Holy Spirit

1198 Redmond Avenue

San Jose, CA 95120

32 Reviews

School District
Grade

PK-8
Type

private

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Reviews

Submitted by parent on May 06, 2023

Sent our son here for a few years. It’s great if: you’re white, you want your kids to have an education akin to what we received 30+ years ago, you love cliques and cliquey groups, you’re averse to any kind of change or advancement, you believe you’re a good person based on the fact that you walk into a church every week, you act horribly toward others but then justify it based on previous point, you like to live in a bubble that excludes the rest of society, you want a school that allows bullies to continue as though nothing happened, and you want a principal who does little to get to know the students and doesn’t respond to emails.
Submitted by parent on May 10, 2020

Excellent! Teachers try to get to know parents and grandparents. Morning meetings encourage parents to attend each morning, when there isn't a pandemic.
Submitted by parent on October 24, 2018

Our 3 children have attended Holy Spirit for 5 years and our oldest recently graduated from 8th grade in June and went on to attend Bellarmine. Holy Spirit focuses on the whole child. The teachers and administration engage with the students and help them blossom into responsible, happy teenagers. There are many activities for our children to participate in the school community and parish.
Submitted by parent on October 22, 2018

We have been at the school for 5 years and have been very happy with the education and sense of community. We appreciate that the families have similar values and beliefs. We also feel like we are accepted regardless of our spiritual beliefs. We feel lucky to be able to offer our children many of the extracurricular activites they offer (art, robotics, volleyball, drama, recyling team, flag football, Girl Scouts and many others)
Submitted by parent on October 22, 2018

Amazing, would highly recommend to any family looking for private, Catholic education.
Submitted by parent on October 04, 2018

All three of my kids love the school and never want to move. Excellent community, families and education!
Submitted by parent on June 29, 2018

Some of the teachers have been amazing and really love the students. That being said, they have little input or backbone when and it comes to challenging Fr. Brendan and his policies. There seems to be an unspoken acceptance that their job security is at risk if the challenge him in any way.
Submitted by parent on June 10, 2017

Overall, our experience has been disappointing. Faith-based education is important to our family and HSS has done a good job teaching our child about our faith. Due to continued teacher turnover and our disappointment in the quality of our child's academic instruction this past year, we've start looking at other schools in the area. We could do better.
Submitted by parent on January 27, 2016

As parents one of our most important assignments is to see that our children are properly educated. When my husband and I choose Holy Spirit for our family 10 years ago, we delegated a large part of our responsibility and a significant portion of our children's education to the teachers and staff. We are so fortunate that the influence our kids are exposed to at Holy Spirit reinforce our own teachings. It takes a village to raise our children. At Holy Spirit our teachers, school administration and church are certainly part of our village. Without a doubt we feel we did our research and trusted in our faith many years ago and couldn’t be happier. This year we have one graduating from Holy Spirit and one with a few years left. I truly feel my 8th grader is prepared for Catholic High School and has benefited in so many ways by being a student and member of the Holy Spirit Community. No one school is the perfect fit for all, but for my family it has been a blessing.
Submitted by other on January 26, 2016

I'd like to correct a few things about Holy Spirit school and church. We are one faith community - the school doesn't merely share a campus - we are connected with our faith journey. The emergency Shelter is open from 7:00pm through 7:00am - when the children are not on campus. I feel this shelter has been a transformative experience for our catholic community and I why I send me children to a Catholic School.
Submitted by parent on January 26, 2016

I have 3 children at Holy Spirit and have been at the school for the last 10 years. I’m not a person who writes many reviews but when I run into this last review when doing a google search I was saddened by this parent’s experience which seems to be so different from mine. So while I respect everyone’s opinions, I also think it’s fair to offer the perspective of someone who has been happy with the school for many years. Let me start by saying that HSS is NOT perfect for everyone. But what school is? With that being said, here are my two (or three) cents: 1. I believe we have an amazing team of educators and staff who truly care about the kids. They all understand that the kids are work-in-progress; something that we parents tend to forget sometimes when we get impatient about a grade or a bad conduct report. 2. We have an amazing community of parents, teachers and staff and the school makes a real effort to build it up because they know that a strong school community directly affects the academic and social performance of our kids. 3. I’m very happy with the faith and character formation and the many opportunities to practice our faith and serve others (one of the reasons why I invest in a Catholic education for my kids). I am actually one of many parents who welcomed the church’s decision to open it’s doors during the night to 15 homeless women this cold and rainy winter. What an amazing opportunity to volunteer and teach our children that our small sacrifices can save lives! You can’t learn that from books. The bottom line: I love who my kids are becoming, and it’s only fair to give half of the credit to the educational institution where they spend most of their day.
Submitted by parent on January 08, 2016

