Welcome from Lisa

Thank you for visiting the website of Presidio Hill School.

It is my pleasure to welcome you to Presidio Hill School, a proud progressive school in San Francisco that has been educating children since 1918. I have been lucky enough to be a part of this remarkable learning community since 1990, joining first as a teacher in the lower school and currently honored to be serving as the Head of School. It is hard to sum up the whole of such a vibrant and dynamic school community in just a few paragraphs and yet I will try to give you a good sense of this unique school—above all, I encourage you to visit us to see our students and teachers in action.

At Presidio Hill School our graduates are curious and kind young people who have developed a wide variety of academic interests and skills, know themselves well as learners, understand the need to collaborate with and support others, are responsible and empowered, and nourish a sense of optimism and creativity in themselves and others. If we work backward, it is clear that Presidio Hill School’s educational methodologies, based on our underlying progressive educational philosophies, such as the deep belief that children’s voices and ideas matter greatly, allows us to achieve something truly unique in TK-8 education.

With experienced and dedicated teachers as their guides, Presidio Hill students take enormous pleasure in learning through a curriculum and approach designed to engage their intellectual, creative, physical, emotional, and social development. Working within the classroom as well as in the natural world and the city around them, Presidio Hill students build and strengthen their own knowledge while teachers’ expertise and careful guidance focuses and organizes their explorations and thinking. Being situated at the edge of the Presidio provides abundant opportunity for our students to be outdoors and to learn by doing in one of the area’s most beautiful and naturally diverse settings---and all just a short walk from campus.

Maybe most importantly, there is a kindness at Presidio Hill School that is fundamental to how people at our school treat one another. We strive to know each other, to learn from each other, and to accept each other with all of our strengths, talents, challenges, and differences. I invite you to visit our History page for more background information on progressive education and our deep ties to this movement and educational philosophy. While I hope this virtual point-of-view gives you a clear and inviting sense of Presidio Hill School, please do come visit our classrooms and our campus. Learning starts with first-hand experience, and so should choosing a school for your child. I hope to see you at Presidio Hill—we’re working hard and having fun!