Bel Aire Park Elementary School

To call this school a preparatory school for college is completely inaccurate and misleading to any parents trying to give their children a good education and prepare them for college or the job market. Pros: the school is very focused on instilling Catholic principles, and classical Roman Catholic values. Extremely conservative Catholic principles are taught here, so parents with any sort of liberal or progressive values may not be happy with everything the children are taught. Cons: Campus is small and filthy and classrooms consist of a row of trailer-like buildings that hold about 15 students per room. There are very few students per grade level so multiple grade levels are held within each room. There is very limited opportunity for students to interact with many different children unless they have established social circles/activities outside this school, as each grade level consists of about 10 people per grade, so children end up going to school with the same small group of kids for years as this school gets very very few new students each year. As a result of very few new students coming in the school has been struggling financially for years. School does NOT prepare children for college. Religious studies is strong, but Mathematics and Science departments are extremely weak. Multiple teachers at this school have no teaching credentials as it is not required for this private school. They present a very limited selection of catholic colleges when they made any attempts at introducing students to college options. This may have changed, but a only a few years ago the school was not accredited and students were unable to attend UC colleges right after completing highschool. School has no programs for job internships or college visits. School does not teach children how to write and submit college applications, no SAT prep classes, no college counselors, or any services that you would expect of a "college preparatory" school. School has some small sports teams but nowhere on campus for hosting any sporting events, so all sports are held on fields at other schools/establishments.Parents that want their children to have a Catholic education that also prepares them for college and adult life would be better off sending their children to Saint Apollinaris or Justin Sienna, or being homeschooled.

Classrooms are incredibly overcrowded, the principal is rude, disrespectful and quite unCatholic-like. The teachers do seem to care about the kids and the education is better than Napa public schools. If your child has any learning differences whatsoever, I would avoid St. A’s. They are ill equipped for anything other than model students.

Awesome school! St. John’s has an excellent academic curriculum with solid sports, art and theater programs. We are happy with the school community and love all the teachers/management.