La Jolla

I've been a parent at the San Diego French-American School (SDFAS) since my daughter was a 2yo in preschool and she is now an 8th grader. (her younger brother has followed in her footsteps.)We would be hard pressed to have made a better choice for our children. They are completely fluent (native speaker level) in French. Serendipity is why we wound up here, we were looking for a preschool, we stopped to check out the Montessori school because it is near our home. We just didn't feel like it was a good fit, but since we were parked right next to SDFAS, we decided, "let's check it out". We were very impressed by the director of the preschool and the French approach. Even so, when we enrolled we had no intention to stay past preschool, since neither of us speaks French. Long story short, we fell in love with the community, the teachers, and our children have thrived. Our closest family friends are fellow families from SDFAS. Living in Southern CA, and being frequent travelers to Mexico, we would've preferred a Spanish immersion school, but those options are limited and don't guarantee sibling admission. It turns out that due to French Ministry of Education requirements (which exceed US standards), they will both have 4 years of Spanish before they get to high school , so we got the Spanish we wanted anyway! The other reviewers comments about tuition and the school being all about money are almost comical. Only a handful of private schools in San Diego charge less tuition, and none of them are language immersion schools; they are religiously affiliated schools, so they are subsidized by the church they are affiliated with. I am sorry those negative reviewers did not have the experience that we've had. My kids adore their teachers, the class sizes are much smaller, so they get differentiated learning, whether that's being given more advanced work to challenge them, or extra help because they are struggling with something. There is a strong emphasis on the arts, which is always the first thing that gets cut in public schools. The diversity of the student body is incredible. 17 different languages spoken at home, for example, my daughter's BFF's mother is Haitian and her father is Turkish. Are there things about the school that could be better? Of course, the sports programs are limited (there is no gymnasium), many of the facilities are dated, but overall it's been a magical place for my kids. We wish it went through 12th grade.

TCS is a wonderful school and my child continues to grow and thrive socially and academically. The teaching staff is the best there is, and the reason we continue to stay!

Our family’s experience at this school has been exceptional. My wife, who previously taught within the Diocese, has been genuinely blown away by the experience, dedication, professionalism, and care shown by the teachers and staff.The school provides a truly Christ-centered environment that helps children grow into thoughtful, grounded, and compassionate young people who are well prepared academically and highly respected in high school admissions. What stands out most is the strong sense of community and character development woven into everyday life.Even families who are not Catholic feel welcomed, supported, and fulfilled here, which speaks volumes about the culture the school has created.Having looked at other schools and transferring from one into SMA, we have been blown away by the individual attention and quality of academics.We feel incredibly fortunate to have found this special place for our family.

Great school. My kid feels so happy to be there.

Evans School discriminates against kids with ADHD.