St. Catherine Laboure Elementary School

3846 Redondo Beach Boulevard

Torrance, CA 90504

22 Reviews

School District
Grade

PK-8
Type

private

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Reviews

Submitted by parent on February 26, 2025

Both of my kids attend St. Catherine Laboure School, and we couldn’t be happier with our experience! The school provides high-quality instruction, ensuring that students are challenged academically while also receiving the support they need to succeed. The teachers are dedicated, knowledgeable, and truly care about their students’ growth.Beyond academics, the school offers a safe and nurturing environment. As a parent, knowing that my children are in a place where they feel secure and supported means everything. The sense of community here is also outstanding. Families, staff, and faculty are welcoming and inclusive, making it easy to get involved and feel connected.If you're looking for a school that prioritizes education, safety, and a strong sense of community, I highly recommend St. Catherine Laboure!
Submitted by parent on February 26, 2025

As a parent of two boys who have attended Saint Catherine Labouré School from kindergarten through 8th grade, I cannot speak highly enough of the exceptional education and nurturing environment this school provides.From the very beginning, we felt welcomed into a community that values academic excellence, character development, and faith-based learning. The dedicated teachers and staff go above and beyond to support each student, ensuring they are both challenged and encouraged in their growth. Small class sizes allow for individualized attention, and the curriculum is well-rounded, incorporating strong academics, spiritual guidance, and extracurricular opportunities.Beyond academics, what truly sets Saint Catherine Labouré apart is the sense of family and community. The school fosters an environment where students not only learn but also develop strong moral values, kindness, and respect for others. Our boys have thrived here, both academically and personally, building a strong foundation that will serve them well in high school and beyond.We are deeply grateful for the experiences, friendships, and values our children have gained at Saint Catherine Labouré. If you are looking for a school that provides a top-quality education within a supportive and faith-filled community, we highly recommend it!
Submitted by parent on June 07, 2024

I have one child that already graduated from St Catherine Labouré and I have one child who is currently attending. Both of my children have had great experiences and have had great teachers that have been very patient and supportive when they need additional help. Our community of parents are very close and help each other too.
Submitted by parent on February 08, 2024

Before coming to this school, my kids were timid and since being in the friendly place, my kids have developed into something I'm proud of. The staff is wholeheartedly supportive and strives to ensure a safe learning environment for the kids.
Submitted by parent on September 15, 2023

I attended St. Catherine Laboure and now my son is also attending here. It's a great school and the academic program is amazing. They really do a great job preparing the students for high school. The teachers and the staff here are friendly and care about the children's learning and well-being. This school is our home, and it will always be our home. If you are looking for a great catholic school, look no further. I highly recommend that you stop in for a tour.
Submitted by parent on February 21, 2021

We've been at St. Catherine Laboure' for 10 years. We believe the students, teachers, administration, and families together form an incredible, diverse community. The parents are passionate, they are involved in their children's lives, they participate in activities, and create a community that we have not seen at any other school. Parents don't just drop off the kids and stay uninvolved. Students on campus are respectful, cordial, and kind. They mentor each other and welcome new students to the classroom family. We have had incredible teachers throughout the years who have been driven and passionate about teaching and inspiring the students. The teachers and administration have transitioned incredibly into a very effective remote learning curriculum during the pandemic and continue to mentor the students the entire day from 8am-3pm. They have provided spiritual, academic, and psychological support for the families and continue to reach out to see how the parents and students are doing during the pandemic and ask how they can improve their techniques, hours, homework, etc. to assist with parents who are spread thin due to challenges resulting from learning remotely. Thank you St. Catherine teachers, staff, and administration for all you do for our students, our families, and our community!
Submitted by parent on February 02, 2021

This is a bad Catholic school. The administration is terrible and the teachers are unmotivated and often are heard complaining about their jobs and the principal. There is high turnover rate because of the poor leadership and many of the teachers are not well qualified or trained properly either. This is why so many of them leave. It is sad that all their good reviews online are from the PTO parents! Also, NOT MUCH diversity or representation. Very expensive too! Not worth it!!
Submitted by parent on January 21, 2021

