Berkeley Parents Network: St. Theresa School

Berkeley Parents Network

St. Theresa School

Berkeley Parents Network > Reviews > K-12 Schools > St. Theresa School

http://www.sttheresaschool.org/

July 2008

Appreciate any feedback on St. Theresa's Catholic k-8 school in Oakland. We're thinking about applying in a few years. Any information on the quality of academics and teaching, class to teacher ratios, testing, activities, afterschool programs, amount of religious activity, community, the new facilities and any other feedback would be great. Are there any other considerations if we are not Catholic?

St Theresa's is a great school with very strong academics as well as enrichment classes. The afterschool program staff is wonderful as well. St. Theresa's is one of the few Catholic schools on this side of the hills that is enrolled almost exclusively by parishioners. (Corpus Christi is as well.) That is one of the reasons that there is such a strong sense of community. Certainly there are non-parishioners and non- Catholics in the school, but active parishioners have priority in admission so it could be difficult depending on how many parishioners are applying any given year.

Hi -- Just a thought. I do know that St. Theresa's often has quite a lot of competition for spots in their school, and it is important to know that all of the Catholic schools give some preference to whether or not you are Catholic and how involved you are in the parish. We have had a couple of families that we know say that you begin vying for space long before it is actually time to apply there. That being said, just know up front that those who are Catholic and involved in the parish will get first priority, so if you are not Catholic, you may want to consider getting heavily involved and being somewhat ''indispensible''! Good luck. Been there!

Nov 2003

I'd like to hear from non-catholics about their experiences with St. Theresa's. Also wondering how much time is dedicated to Catholic or religious teachings.

While we do not have kids in Saint Theresa's we have heard from co-workers and neighbors that this is a very nice school. Some diversity and good academics and not snotty at all even though the population of the school is most upper-middle class. As well, the school seems to send their students on to good high schools and they seem prepared. While this is all hearsay it is hearsay I am hearing over and over, Hoping this helps

January 2003

I am interested in hearing experiences/information about St. Theresa's school (enrollment process and satisfaction of currently enrolled families). Any comments are appreciated. Thanks! colleen

We are a new family at St. Theresa, having moved our child from an Oakland public school. We are very happy there. She has been welcomed into her class by the kids and the parents have been very warm and welcoming to me and her dad. I've found that the academics are better than what she was doing before -- she'd definitely more challenged, but it is not overly difficult. She has homework ever night (as opposed to a weekly packet -- a great improvement and more appropriate for younger grades, I think) but is not innundated with work. We really like her teacher, who is very experienced and great with the kids.

Msgr. Moran is definitely interested in having a tight knit community at St. Theresa and therefore wants to see the families that attend school attending church. We like that and were previously active members of the parish. If you are Catholic but don't intend to be active in the parish, I think your chances of getting admitted are lower.

If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail me. We have not yet gone through the kindergarten process (but will this year) so I don't have any advice there. Jennifer

Nov 2001

Does anyone have any information on St. Theresa school (located on Clarewood off Broadway Terrace). I'm not Catholic but I want my daughter to attend a Catholic school or private school. Any information is greatly appreciated. Thank you. Cheryl

St. Theresa is our parish school and is a source of great pride to the parishioners there because of the strong academic program. If you are not a member of the parish, though, it can be somewhat difficult to get in to since often the classes are full with parishioners and siblings of children already in the school. Sometimes there are one or two spots for non-parishioner, non-Catholics.

The school has strong academics, and has a nice community feel to it. It seems to have enough money for a wide variety of programs.

The downside is that the class size is quite large (30, K-6) and although there is an aide in each class, it's still quite a large number to manage. This can be very difficult for active boys in the class and as a result, they don't succeed as well in the classroom as more compliant children. I know that some years St. Theresa's has had difficulty attracting and retaining boys. For example this years third grade class has something like 22 girls and 8 boys.

The new principal seems to be very fair which is great, although some people seem to miss the more playful, fun spirit of the previous principal.

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