrite a book about it. However, i won't do that or else it will make you fall asleep. During my time here, i went through so much ups and downs and i met so many great friends that i still hang out wit today along with some of the greatest teachers in my life. I will never forget this place.

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.

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.

Phenomenal school. KIPP is known for their success at closing the achievement gap with minority…read morestudents by recruiting, training, and retaining compassionate and highly qualified teachers and support staff. And this location is no different. Located in the historically black neighborhood of Bayview Hunters Point, the majority of students are black with some hispanic and white students as well, and serves grades 5-8. School is small- one main building, a smaller additional building, and a series of portables. Classrooms are spartan and organized, and the classes and campus participate in schoolwide behavior plan with identical rules and expectations. Teaching staff varies from new teachers or those who have served in other districts to experienced ones who have been with the school since it opened- there's a wide range. However, all teachers I observed during my visit were positive and engaging with the students. I especially love how the principal greets students at the front gate by name each morning- the staff and students here are clearly part of a larger family within the school and the culture of success and support here is palpable. School is tuition-free and run through a lottery system, applications available online. If the public school system in your area is not working for your student, definitely consider KIPP.

I was not treated well in my visit to this site. Look elsewhere if you want your kids to have an…read moreactual education that will allow them to succeed in life.

We have one child who graduated from The San Francisco School and two more still there. The school…read morelets each child explore who they are and develop their strengths while providing a very strong education. That's why I think it punches above its weight in high school admissions. It gently guides kids from simply being kids to being more than adequately prepared for the rigor of high school. The South Asian Affinity Group is great, and the Diwali cultural event is amazing. It's one of many cultural events that create a wonderful sense of community. Some of the parents have become lifelong best friends, and I wouldn't have met them had it not been for SFS. I believe kids leave SFS with far more than academic preparation. They come away with a strong sense of who they are and an amazingly high EQ.

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!

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.

If you are looking for an overly structured schedule for your child, this school is good for you…read more If you are looking to learn Chinese or even gain a foothold in academics, you should look else where. Chinese curriculum - yes it's true that they introduce Chinese to kids right at Kindergarten and you get thrown a lot of characters to memorize. However that's where it stops. They do not go over composition or sentence structure. You just memorize a bunch of vocabulary and their meaning but you don't know how to use it. How is that preparing kids to survive in a multilingual world? History & Science - the textbooks are clearly marked with this line: "from a Christian perspective." That says it all. If you plan to keep your kids at Cornerstone from K-12 then I guess it's ok but if your kid plans to jump to public high school,. they will be laughed at for reciting anything from those textbooks. My best advice is to study for the test to get the A and promptly forget whatever those books tell you. I do recognize that this is a Christian school but history is history and science is science. What does Jesus have to do with it? Homework help - you don't get any. I don't think the kids are prepared with a basic foundation of how to do the homework in class. The teachers over rely on parents to do all the teaching at home. Now if I pay you $10K a year for tuition, shouldn't that be your job and not mine? Cornerstone is very very focused on artistic performance and sports. They do pretty well in the CYO games and they have endless performances. I'm not training my child to be an athlete or actor. I just want the 3 r's competently taught. Another star for the cafeteria staff. I can vouch that their cafeteria food is better than the slop that's served in public school. That is all. Now if this honest review gets buried, I know who's responsible.

My daughter graduated in 1999. Twelve Years on, and we still miss being Lick parents, and our…read moredaughter, through her Stanford and Harvard years, still hangs out with her Lick pals... The place has the highest median SAT scores in the state, but not the highest average, because they keep about 25% of the slots for students with "different talents". The mottos tell it all: "Head, Heart and Hands" and "A Private School with a Public Purpose"... EVERY student takes a shop class every semester, and that only makes them better students, and humans.

Being a brother of a current student and having applied here back when I was considering high…read moreschools, I must admit that Lick Wilmerding is a fine institution to send your child, sibling, or other loved one. When I applied in 1996, the school was dark, dank and was not a warm place where you would want your kids to go. But since then they've renovated the physical building, maintained a commitment to diversity, athletics, and the arts, and really created a great balance in the student body. According to my sister, the teaching is first rate and graduates go on to great universities. When it comes to private high schools in the city, you really can't go wrong with many of the schools (University, Urban, Lick, etc.). The only school I would consider a strong alternative is Lowell, widely considered one of the finest public schools in America. But that being said, LWHS is a great place to spend four years.

I absolutely love this school my daughter started Spanish immersion in K and education has been…read moreexcellent. This school is very diverse, staff are professional, and the principal has tons of experience. They have a English learning program, Spanish learning program, and Chinese bilingual. They offer arts,music,performing art, music,computers, library,sewing, and have 4 afterschool programs serving the school (free) I LOVE MONROE my daughter is getting an exceptional education.

Too many restrictions. You have to get the late pass even if you are only less than 1 minutes…read morelater. The principal is not nice. He doesn't let me and my kindergarten in even though we're already in front of the gate. We have to use another door to get late pass .Too annoying!