I have worked at several schools, and St. Catherine Laboure is my favorite by far. As an educator with experience in independent, faith-based and public schools, it is so refreshing to be at St. Catherine's. The students are very respectful, kind, engaging and overall well-rounded. I especially love the diversity of the student population. The teachers come together weekly to learn from each other, grow in their skill and support one another. They have a true passion for the students and truly want to see them succeed. Working in a faith-based school is a calling, and it shows through the teaching staff at St. Catherine's. In my experience schools seem to be top-heavy and have little collaboration, this is not the case at St. Catherine's. The administration does a great job at taking teacher, staff, parent and student input into their decisions. They are constantly sending out surveys and do a great job of keeping families informed through weekly bulletins and annual meetings. The parents have been especially welcoming and helpful. It is so wonderful to see a community where there is parent involvement and support. Overall, I am very impressed with the school and the community that supports it.
Submitted by parent on January 13, 2021

This school has been great for our kids. We have kids in both elementary and jr high grades. There are many good things about this school and the teachers that I can speak about. But this school has been especially supportive during this time of distance learning. Right when we had to shift to online learning last March, the school was set up and ready for distance learning. They offered technology help and most recently have offered mental health support for families, which says a lot about the heart of the school. There were some glitches in the first week but the principal addressed them and worked with parents and teachers to find the balance and best way to teach on this new platform. They have been great!!To address some of the reviews below about faculty, I can say they’re all well educated teachers (you can see their bios on their website) and caring. To be honest, in my opinion, the pool for teachers wanting to teach at Catholic schools is somewhat small these days, since many families have moved away from religion and no longer practice Catholicism and many teachers look for higher paying positions at public schools. That said, the teachers who are here stay because they are not only committed to teach in a school that values morals and academics. They also teach here because they like the community of families. All reasons why we also have our kids here.There are definitely good public schools that are free but it depends what you want out of a school— is it important to have a faith based upbringing, good community, caring environment, or is it solely academics? We wanted a faith rooted education and teachers who were also on the same page that way. We also wanted smaller classes and a smaller community and it’s been great for us.
Submitted by parent on December 16, 2020

Really BAD!!! Take your money and invest in your local public school. This school is not worth it! If you are in lower grades, I would recommend it, but once you get to 3rd, run. It gets worse from there!So many of the staff members are hired based on Nepotism, not due to education and qualifications!Sad to say in all the the years we were there, we never had an African-American staff member hired. The school is diverse but not the staff so not all children are represented. The principal and vice principal do not care much. Even most of the teachers (current and former) do not like them.
Submitted by parent on September 04, 2020

Find your local public school. This school is overrated and living on the reputation of previous administration.
Submitted by parent on June 10, 2020

I have two children here. Both of them have flourished and are very involved with activities and sports, along with doing well academically. Just this last March, our school's Academic Decathlon team took 1st place among 93 LA County archdiocese teams. This is a huge accomplishment, won against some very talented schools in affluent areas. Our older son was on this team. The teachers devoted a huge amount of their after-school free time to prepare the students for the competition. We feel so blessed to have found SCL for our children; I don't think they would've had the same opportunities and growth at other schools. We actually transferred them from another school so we can speak from experience. When you have parents/children/teachers/principal/coaches who feel aligned with a common goal, you see more successes in things like academics and sports, compared with schools where everyone seems sad and participation & success drop off. These things tend to snowball, in both directions. Even when schools had to go to online learning due to coronavirus, our teachers stepped up amazingly. I'm sure it presented a huge amount of work for them, to learn how to use Zoom and start teaching in this fashion, but they all did it and we saw nary a dropoff in learning. It's quite different from the situation at other schools, where numerous friends told me that learning pretty much ground to a halt.
Submitted by parent on July 15, 2016

My daughter has been a student at Saint Catherine's for 3 years now. I love this school for so many reasons.Whilst academic excellence is of great importance they also care a great deal and work to build character in students helping them become better individuals - a product of faith based curriculum.Students are well behaved and there is zero tolerance for bullying.There is wide range in after school extracurricular activities including dance, violin, keyboard, ukulele and robotics amongst others.I'm a working mom so the onsite after school extended daycare is very helpful. I know my child will be cared for when I'm unable to pick her up right after school due to my work schedule.The principal, staff and PTA are very active and are constantly looking for ways to improve and maintain high standards. This fall we will have a new computer lab with new computers. I highly recommend Saint Catherine Laboure School
Submitted by other on November 19, 2015

