St Martin of Tours Academy

I taught for ten years in the public school system. When it came time for my own child to go to school, my husband and I were torn because we lived by two great local public schools. We knew our daughter was smart and I knew she would be «lost» in the shuffle at public school. My experience was that kids who are above grade level get pushed through and teachers don’t have the tools or time to challenge them. I was worried about her being bored — and I wanted to see her EXCEL not just get good grades. After researching many private schools, and talking to parents, whom I respected, we chose SMA.
Our son is now at SMA and I have been a parent at this amazing school for over ten years. My daughter is now in high school where I am seeing the benefits of her St. Martin education daily. SMA puts a huge emphasis on students «managing their own lives’ and I believe this makes them independent learners and thinkers. In this age of «helicopter parenting» it is SO refreshing to see children thinking and learning independently. The Workshop Way fosters the love of learning and children of all learning styles benefit from the system. I would encourage anyone who is considering a private school education to consider SMA. Take a tour and talk to parents… the school will speak for itself.
SMA is a wonderful community of dedicated teachers and caring parents. It has been an established school and parish for over 60 years. In this day of new schools and charters popping up all over — I take comfort in the solid history of our school. The alum list is LONG and many kids and grandkids of alum attend SMA. The longevity of the faculty speaks volumes for this school.
I know our children have been given a huge educational advantage by attending this school. But more importantly, I feel we as parents have been blessed to see our kids grow up in this nurturing environment.

As another school year at St Martin comes to an end I have no choice but to reflect on the growth of my children. I want to share my experience so that all families looking to go to this wonderful school can experience what my family has. We have been members of the parish and the school for 13 years. (preschool-​8^th gr). I only have one thing to say. Workshop way works! Both of my children have succeed beyond our expectations and both are very different learners. My oldest was accepted into his high school of choice with honors. Every teacher at SMA encouraged him and kept him challenged academically. My daughter who has a learning disability has THRIVED with the support of her teachers and our Principal. She will be exiting the academy soon and will no doubt be following her brothers footsteps as a high achieving learner into high school. She went from loathing to loving school and continually ranks high in her class. Aside from the academics there is such a great sense of community at St Martin’s. These are the people helping us raise our children. The parents and faculty are who we sit with at mass and share our faith. They are also who we sit next to at school sporting events to root on our Spartan teams. It really does take a village and I am proud to be a member of this one.

If your looking for an alternative to traditional teaching methods or If your child has gone to a Montessori Preschool and they thrive in a task based classroom I would definetly reccomend St. Martins. They have a teaching method called «Workshop Way» That is task driven by the individual student at their own pace. All three of my children have flourished in this close community of great Teachers and fellow parents!

