Saint Hilary School

765 Hilary Drive

Tiburon, CA 94920

27 Reviews

School District
Grade

1-8
Type

private

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Reviews

Submitted by parent on March 27, 2024

Wonderful school that focuses on child centered learning. Not your Grandmother’s catholic school! 21st century education with kind hearts and a spirt of going forth into the world and being a change for good. Local people can tell the difference between the kids at Saint Hilary and public schools and their kind hearts and authentic sense of community. My child is reading 3 levels above grade level and we’ve had a great experience thus far. They work to tailor work to the level of the student and if not severely needing assistance they can work with kids with minor learning differences. They’re not a fit for kids with severe dyslexia for example but they will work with kids to get them up to and above grade level utilizing the various staff specialists. Very well resourced school.
Submitted by parent on January 08, 2024

My child attended SHS for 9 years from Kindergarten through 8th Grade. He received a first-rate education coupled with an outstanding moral and faith-filled foundation. The teachers are dedicated to their students, and subject matter experts, and create a fun and exciting learning environment. They are available to meet children and parents to ensure that their educational experience is positive and successful The students are compassionate, kind, and engaged in their learning. The parent community is supportive of the school and its mission. We have lifelong friends from our time at Saint Hilary. The school environment is positive, safe, and inviting for all students. My child was well-prepared for high school and has grown into a compassionate, inspired learner for life.
Submitted by parent on December 19, 2023

My children have been at SHS since Kindergarten, and to say they have thrived is an understatement. The school nurtures the whole child, with an environment that encourages learning wrapped within the Catholic faith. The school makes no apologies for what it is - a faith-based school with high academic standards and a rigorous and challenging curriculum. Manners are important, as are many values that seem to have slipped in recent times. Almost 100% of 8th Grade students get into their first choice of high school, and feedback from the high schools is that St Hilary students are very well prepared. There is a robust parent volunteer program, which for a new parent gives them a unique birds eye view into their child's classroom and the school overall. No school is without problems, it would be disingenuous to say this school was perfect, however in my experience any time there has been a major issue the administration has dealt with it swiftly and enforced change if need be. I wholeheartedly recommend Saint Hilary School.I cannot imagine my children going to any other school and am so grateful that we made the decision to apply here a decade ago.
Submitted by parent on July 09, 2023

Any public school in the area is a way better option. This school will do way more damage than good. The teachers and kids at the school are bullies. And there is never consequences to anyone’s actions. Do not send your kids here.
Submitted by parent on April 08, 2023

Principal hires members of staff to look good - the hiring process, from an outside perspective, does not appear to revolve around competency, character or strength of faith ( as it should in a Catholic school!)Staff attrition rates are beyond a joke, meaning any child attending the school can expect disruption and thus an inconsistent experience as well as one full of staff doing jobs they are not trained to do.Avoid at all costs.
Submitted by parent on October 13, 2022

My daughter is so very happy here. She is challenged and thriving. They’re focusing on academics and the whole child and the faith foundation is really solid. The teachers are warm, kind and genuinely care.
Submitted by parent on May 03, 2022

We’ve had a great experience at SHS! It’s a nurturing environment with great teachers that are kind but also academically focused. The kids are well rounded and confident. They emphasize public speaking and make they comfortable talking in front of their peers and adults. Great leadership skills!
Submitted by parent on May 01, 2022

We were a local public school family who moved to SHS during Covid because the public schools stayed closed but SHS figured out how to open. We loved our public school and we’re sad to leave it, the bar was set high when we transferred. Our intention was to stay until public school reopened but our experience at SHS has been so positive that we stayed a second year and just re-enrolled for a third and are enrolling our youngest too. I wanted to leave a review because a friend who is applying asked about the recent rash of bad reviews on this site. After checking them out I feel compelled to share our experience as it is 180 from what these folks have shared. Is SHS perfect? No school is but I don’t encounter issues like the people below shared. There are families that do leave the school and no one is surprised when they do. Everyone knows the type, we all have them at public and private schools alike - always looking for a reason to complain, constantly griping, refusing to take accountability for the role they and their kids play in things not working out, and entitled attitudes. These people abound in Southern Marin and sometimes they end up at SHS. I’m pleased with the academics for my children, the social life for my kids and myself, the caliber of the staff and mission of the school. I’m a bit baffled by the vicious reviews about SHS, specifically the one from the family that stayed from JK-8 and now claims her children are traumatized by the experience? Why did you stay for ten years? And the person complaining that the front desk staff and librarian are church members? It’s a church school! I have referred Saint Hilary to numerous friends and many have enrolled their kids and share the same experience as we have. Don’t let a handful of bad reviews in the last two years during Covid scare you away from this fantastic little school. Transferring has been one of the best decisions I have ever made for kids. Most importantly, our kids adore SHS. They are elementary and middle schoolers who eagerly head to school everyday, excited to see friends, staff and teachers. They love the school and are loved in return. That says enough to me.
Submitted by parent on February 25, 2022

