St Brendan School

Amazing school and such a sweet welcoming community. Feel blessed to be part of such a wonderful place!!!

This school has been great for our 2 kids. The teacher’s are top notch and the quality of education is equivalent to that of the private schools which cost 4x the price. The Principal is a rockstar with so much energy and enthusiasm with a genuine love for the students and parents. That said, I don’t believe that St. Brendan’s is a good fit for every child. If your child is «outside the box», or has a learning difference, the school is likely not the best choice. The class sizes are large but it is amazing the level of learning and engagement they get from the kids. They have lots of specialty teachers too (Science, Art, Music, Spanish) The other stand-​out for me is the amount of responsibility St. Brendan’s students are given to assist in the running of the school. This develops young adults who know how to interact well with adults, can perform responsible jobs and are good citizens. I also strongly agree with Katie D.‘s comment on the strength of the community. We aren’t from SF but have found our family in the St. Brendan community. Thank you St. Brendan.

We feel very fortunate to have found this parish and school community. The school is very focused on developing «the whole child» — academically, socially, emotionally — and all delivered with a focus on growing their Catholic identity. Our children are benefiting greatly from the variety of opportunities to participate in public speaking, technology, science projects, art, Spanish, sports, band. .. the list goes on. We have found the teachers and Principal very accommodating when we have issues or concerns (let’s face it — nothing is ever perfect!), and the door is always wide open to parents. The thing that we did not expect when we joined the school was the AMAZING parent community — a real bonus! The parental involvement at this school is unbelievable. Parents are not required to do any service hours, yet just about everyone participates voluntarily. It is the most dynamic group of which we have ever been part, and we feel incredibly blessed to be there.

St. Brendan is by far in the running for top 5 Catholic School in S. F!!! I am so fortunate that my children were accepted to this school after having started at S.V.D.P…another top 5 Catholic school. (We moved and SVDP was 30 min away without traffic) The principal, Mrs. G as we call her, is amazing!!! The teaching staff is top notch, the students are all eager to learn, and the parents are mostly blue collar workers peppered with some richy lapoos… which is fine by me as you cannot tell they are loaded because no one is arrogant. The children are definitely getting a wonderful education that is balanced with community work and good old Christian values. Once you are in the St. Brendan community, you are family:)
Sadly, as with all schools, some families have chosen other school because St. Brendan was not a good fit for their children. Some families have left because of bullying. That being said, I know in two cases in particular, two of the children that left due to bullying were bullies themselves and super disruptive in class. Their parents were oblivious that their children could do no wrong and blamed everyone else without even considering that their child was a problem too. There are 2 sides to every story!!! I by no means condone bullying and I am happy there is a program implemented at St. B’s to help with situations as they rise.
Good luck applicants… it is tough to get in for a reason:)

Don’t confuse the old, respected St. Brendan’s School with what occupies the space today. The biggest bullies are the teachers and the principal and their toxicity has spread throughout the student body. The first grade teacher is wonderful and really stands out among the amateurs. The rest of the current staff is incapable of appreciating the individual talents of the children and the school has been dinged-​repeatedly-​on their accreditation report for not dealing with bullying and for not supporting critical thinking. SB used to be a «brand name»; now it’s just an embarrassment. There are many good schools in SF where teachers work closely with families to provide an outstanding school/​learning experience. Sadly St. Brendan’s is not one of them.
Unfortunately «no stars» is not an option.

I was very lucky to go to this school. The sisters Dianne and Christine who used to run the school were like Judge Judy…“tough but fair”. I still use the composition skills Sister Christine instilled in me daily. I received a great background in math (Mr. Courtney!), science (Mrs. Farrell!) and my favorite… history (Mr. McGuirk and Mr Lopez). Most of those teachers are not there anymore, but I still do think they do good work and have diverse social activities, from public speaking and a great sports program… to yes mandatory folk dancing instead of PE… ah, i wouldn’t know what a promenade or a do-​see-​do was if it were not for Mrs. Washburn. Aw yea. Great community too.