Visual and Performing Arts (VAPA)

Home of the Bulldogs! We are a diverse, comprehensive middle school in the heart of Noe Valley with a thriving Spanish Immersion and Visual and Performing Arts Program.  

Gordon J. Lau continues its longstanding tradition of advocacy and service in the Chinatown community, offering all students a relevant, standards-aligned curriculum that challenges them to think, question, and prepare for success in middle school and beyond. Being in the heart of Chinatown, we are proud to be the first to welcome newcomers and English Learner families as they transition into a new culture. Parents enroll in our school because the majority of staff speak multiple languages. We have a very veteran staff with very little turnover each year.

Established in 1903 as Oceanside Primary School and later became FS Key, our school was relocated to the art deco style building completed in 1938. It was then renovated in 2012 to make the school fully ADA compliant. The campus includes a two-story main building and a permanent bungalow with 26 classrooms, a library, a computer lab, a multipurpose auditorium or cafeteria, and administrative offices. Our schoolyard is open on weekends for community use as part of a Shared School Yard program.

All teachers at Grattan implement practices that encourage children to view learning with curiosity and joy. We believe in the necessity for a strong, balanced academic program with an affective component. We are committed to the belief that all children are learners and will take personal pride in accomplishments. We are a safe school where small class size is a priority. We value the connection between home and school as part of our school culture.

Nestled in the heart of San Francisco's Lower Pacific Heights for nearly 100 years, Dr. William L. Cobb Elementary School is a small, inclusive, and multi-generational community that fosters the inherent potential within each child. Named after the first African-American principal in the San Francisco School District, Dr. William L. Cobb School provides a strong academic program for its students that focuses on the rigor and joy of learning.

Students at the Chinese Immersion School at De Avila dual language immersion program have the unique opportunity to learn Cantonese and English in grades K-5. Our community strives to provide the students with a caring and nurturing environment with a strong focus on the whole child, high achievement and academic excellence. Our mission is to prepare our students with multilingual skills to become caring and globally responsible citizens in the 21st century.  

John Yehall Chin parents love our small, welcoming school and the well-rounded education we provide their students. Being efficient and productive are the two attributes that we treasure the most here. We fully realize and accept without angst the importance of state mandated assessments. We believe in creating a learning environment that fosters caring and innovation so that our students are thirsting to transform our world. Our teachers possess a deep knowledge of their content areas and current research on human development to effectively teach all learners.

A hidden treasure in the Bayview-Hunter's Point community, where every day, Carver’s staff come to school with compassion and dedication to each student’s academic and personal success. We believe in providing a tailored and personalized education for all students that meets the intersection of feasibility and ambition. We believe that a rigorous education, rooted in literacy, will develop readers, leaders, and 21st Century Scholars. 

Our Vision:

At Bessie we are antiracist educators who are committed to providing each and every students with a balance of meaningfully rigorous social-emotional and academic learning experiences so that they leave Bessie Pk-8 high school, college and career ready.

Our Priorities:

We are driven by our 3 Ls:

1. Linked through Love
2. Literacy for Liberation
3. Lifelong Learning

Our Ls inform how we approach instruction, professional development and community partnerships.