My daughter struggled here from Kinder through Second. I watched as she fell further and further behind the other kids, as her idea of her intelligence level and her love of knowledge diminished, and I even questioned if she was just not that smart. Her Kinder and First grade teachers both recommended she be looked at for ADD (a lot of the class were advised from my understanding) and her conference reports were that that she did not focus, did not do the work, and was one of the lower performing kids in the group — but they weren’t worried! Mornings became a fight –she did not want to go — she hated school.
I tried to help her. We were not wanted in the classroom — it wasn’t a feeling, we were told. They would «invite» you to observe if you needed — but it was quite clear this was not wanted. We were helicopter parents — stifling their methods. (Yes, I spoke to other parents about how our kids were doing.) When I expressed concern (many times), I was told to «give the program time. She will get it.» They did not want the students to feel pressure and be judged against one another. No spelling lists they were studying would be given. No homework or graded papers came home. We really didn’t find out what our child was up to until progress meetings. And again — they were not worried. But our last meeting in second grade was the final red flag. The teacher admitted she had rushed to grade the bulk of assignments just last week. She pointed to a math test — my daughter had gotten a 70% and remarked how good it was. Paper after paper, some barely half completed.
And it’s not like the kids didn’t notice who was «smart» and who «wasn’t» even without grades — my daughter continually made mention of who flew through the math test and got to have free time. Who finished the morning workshop everyday — while she got through maybe 5 – 7, and one one occasion got a report that she made it through ½ a station without the constant reminder to be on task. They spend the first few hours of the day in workshop. I struggled with the faith that she was learning something by doing menial tasks like tracing her hand and drawing straight lines, but they assured me this was going somewhere.
So for Third grade we had to go. And to my amazement, the change in her was instantaneous! Within the first week, I knew we’d made the right decision; my husband and I had many after-​bedtime conversations about how great it was — how we felt we had just failed her all these years, but we were finally on the right track. My daughter blossomed in public school. Don’t get me wrong — it was a struggle to undo the loathing for school & homework she had developed and to make her see she was not incapable and dumb. She took immediate PRIDE in being ranked among the highest in the class for reading. She wasn’t surprised that she ranked low for Math, but for the first time you saw the spark of wanting to do better. She knew where she stood — what needed work. She knew we’d see assignments she had done and wanted to bring home good grades to us. She loved bringing home spelling tests and showing us how good she was — on Monday she could spell most of them.
In SMA, her standardized test scores were horrific – in single digits for Math and pretty low for most everything else except reading & Science. Her class ranking going into public school echoed this – they weren’t some fluke of a bad test day. But within just one year, she scored in the high percentiles for almost everything –and her Math was in the «above-​average» range. I literally screamed when I saw it and she beamed as I tacked it on our fridge.
Was she a hidden genius being stifled? No, but she’s a smart kid that just needed a swift kick in the butt to get to work – someone to not only believe she could do it, but expect it of her. To hold her accountable. The SMA philosophy is «Everyone will get it someday. Everyone learns at their own pace.» Which is great if your kid is competitive, but all my daughter heard was, «That day doesn’t have to be today.» Workshop Way did NOT work for her.
Why’d I keep her in so long? I wanted it to work. Surely a private school education was better? The atmosphere and community for a child to grow up in — an obvious perk of small close-​knit religious «family.»
She had an IEP — another benefit we couldn’t get for her at SMA — and we did try — we were told by the principal we «could» but it would be a long & difficult process. I mentioned it to her 3^rd grade teacher her first day in public school and within a week she was evaluated for everything from ADD to behavior issues. She was in Speech for a year.
And I’m not a helicopter parent — in fact, I’m rarely at her school. We have the parent/​teacher meetings and that’s it. I just receive great communication from the teachers now that I don’t have to wonder what my kid is learning and how she’s doing – and she’s doing good now. :D

The Principal and Staff are excellent and they actually have a plan to further their philosophy of education and social responsibility. All schools have promising mission statements and goals but most lack the actual plan to implement this. The workshop way system is a system that transfers from class to class and teacher to teacher so there is consistency in the program and their whole elementary school experience. This is our child’s first year and we are very happy as he is thriving in this school. I suppose if your sole goal in raising your child is limited to education only this is probably not for you. It is my opinion the public school system (which is motivated by test scores only) does not have the ability and funding necessary to raise children to be intelligent, well rounded and socially responsible. This school (so far) excels in this regard.

SMA has been a great school for my two daughters. We’ve been there for 6 years now and we are so pleased with their progress. One will be entering 3^rd grade and the other Kinder (both went to preschool at SM for 3 years) What I love the most is the uniqueness of the community. We all know each other from School and Church. We do most things together and it really feels like the whole village is raising the children. I feel beyond blessed and wouldn’t want my children any other place. BTW: I too am a Credentialed Teacher and I’m impressed with the quality of education my girls are receiving. Praise God!

I pulled my two children out mid-​year and enrolled them in public school. The teachers lacked cheerfulness — and were quite frequently mean to the children. Their teaching method is different (Workshop Way) and my kids did not excel with it. However, I am sure some children might do great with W.W. When they transfered to public school they were actually BEHIND in every subject. I was shocked because you would think that you are paying for a better education at a private school, … My daughter would cry in the mornings, … now she loves going to school and adores her teacher. It is possible to have basic classroom management skills without being grouchy and unkind to the students! The point of elemetary education is to instill a love of learning into the children. St. Martin’s just made my kids dread school. Both are now getting A’s at Rolando and La Mesa Middle and enjoy going each day. What a difference and what a relief!