2023-2024 St. Paul's Episcopal School Viewbook

VIEWBOOK

FEARLESS
LEARNING
SERVICE &
STEWARDSHIP
DIVERSITY &
INCLUSION
ST. PAUL’S GRADUATES HAVE A
FLEXIBILITY OF MIND AND OPENNESS
OF HEART THAT MAKES THEM
CATALYSTS FOR COMMUNITY AND
POSITIVE CHANGE.
ACADEMIC
RIGOR
SPIRITUALITY
IGNITE THE SPARK
MISSION AND VALUES
St. Paul’s prepares students to be confident and skilled
learners, cultivates in them a strong sense of purpose, and
inspires them to be generous and active citizens of the world.
2

SPARK CURIOSITY
ACADEMICS
At St. Paul's students cultivate their unique genius and joy while challenging their growth
edges. Our faculty and curriculum give students tools to explore their identities and
intersectionalities, so that they know themselves as learners and can know and feel known by
their teachers and peers. The resulting sense of safety and trust allows students to take
academic risks and build new knowledge and skills each year. Project based learning
engaged in community through our Buddy Programs and partnerships at Lake Merritt, the
YMCA, Lakeside Park Garden Center, and others deepens students’ understanding of subject
matter. At St. Paul’s your child approaches real-world problem solving through exploration
and connection.
This integration of academics, social emotional learning, and community engaged learning
defines the St. Paul’s program. In Middle School, our interdisciplinary curriculum emphasizes
critical thinking and communication skills to support students’ growing ability to think
abstractly and make connections. As academic challenges accelerate, teachers emphasize
organization, study skills, and self-advocacy. Advisory, Affinity, and Empowerment groups
provide space for students to build relationships and deepen their understanding of
themselves and others. Electives, student government, and competitive sports provide
opportunities to develop passion and leadership skills. Across both divisions, our program
builds curiosity, resilience, purpose, and compassion.
5

SPARK ADVOCACY
DIVERSITY, EQUITY,
INCLUSION & BELONGING
Your child thrives when they belong. To ensure that our students, families, faculty, and staff
feel seen and known, we embed the values and practices of diversity, equity, inclusion, and
belonging in everything we do as an institution: from academic programming to community
building; from governance to everyday decision making; from admissions protocols to
classroom management; from curriculum design to community norms for behavior both
within and outside school walls. St. Paul’s actively interrogates systems of white supremacy in
our committed work toward becoming an antiracist institution.
7

LAKESIDE PARK
ST. PAUL’S
In the Neighborhood
N
SPARK COMMUNITY
W
S
E
COMMUNITY
ENGAGED LEARNING
ROTARTY NATURE CENTER
Kids care about justice and injustice. They learn about and experience justice and injustice on
the playground, during a basketball game, while walking around Lake Merritt, and in their
classrooms. While the examination of power, privilege, and oppression is embedded in our
K-8 curricula, harnessing the student’s sense of justice and connecting it to their immediate
world is Community Engaged Learning (CEL). Students engage with community members
and organizations to identify and address real-world issues. They conduct research, provide
service, and create and implement projects that benefit the community. CEL involves
reflection and critical thinking, and develops a sense of social responsibility and empathy for
others. A St. Paul’s student learns what it means to engage in activism to change social and
economic systems in support of social and environmental equity and justice.
TO
CITY HALL
TO
OAKLAND
MUSEUM
OF ART
GARDEN CENTER
Map Markers:
1 Lower School
2 Middle School
3 Church
4 Casa & Library
5 Playground & Gym
6 Concert Spaces
7 YMCA
8 Glen Echo Creek Inlet
9 St. Paul's Towers
* Map not drawn to scale
10 Veterans' Green
11 Outdoor Learning Space
12 Lawn Bowling Club of Oakland
13 School garden plot
14 Lakeside Park Botanic Gardens
15 Lake Merritt Boat House
16 Lake Merritt Wildlife Refuge
17 Rotary Nature Center
9

