St. Columba School

Mr. John Ammon is such a wonderful and caring principal. I was very impressed with him and also the teachers. They made it their goal to offer in person learning for children and succeeded. I also liked the school's organizational skills. They were ready for anything on a moment's notice. If a class had to be sent home because of COVID-19, the kids were instructed to transition to remote learning effortlessly. All the materials were prepackaged for parent pickup. The communication was remarkable. I found it to be refreshing since San Diego Unified lacked proper communication skills or leadership during the Pandemic. I am so glad we switched now from San Diego Unified and are not looking to ever go back. Due to the uncertainty of the district and lack of leadership. I felt so confident with Mr. Ammon at the helm. He cares about the students and the community. He is a great role model.

Our family has been at this school for a couple years now and I now feel that I can give an honest assessment at this point. When we were looking for public schools in our area we were pretty disappointed. After touring this school it had the feel of the school we wanted. In addition to academics, we wanted the right environment and atmosphere. A place our children would want to be and not dread going everyday. The students were all listening at attention and the teachers had full command of the classroom during our unscheduled visit. This is an old school. It just celebrated 50 years as a school. It could use updating in many areas, but it has everything it needs. It does have a library and computer lab - though small, it works. It does have an art program, music and dance options for those that choose to participate. The school choir is absolutely fabulous-impressive. Sports programs offered are Soccer, Basketball, Volleyball, Football (flag) and Track. They compete against other Catholic schools which is fun. The kids go to mass every Friday and parents are welcome to join. A Catholic school relies heavily on volunteer work of the parents. We appreciate this because we know many parents are then involved with the school and their children. We constantly assess this school compared to our other choices - public and private - and always choose this school. One reason is hearing what the graduating 8th graders have to say about their time spent at St. Columba. They all seem to love it and appreciate the education, life lessons as well as the friends they made. This year 100% of the 8th grade students passed the Catholic H.S. acceptance exam. Over 60% are moving on to Catholic/Christian schools. Other notes: 1. There is fundraising to be done at every school. 2. Science curriculum is done in class at each grade level. 3. There is music class offered. 4. The Spanish is basic, but it isn't a Spanish immersion - it is for exposure and cultural teaching. 7. Uniforms - We love uniforms - we save money on other clothes in the long run. And makes getting ready in the morning so much easier as well as removes the competitiveness from dressing for friends and classmates. Is it perfect? No - perfect doesn't exist. But we like it here. Our kids like it here. We are happy.