We came from another school and in the first 3 months we've been here I can already see why people love it so much. The principal is outstanding and always has her door open. She's out there helping with traffic monitoring, talking with kids, asking parents their opinions, holding Q&A forums about how to better the school. SCL has in her a great leader. The teachers are also excellent and devoted. Spanish instruction is much more intensive than at our previous school; the Spanish teacher pushes the kids, which is good. Parents are very involved and have been welcoming to us, and our kids have made friends and already feel like they really belong. We're happy and relieved that our school switch has turned out so well.
Submitted by parent on August 21, 2015

As a university professor and an educator for more than ten years, I can say that SCL is a truly extraordinary educational and developmental experience for children. What I'm most impressed about is the high level of involvement of ALL parents which makes for a very rich, supportive environment, the fact that the students are so respectful and kind to each other, and that the school is super-organized and communicative. Between SchoolSpeak (the school's online content management system and parent communication tool), the comprehensive weekly newsletters, and a responsive staff, I always feel in touch with what's going on at school. I'm also really pleased (and frankly a bit shocked) that it seems that kids actually think that being smart and doing well in school is cool. Because of "Faith Family" lunches which introduce kids in different grades to each other, the older kids seem to habitually look out for the younger ones. They say "hi" to the little ones as they walk through campus, congratulate them on awards, etc. It's really sweet. I also love the after school care that is a great "just in case" system in case you get caught at work late or have car trouble.
Submitted by parent on August 11, 2015

We have been with the school for 3 years now. We started at the school when they first implemented the TK program with an amazing teacher! She gave my child a wonderful start and set the educational and spiritual foundation while inspiring a love for learning. We now have a 2nd child who will be starting school. Academically, the grading curve is high for the school and in my opinion, the schools is better for the above average student. There is after school tutoring, but since it's a private school, there isn't a school day program to help children who may be struggling. Aside from that, it is a great community of parents. The principal is young, but very dedicated and has a love for the school and the students. The teachers and administrative staff are easy to communicate with if ever there is an issue. The only drawback is because it is a private school, there are a lot of fundraisers and volunteer expectations. However, again, it's a great community of families and volunteering is really more a social time for parents.
Submitted by parent on August 17, 2014

St. Catherine Laboure sets high academic standards for students. They also emphasize being respectful to others. They have a 0 tolerance policy for any type of bullying. The environment is welcoming and the community of parents and students is very close-knit. Discipline is a strong point for this school in addition to the academics. It is hard to earn As at this school! I'm ok with that because it has helped my children learn to work even harder. At this school, only hard work pays off. The teachers all care and work hard to provide the students with meaningful lessons. The only downside to this school (in my opinion) is that there is no green space for the children to play. But, academics are what counts so we overlook that. Our children have thrived at SCL. I would recommend this school to anyone looking for strict academics and structure.
Submitted by parent on January 14, 2014

SCL has gotten my son off to a great start in life! He has attended for three years now and in this short amount of time has grown so much thanks to the wonderful teachers there. He is not only growing academically because of their rigorous standards, but is growing up to be a responsible and caring individual. The teachers there really take responsibility in developing the whole child. I especially love how the school communicates with SCL families through an online program called School Speak. Parents are always aware of what is going on at the school. They also send mini-progress reports to parents on a regular basis through this program so that parents ALWAYS know how their child is doing academically. You can always send teachers notes or ask questions through this system. I love this since I am a working parent and am not always able to see child's teacher daily! I recommend SCL to any perspective families!
Submitted by parent on January 08, 2014

St. Catherine Laboure School has been like a second home not only to me, but to my children. At SCL, I feel like part of a family. I enrolled both my children and have been at SCL for over 4 years now. I love the family involvement, strong academic standards, and the religious life on campus. I am impressed how the iPads are used in classes on a regular basis and my children also use the computer lab several times a week. Over the last few years, I have seen my children go from using the computer in a basic way to being able to present lessons, create movies for projects, research topics, and use various computer programs to enhance learning, This exposure will help my children will be able to keep up the every changing technology world. I am so pleased that Spanish, art, and religion are part of the daily curriculum too. When my children attend SCL, they are not only receiving a great academic education, but they are receiving real life valuable lessons about how to treat others, helping the community, being a kind person and encouragement to try to do your best in everything you do.
Submitted by parent on September 03, 2013

I have two children attending this school. I am happy with the school and its reasonable tuition. I have only had a couple of disagreements with a teacher but were resolved quickly. I would recommend this school to any parent that is looking for a school that promotes excellence in education and personal responsibility with the children.