We have two children at HSS and overall we are NOT HAPPY with school or the administration. Since we started there 3 years ago the staff turnover has been incredibly high, partly due to the Principal who is still there. Overall the communication between the Administration and most of the Teachers to the Parents is very poor. At the end of December (2015) the Church (attached to the school) decided to open a Homeless Shelter 7 days a week from 7 AM to 7 PM. Neither the School nor the Church informed the parents of this until it was already decided on. The school is not very secure, and we are incredibly worried about the safety of our two young children. The parents were not given any say in the decision of homeless shelter whatsoever, and because it is mid-year we feel it is too disruptive to take our kids out of the school. We are angry and upset that the School would not bring this up for a vote at the very least, given the 5-10% increase in Tuition that we pay each year. We will be leaving the school at the end of this school year and we do not recommend this school.
Submitted by parent on June 24, 2014

My third child will enter Holy Spirit School this year and he can't wait! Every year we wonder if we have made the right choice by sending our three children to HSS and every year's back to school night confirms that this is the environment we want for them - a place for them to grow and thrive; to be educated in their faith and academics; to be nurtured and appreciated for their individuality; to be held responsible for their actions; and to recognize their role in their community. These are two of the things teachers have said to us: "My job is to make your child love to learn." "Children make mistakes and we will love them through it as they grow." We are very happy at Holy Spirit and so are our kids!
Submitted by parent on April 17, 2014

We are extremely pleased with the school, in particular with the quality of the teachers. My son is currently in first grade and the progress that he has made during the year is amazing. As many boys of his age, reading is not his forte, but the teacher he has is just wonderful. His reading has improved so much that so far he has read more than 35 books! I also like the fact that the school uses a lot of the current technology that is available for education. Math has been always easy for my son, but the teacher uses apps and other programs that are adaptive, so my son constantly feels challenge. At the beginning he felt troubled, because he used to believe that he didn't need to try that hard in Math, but now, he is really engage with learning and curious about learning what is next.
Submitted by parent on March 13, 2014

After searching high and low for a school, I stumbled upon HSS. From the extremely helpful office staff, amazing teachers and families, we have truly been blessed to be a part of such a wonderful school and community. My son entered PreK this year and has blossomed. The quality of education that the students receives ranks high. I recommend this school to anyone in the South San Jose area. My son will continue his elementary/middle education as a Coyote!
Submitted by parent on January 07, 2014

Great community. Great teachers. Wonderful academic programs with great new system to help bridge the gap in all levels of learning.
Submitted by parent on September 17, 2013

Leaving Holy Spirit school is very sad. I was very connected with a number of families. We were disconnected with everything else. The school itself is mediocre. There is no attention put on the individual child and how they relate to other children. It's a mean environment for kids and even worse for the parents. My children were in some classes for years with parents that were still asking me who I was, because they couldn't be bothered to look up at an unfamiliar face. I knew who they were. When we left we realized there are normal nice families and kids can be asked to be kind to each other and when expected to they will.
Submitted by parent on May 14, 2013

We enrolled my son last year in Kindergarten and we couldn't be happier about our decision. He attended an outstanding early development center, so the bar was already high. But the teachers at Holy Spirit have been wonderful and the principal too. I will definitively recommend it to anyone.
Submitted by parent on September 25, 2012

I read many of the reviews and simply stated the negative reviews are wrong. This is a Catholic School that holds to high standards of being actively part of the greater community. They have high standards for academics as they are preparing you for Catholic High Schools and eventually university. The teachers overall are awesome - this is not a job to them - it's a vocation. They often get paid less than public school teachers who are in the system well past their prime. They can hire and fire based on performance which is nice to see. If you have a problem child - public school is probably better for them. They won't get away with anything at Holy Spirit. Church and spiritual teaching is very important and is a big part of the school. Yes, parents are expected to volunteer so as to lead by example for their children. No absentee parents allowed. The school is by no means perfect but they are well ahead of the public schools that are underfunded, overcrowded and understaffed. It's a great school - I have 2 children presently at the school and 1 who graduated and is now at Saint Francis. I would highly recommend sending your chrildren to Holy Spirit if they can get in
Submitted by parent on January 30, 2012

At one point I had 2 children at HSS. One of my children attended this school for 9 long years and is now in high school and doing great. My child was well prepared although she 'lost' a year in math due to a really bad teacher. Academically, the teachers and standards are ruthless. There is no grace, forgiveness or second chances here! They select only the cream of the crop here either at the entrance process or by self-elimination because of the rigidity. Kids get in trouble for running and kicking the ball at recess!!! Our child made a lot of friends there. Spiritually, my child and her friends were jaded and very cynical and weren t afraid to mock prayer time or going to mass. The children saw a disconnect in what they were being taught spiritually, and what they actually saw in action. If social and spiritual development is as important to you as academics, look somewhere else. Be prepared to participate in endless fundraisers, 40 volunteer hours are MANDATORY, there are parent cliques and the receptionists are very partial to people they like (except for the brunette that works Fridays and has a smile for EVERYONE). Snooty attitudes abound! My other kid is happy elsewhere!