Ocean Shore Elementary School

411 Oceana Boulevard

School District

Pacifica
Grade

K-8
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:25
Type

public

GreatSchools Rating

The school rating calculation is based on four ratings: the Student Progress Rating or Academic Progress Rating, College Readiness Rating, Equity Rating, and Test Score Rating each designed to show different facets of school success. Learn more about GreatSchools Ratings

Reviews

Submitted by parent on January 21, 2025

My three kids have had a wonderful experience at Ocean Shore School. And so have I as a parent. Why does my experience matter? Because Ocean Shore is a unique project-based learning school that invites parents to participate and learn alongside their kids. That's one of the things that appealed most to me when we were selecting which school to send my eldest to. I still remember sitting on the edge, praying so hard that we would win the lottery and get a coveted spot at this school.We have had a wonderful experience with most of our teachers. They are so creative and dedicated. The teachers make this school very special, and the community makes it exceptional. I love the way teachers embrace parent involvement not just as fundraisers but in the classroom, collaborating with them.About once a month, the whole class goes out into the world and learns outside the classroom. In kindergarten, we took the kids to the farmer's market, to the zoo, and to wade in tidepools at the beach. These field trips grow with the kids. My favorite overnight field trip is to Fort Ross, an old Russian Fur Trading Fort. It's a living history program that involves several months of prep where parents and students work together to make costumes, prepare food we will cook on oven fires, and items we will sell at the store. The kids take on roles of people who lived in the fort and learn to dance the troika. It's the kind of experience that can only be pulled off by a community of families working together.Two of my oldest kids are now off to college. Ocean Shore prepared them well for high school and they are now thriving in college.We often saw, Ocean Shore is a family of families. The community is incredibly open, inclusive, and supportive. Friendships made at Ocean Shore last a life time.
Submitted by parent on January 20, 2025

Ocean Shore School is truly extraordinary! As a parent of 2 students at OSS, one of the best decisions we’ve made was choosing this unique K-8 school with its emphasis on parent participation. Being actively involved in my children's education here has transformed how I parent and created incredible shared learning experiences through theme days and field trips.The crown jewel of Ocean Shore is the award-winning Oceans 411 program, which has been inspiring marine stewardship for over 30 years. This innovative program weaves ocean conservation throughout the curriculum from kindergarten through 8th grade. What makes it especially powerful is how our middle school students become teachers and leaders, sharing their knowledge with younger students. There's nothing quite like watching these teens develop public speaking skills and confidence while passing on their passion for ocean conservation.But Ocean Shore is more than just a school - it's a true community that extends far beyond the classroom walls. The parent participation model creates deep connections between families, teachers, and students. Whether we're learning together on field trips or collaborating on special projects, there's a special magic that happens when parents are this engaged in their children's education.I'm continually amazed by how this school nurtures not just academic growth, but also environmental awareness, leadership skills, and strong community bonds. Ocean Shore truly embodies what education should be - a partnership between teachers, parents, and students working together to create lifelong learners and conscientious citizens.This school is a hidden gem in Pacifica that keeps on giving back to our community year after year. If you're looking for an education that will transform both your child and your entire family, Ocean Shore School is the place to be.
Submitted by parent on January 20, 2025

What a wonderful school community to be a part of! My children are so happy and have great teachers.
Submitted by parent on January 20, 2025

We are in our second year at Ocean Shore and it has been a great experience for our daughter! From compassionate, skilled teachers and staff to a community of welcoming families who collectively look out for the best interests of the kids, I have been very pleased with all aspects of our experience so far.Field trips, Oceans 411 week, and project based experiential learning that engage the full K-8 student population all help this school feel special. Highly recommended!
Submitted by parent on January 20, 2025

We have been an Ocean Shore School family since 2018 and my 3 sons are enrolled there. My two oldest sons thrive in the middle school program and I’ve heard our math teacher is the most effective in the district at preparing kids for HS. Our elementary and middle school teachers have all been wonderful. No school is perfect and we did have a 5th grade teacher that was not a certified teacher that was asked to NOT renew her contract the following year. But this only happened because parents were listened to by the principal. Principal Tony, by the way, is a fantastic, caring, motivated leader that excels at handling difficult behavior issues. I love the experiential learning based programming as our kids are able to apply what they learn in class with real world experiences. The best part about OSS is the community. I highly recommend this school to any interested parent.
Submitted by other on August 28, 2024

This school overall is decent, however I would NOT recommend it at all for a middle school.
Submitted by parent on June 04, 2024

This school is a bad school, especially teachers are favoring some students over others. A lot of biases and discrimination going on.
Submitted by parent on April 01, 2024

a lot of inexperienced teachers and other teachers that are very rude to the kids and parents too. the principal sides with teachers even though she does not know the whole story. they lost good families because of this look at their score
Submitted by other on September 05, 2023

i love this school, the school as it is is great. One of the best teachers here is Erika Patterson. From Payton
Submitted by parent on August 26, 2021

