User:Sarahgpresidiohill/sandbox

Presidio Hill School is an independent, progressive school providing San Francisco and Bay Area children a transitional kindergarten to eighth grade education.
Established in 1918, Presidio Hill School is the oldest progressive school in California. In keeping with that heritage, Presidio Hill continues to offer its students a challenging, project-based curriculum that prepares them for the future by attending to their current developmental needs. Guided by an expert and caring faculty, students learn to be confident and curious, to be creative problem solvers and independent, critical thinkers. Learning is collaborative and active.

A vibrant, diverse and supportive community allows students to explore their unique voices, traits and talents and each individual is honored and respected. An emphasis on the importance of community and service encourages students to develop self-awareness, personal character, resilience and an understanding of their role as stewards of the planet and citizens of the world.

In 1918 Helen Salz and Flora Arnstein opened the Presidio Open Air School to San Francisco children and families tired of the rote learning and boring, factory-model pedagogy of the time.
The progressive ideas of John Dewey and others were gaining ground as children in progressive schools were offered the opportunity to "learn by doing" and express themselves creatively. Presidio Open Air School was the first such school in California.

Progressive Ideals Then and Now
The original 15 students have given way to our current 220 or so, but the seminal ideas on which the children's education was founded have remained. Now, however, these progressive ideals are supported by modern brain research that helps us to understand how children learn best. There remains an emphasis on the written and spoken word. Problem solving and conceptual understanding are at the heart of the math curriculum. The arts are valued and given prominence. All are woven into an integrated, project-based curriculum that engages young learners.

Presidio Hill is a community where social justice was important and where diversity is consciously embraced and fostered. During the 1930s, the school became a place where European refugees could get help in their transition to American life. Later, the school invited well-known and often blacklisted performers such as Paul Robeson and Pete Seeger to sing for the children and the public. In the 1940s, Presidio Hill was the first independent school in San Francisco to open its doors to African-American students.

Now, 100 years after its founding, Presidio Hill remains a leader in the independent school community. With its focus on the developmental needs of its youngest transitional kindergarten students as well as its oldest middle schoolers, its emphasis on the whole child, its commitment to authentic styles of assessment, its environmental education programs, and its commitment to the arts as a central focus, Presidio Hill continues to offer challenges to the prevailing educational paradigms of our time. It has remained remarkably true to its founding principles and continues to be a school in which children love to learn.

School Day Hours
The school building is open from 7:45am to 6:00pm everyday with extended care options before and after the school day. The school day begins and ends at different times, depending on grade level, as follows:

9:00am–2:45pm for Kindergarten & TK

8:30am–3:00pm. for Grades 1–2

8:30am–3:10pm for Grade 3

8:30am–3:20pm for Grades 4–5

8:15am–3:30pm for Grades 7–8

8:15am–3:40pm ​for Grade 6

Students
Presidio Hill School is a transitional kindergarten (TK) through grade 8 school with one section per grade for TK through grade 5 and two sections for grades 6-8. Our student-to-teacher ratio is 9:1 and the average class size is as follows:

Average class size:

Transitional Kindergarten (TK): 10-12 students (one lead teacher)

Kindergarten: 20-22 students (two teachers)

Grades 1-4: 18-22 students (two teachers)

Grade 5: 18-24 students (two teachers)

Grades 6-8: 14-16 students per section (up to 32 per grade)

We currently enroll 224 students (2019-20 school year) of which males and females are split 50/50 and self-selected students of color are 47% of our population.