All of the low reviews in the last year or two are baffling. (Are they all the same person??) Our three kids thrived at SHS. Our sense is that other families are generally happy. The ones that aren't, I look at them and feel like their expectations are unreasonable and they don't do their part as parents to help their kids through these years. The school did a great job keeping things going through COVID. Is it perfect in every way? No school is. We would send our kids here again with no hesitation.
Submitted by parent on December 17, 2021

I am not exactly sure if I am more angry or more disappointed to be posting this review. Our children attended Saint Hilary for 10 years, Jk through 8th grade. We leave the school wishing we had NEVER let our children attend for the last 3 years. While we had some great years at SHS, middle school was as bad as it could possibly be. At a time when young adolescents need compassion, understanding and guidance, the students were chastised, belittled and emotionally abused by select middle school teachers and the principal. It was not just our children but the entire class.It is not a coincidence that all reviews posted since 2018 are negative. 2018 marked the beginning of a huge shift at the school; new teachers, change in school values and culture. A Catholic School is supposed to be about Catholic values as they set a foundation for life. This is especially important for K-8. The SHS principal has instead shifted to a culture of political bias, prejudice and judgement. Sadly, this shift is supported and blessed by the parish priest who is charged with overseeing the school.We can easily say we support every negative review posted over the last two years. Our experiences parallel what others have stated. We approached the principal and the priest with our concerns of emotional safety and shift in values, only to be dismissed by both.,I encourage any that are even considering the school:Review the tenure of the teachers and administration: most are new because the great ones continue to leave or have been fired over the last 3 years.Review credentials because as stated, too many are under qualified.Review the “Diversity Committee” goals and objectives and recommended reading lists for ALL grades.Happily, I can say that as our children have transitioned to high school, they are back on track at a school of values based culture committed to the intellectual, emotional and spiritual growth of the students.That was how we started at Saint Hilary. We were fortunate to have that experience with many teachers through our first years and a select few through middle school. Sadly, most of those teachers and administrators continue to be forced out, leave, been fired, or stay and are doing their best to survive.Although I expect the emotional scars of SHS will never be forgotten, we are hopeful they will serve as a life lesson as our children move forward at this important time in life. There are countless better options.
Submitted by other on December 09, 2021

I attended 7th and 8th grade at St Hilary in 2013 and 2014. It's always been as cold, harsh, and horrible as people are just now realizing. I was the only kid in my grade that was targeted by a group of 9 boys. They screamed and threw stuff at me, called me names, and caused me to develop several severe mental disorders that I still struggle with to this day. I still have nightmares about my experiences here. I was bullied so severely, and even when my parents, my friends and I begged the teachers to do anything, they only made it obvious that I asked them for help and half-heartedly told the kids to stop. That of course made it even worse. Nothing was done. PLEASE DO NOT SEND YOUR KIDS HERE.
Submitted by parent on June 24, 2021

I was shocked by how bad administration operates with their teachers. Ask the members of admin what their credentials are. You will find a person with a background of sports medicine, an Ed.D. from a private online school, the tech person, secretary, and librarian are all church members. The AP is a former teacher that has no state credential nor a Master's. Most of the teachers have preliminary credentials just for show. Those will expire in 5 years and nonrenewable because they will not be able to meet professional development criteria to pass to a Clear Credential. There is no quality. It is just a church. Small classrooms are packed to 30+ students. There are some exceptions of good teachers, like the art teacher, math teacher and science teacher. Although they are all about to retire and are non-traditionally prepared teachers. They have to fight for accurate grading that the principal changes to make the school look better. This happens and sadly everyone learns about it. In fact, the school is so small you know who exactly the students are. Then the principal commits fraud by changing the grades for failing students so that students can enter the best prep schools that the school boasts about. Every experience I had in this school with administration was transactional.
Submitted by parent on June 11, 2021