Ocean Shore is a uniquely lovely school, with an emphasis on experiential learning. This translates into lots of memorable educational opportunities for the kids- this is everything from shows at the SF ballet to tours of the MOMA to an inside look at how a grocery store operates. The parent volunteer expectations are intimidating, but there are various ways to earn hours (some way easier than others!). Our family has 2 children at the school- we are 2 full time working parents and we've managed to make it work. The community is friendly and the teachers are supportive, experienced, and engaging. We've had a great experience with the school. The test scores (and overall greatschools.org rating) dropped noticeably during the pandemic/distance learning, but I think this is unfortunately to be expected. Most of what makes this school exceptional wasn't able to shine as brightly during distance learning. I would highly recommend this school if you're looking for a warm, welcoming learning environment.
Submitted by parent on April 13, 2019

The kids love all of their classes. Teachers and parents are very involved with the education of the kids. I love the small community feel of the school.
Submitted by parent on April 24, 2018

This is a "parent participation" school, so volunteering is expected. If you can't, you can pay for your hours, and the school hires classroom aides with those funds. Parent participation means the kids get experiences that the school couldn't afford otherwise -- art class, field trips, extra science, "theme days" and other teacher/volunteer-intensive activities. This is a school for parents who want to be involved with their kids' education and believe in experiential learning. The teachers are phenomenal overall (especially in grades K-5) -- very committed, creative and effective. My kids are enthused about learning at Ocean Shore, and I believe that the values promoted at the school will make them compassionate, involved citizens. They love the school.
Submitted by other on April 23, 2017

There is a strong sense of in-group/out-group at this school. The in-group is gay-friendly (mothers of gay children). if you are not gay yourself, or have a family member who is, you may be mislabeled as anti-gay. I'm not bothered in terms of whether or not one IS gay. I suspect my neighbor's child is gay. So what? Why would a mother become hysterical over the possibility of her son being rejected bec of his orientation? In this day and age? Seriously?
Submitted by parent on June 13, 2015

So a few years into this school, I'm happy with the teachers and the 1:1 help my kid has needed. I think the theme days and many field trips fall into the not-worth-it category. The kids get dragged to up ~ 1 field trip a month. Ride in other parents cars rather than buses/vans. I feel like we do an awful lot of driving for a short stay somewhere and half the time the kids are getting yelled at to behave (natural to need to do in any group of kids). I guess they are educational for about an hour ( for a 1-1.5hr drive each way sometimes). Same goes for the theme days. Just silly little activities designed to give parents time to volunteer. I like the parent volunteering in theory. But I'd rather have that time on direct education and not gluing a sparkly decoration to a felt one. Some parents do get to help w/ ed but its more an exception than a rule. If you are helping w/ ed, its only for ~1hr a day and that's rough on working families. There needs to be a lot more oversight on safety of the campus as a whole. The upper grades are well behaved kids, maybe a little bored. From the outside looking in, the PE program and extracurricular are marginal. The families are definitely burned out at the end of the year and older kid families seem bitter. But, my kid is getting educated and happy-ish. so, we'll stay. I am not confident its better anywhere else.
Submitted by parent on March 03, 2015

This school has some things I cherish- things other schools have begun imitating. It is a "parent participation" school, which means that I get to watch and help my child in his classroom, get to know his friends, and his teachers, not to mention the other parents. Their Ocean's 411 week is a deep-dive (pardon the pun) into specific elements of ocean learning, integrating into the curriculum through science, art, and math. Diversity Day, International Learning Day, Literacy Week, are all annual events that bring special and unique opportunities for the kids to learn things they may not in other schools. The hands-on learning, field trips almost monthly are incredibly important to kids and teachers alike. This school is as close to a private school, without the fees, that we could find, and I wouldn't do it differently, were we to have the chance again. The teachers are committed, wonderful people, partic. the 4/5's, which are the best teaching years the school offers. Middle school has its challenges at the moment, with new teachers, new class sizes and new Core Curriculum, but I have every faith, they will iron out the kinks in the next year.
Submitted by parent on October 15, 2013

We love the school although the volunteer hours are quite tremendous. I like the idea of lots of field trips. Indeed, my kids learned a lot from those trips especially overnight trips. However, I agreed with one of the parents' comment that the school should focus more on academics.
Submitted by parent on August 23, 2013

Great school! Everyone working together to ensure that the kids get the best education and guidance. Field trips provide a wonderful out of class experience for the kids too!
Submitted by parent on August 08, 2013

Ocean Shore I feel this school is not emphasizing enough on academic. For example, there are too may field trips during school year, and there is not enough decent computers for students. As a result, Math is lagging compare to other schools nearby. This is the time that we need to produce more well prepared math and science students.