HIGH SCHOOL
PLACEMENT PROCESS
CADEMIC
A
RIGOR
PORTRAIT OF A
GRADUATE
DIVERSITY &
BELONGING
FEARLESSS
LEARNING
STEWARDSHIP
SERVICE &
SPIRITUALITY
ADMISSION DIRECTORS
KNOW OUR STUDENTS
ARE WELL PREPARED
ACADEMICALLY, AWARE
OF THE WORLD AROUND
THEM, AND READY FOR
THE NEXT CHAPTER OF
THEIR LIVES.
August
• The Director of Middle School meets with eighth
grade students and families to discuss and hone
their high school search. Families explore the
best school options available to them including
public, charter, independent, parochial, and
boarding schools.
September-November
Eighth Grade high school placement class
covers:
• The high school selection process, including
research and applications
• Developing a customized list of target high
schools
• Conducting mock interviews with St. Paul’s
teachers and staff
• Practice writing application essays
December-January
• Students prepare and submit applications.
Graduates leave St. Paul’s with keen analytical skills, depth of academic knowledge, a
framework for ethical decision making, a commitment to active engagement in their
communities, and the confidence to be themselves. This Portrait of a Graduate outlines how
the St. Paul’s program prepares students with the tools and mindset to lead us toward a
better world.
FEARLESS LEARNING
St. Paul’s graduates explore multiple solutions to problems.
• We support students to challenge themselves with new and difficult experiences, understanding that healthy
discomfort is essential for learning.
• We empower students with skills to become advocates for themselves and others.
• We create respectful learning communities by defining classroom norms, using thoughtful language, modeling risk
taking, and ensuring each child feels cared for, respected, and known.
DIVERSITY & INCLUSION
St. Paul’s graduates make authentic connections with people of diverse backgrounds and experiences.
• We create diverse student groupings to encourage learning from a variety of perspectives and to promote different
forms of participation.
• We scaffold discussions related to equity and inclusion throughout our curriculum.
• We choose multicultural curricula and varied instructional practices.
ACADEMIC RIGOR
St. Paul’s graduates are curious and engaged learners who can manage complexity.
• We combine project-based learning with research-based curricula and teacher-directed lessons.
• We emphasize depth of understanding, content knowledge, and skill development.
• We design varied assessments that guide students to set goals and track their own learning against standard
benchmarks.
SERVICE & STEWARDSHIP
St. Paul’s graduates are catalysts for positive change in their communities.
• We weave Community Engaged Learning projects into our curricula, which deepens empathy and academic learning.
• We do service projects and partner with organizations around Lake Merritt and Downtown Oakland through which
students learn about their communities.
SPIRITUALITY
St. Paul’s graduates strive for purpose that extends beyond self-interest.
• We honor the religious, spiritual, and ethical traditions of all community members.
• We hold chapel as a forum for students to explore cultural, ethical, and spiritual questions connected to their
curriculum.
• We help students express their identity and develop self-knowledge so that they can build meaningful relationships
with others.
11

FACULTY
“
” ”
13
We have a lot of opportunities as a close-knit group of educators to create
spaces for student voices. They know that they have power and can effect
change.
— DEBORAH LIRA, DEAN OF EQUITY & BELONGING
You are studying yourself and your interaction with the world—instead of
looking at the world as separate or something you have to navigate. You go
“from “What?” questions to “How?” questions.
— ANTHONY HOPKINS, EIGHTH GRADE SOCIAL STUDIES

PARENTS
“
Our family has been a member of the St. Paul’s parent community for 11
years. It is a diverse community, no doubt, but also a remarkably coherent
one. Parents may have a variety of backgrounds and viewpoints, and differing
life goals for their children, but what unites them is the emphasis they all
place on social and moral values. We all appreciate the effort St. Paul’s gives
towards weaving discussions of character, of social responsibility, of moral
courage, into its curriculum from Kindergarten to 8th grade.
— GENEVIEVE GARFUNKLE, PARENT OF SOPHIE ‘18 AND PENELOPE ‘23
”
“
In my past at St. Paul's, and it's been a long and fond one, I found the
parents to be friendly, welcoming, and real. No pretense to who they were or
what they did in life. Very open and honest and I found that to be so
refreshing and comforting because then I knew my kids would be in a place
that other like-minded parents wanted their children to be. I found it easy for
me to blend in and be me and continue that atmosphere of friendliness.
— EARL ELZY, PARENT OF AILISH ‘06, KATIE ‘08, BRONAGH ‘19, AND KIAN ‘23
”
15

ST. PAUL’S
AT A GLANCE
FOUNDED IN 1975
SCHOOL ENROLLMENT
About 350 students
STUDENTS
Students of Color 72%
Mixed Heritage 42%
AA 23%
Asian 3%
Latinx/HSP 3%
South Asian 1%
Caucasian 27%
Not listed 1%
EMPLOYEES OF COLOR 68%
SPECIALIST PROGRAMS
Spanish
Swimming (K-2)
P.E.
Music
Art
Library
Team Sports (Grades 6-8)
Cross Country
Soccer
Flag Football
Basketball
Volleyball
Ultimate Frisbee
2x Budget Allocation to Flexible Tuition Compared to Peer Schools
Episcopal Identity
St. Paul’s welcomes families and faculty of all faiths or none. We embrace the
rich roots of the Episcopal tradition through our weekly non-denominational
Chapel, a commitment to the well-being of our school members and neighbors,
opportunities to explore diverse world faith traditions, and a curriculum that
focuses on the pursuit of equity and justice.
90% of our eighth grade students matriculate to their first choice of high
schools. Most popular among our students over the last four years:
The Athenian School
Berkeley High School
Bentley School
Bishop O’Dowd High School
The College Preparatory School
De La Salle High School
The Head-Royce School
AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAM
Open until 6:00 pm
Enrichment classes
Study Hall
Outdoor play
Music lessons
Holy Names High School
Latitude High School
Lick-Wilmerding High School
Oakland Technical High School
St. Mary’s College High School
Skyline High School
WWW.SPES.ORG
116 Montecito Avenue
Oakland, CA 94610
510.285.9600