I had a lot of hope in this school. We had a year here and it was a covid year. There was the only option for in-person learning this 2020/2021 year. My two daughters had a lot of challenges adjusting to social distancing and learning in the classroom as it was designed. The school looked prepared and safe. But there were many students and teachers that caught covid-19 and it was super secretive. I felt we had the right to know. We had to learn this information from other parents. I learned that this is how parents learn important things- through other parents and not the principal. Teachers and their families got sick this year and the principal never took responsibility of how it spread even when the janitor got really sick. The real sad thing is how we got attached to some teachers and then learned of their hardships. They weren't paid very much and they were treated terribly! Next year, my kids are returning to public school where diversity is important and isn't just window dressing for school's website. There were a couple of racists and cultural differences that were not dealt with properly. It reflected poorly on the school and the communitA lot of the parents were either outraged or they just didn't know until they read about it. Saying this, If there was another pandemic and again if I could not be home, I would send them to this school. My child's teachers were very sweet. But now that things are back to normal, there is no way I can subject my kids to this backwards place. Most of the teachers aren't even proper teachers, but the webiste makes it look like they are all real teachers with degrees in education. Worst of all, the classes are stuffed with students. Even during the pandemic, classes were up to 15. I thought it would be better in a private school!
Submitted by parent on June 11, 2021

I also wish more families had left more honest reviews of St. Hilary. We liked it when we toured it but ended up pulling out child out because in reality it was nothing like what we thought it would be. The vibe is cold and harsh and I feel like we are still dealing with the damage done from this school. There is a blame game that goes on here and the parents all seem scared of the administration. Public school was a WAY better fit for us. I honestly hope St. Hilary does a bit of self reflecting and takes some of these negative reviews as an opportunity to learn from there mistakes and foster a healthier culture. I feel sad for the students there.
Submitted by parent on September 19, 2020

We threw fifteen grand every year and worse paid a lot of money for a toxic learning environment that now we get to ‘undo’ in our child. Just wish we would’ve pulled her sooner or better, not enrolled in the first place. She was doing just fine at the public school, just felt the public school was so big. But she would’ve been way better off there .
Submitted by parent on February 28, 2020

Underwhelming. No school is perfect, we get that. And our child is happy enough here, has made some nice friends and we are close to the end, so not worth the disruption of change. It was the sweet spot financially when we joined but after you factor in consistent tuition increases, thousands per child in annual expected donations, tutors and specialists to keep up or be challenged, and now the expectation of each family making a “significant” donation to pay for the remodel that few want but they’ve already committed to, it’s no longer such a sweet spot financially, or otherwise. Kids are crammed in classes and more kids admitted every year (despite parent protests and administrative assurances to the contrary). They fill to 35/36 per class with a disingenuous method at deriving at the purported 13:1 teacher ratio (maybe the janitor counts?). But mostly, the kids are out of control, teachers overwhelmed and administration absent.
Submitted by parent on February 27, 2020

Disappointing. It is based on an illusion of a cheaper private school being awesome, like you're more protected. It's not what you think. I think they know parents are desperate to find a small alternative to larger public schools or super expensive private schools. It's also way more religious that you think, even if they tell you it isn't.
Submitted by parent on February 10, 2020

Would make a different choice knowing what we know now about what the school is like. I wish more families would have left more honest reviews.
Submitted by parent on January 06, 2020

I wish the teachers communicated better with the principle. There is a huge disconnect there. The kids and families are great and parents are scared to speak up when there is an issue. Math appears to be an issue school wide for all families at St. Hilary. For the amount of money we pay for tuition, why are we having to pay for additional tutoring when it is a school wide issue. Eventually we pulled all 3 of our kids out but at what expense. Save yourself the trouble and do your research. There are better schools in the area.
Submitted by parent on May 02, 2018

A+ best school! We love St Hilary!