St Leo the Great School

We recently moved to the Rose Garden Neighborhood after having lived in Los Gatos and Saratoga since my husband and I were children. Our daughter attended elementary school in both towns and we were quite pleased with the level of academics, however, we longed for a more «whole child» experience for our daughter. We began looking into the Catholic schools in our neighborhood and then started asking our Catholic friends, who were very familiar with the Catholic schools in the Diocese, for recommendations. They unanimously told us that our daughter should attend St. Leo’s because of its outstanding reputation that reached beyond its boundaries. We toured the school and found it to be warm and inviting.
The girls in my daughter’s class reached out to her before school even began and encouraged her to join the volleyball team. On her first day of practice, everyone gathered around her, introduced themselves and welcomed her. Middle school girls aren’t always like this. I could not believe how encouraging and loving they all were to each other. We were delighted at how respectful, age appropriate, and well mannered the boys were as well. My daughter had a great 7^th grade year and she was not exposed to one ounce of drama. Overall, it was refreshing to find a demeanor of innocence in these middle schoolers.
My daughter felt that the teachers were on the same par as those she had encountered in her previous middle school. The main difference was that we felt the homework expectation was more reasonable and balanced allowing her to advance more rapidly in piano and indulge in other extra curricular interests that were impossible to enjoy previously. My daughter has been the beneficiary of the «whole child» approach and it has grown her in ways that couldn’t have happened at other schools. She especially loves that faith, confidence and leadership are three of the elements that are encouraged. This year she has chosen coding as her elective.
St. Leo’s is a breath of fresh air and it is a humble yet academically challenging school. It has a diverse population and grants a healthy number of scholarships to deserving families. It is a school that community minded parents and Silicon Valley leaders are enthusiastically drawn to. Of the graduating class of 2015, 100% of St. Leo’s 8^th grade students were accepted into the private high schools of their choice. This year the school and parish are celebrating their centennial year and have many wonderful events planned in honor of this milestone. It is a very exciting time at the school. The principal, Mrs. Cosentino, is an outstanding visionary. She is passionate about children and works tirelessly to make St. Leo’s the best it can be. A STEM lab will be making its debut this year, the first school in the Diocese to get one, and leading edge technology solutions is a high priority with this administration. My only complaint is that we don’t have more years to enjoy this wonderful school, however, we plan to continue supporting St. Leo’s as alumni for many years to come. We whole heartedly recommend St. Leo the Great School.

We looked at a number of schools — private, parochial and public. We were fortunate to win lottery acceptance to our first choice public school. We chose St. Leo’s because of the education, community, faith and leadership.
We have heard nothing but wonderful things about the Kindergarten program and teachers. My daughter loves going to school each morning and tell us about her day and what she learns each evening. The school encourages (and expects) parents to work in active partnership through engagement in homework and volunteer participation. Students and parents are encouraged to have high expectations in regard to both academic and behavioral standards.
The warmth of the community has provided an easy transition for my child — and transition does not come easily for her personality. The fact that children from older grades greet her on the playground, interact at aftercare and serve as prayer buddies has bolstered her confidence and independence. The older students develop as leaders and role models through community service and leading the morning assemblies.
Principal Marie Bordeleau has placed an emphasis on technology. Integrated technology learning begins in Kindergarten, 3^rd graders work on collaborative projects in the cloud (with parent access), and older grades have Chrome Books/​laptops to ensure that St. Leo students are equipped to access and process the vast amounts of information available to today’s students who live in a global digital world.
If you are looking for a strong academic program with integrated technology learning, a commitment to developing a child’s character and a close-​knit community, you should consider St Leo the Great.

St Leo the Great School is undergoing a transformation.
The «new» principal has been there several years and the school has embraced technology better than most of the other schools we’ve visited. Gone is the computer lab on the 2^nd floor, and now kids have access to their computers in their classroom. Kindergarten has tablets where they learn their small motor skills. Elementary kids all have Google Chrome Books and parents can have access to all their work and grades online from the web. The middle school kids are actually issued laptop bags and take them from class to class.
There are 4 main buildings. The Parish. The gym, which was recently remodeled. The main school, which is getting new windows and maybe even AC. The school is a 2 story building with the lower grades downstairs and 4^th-​8^th upstairs. The 4^th building is the old convent at the corner of the lot. It is used as a math room (chapel), the science lab (upstairs bedrooms) and the extended after school care and homework club (patio and kitchen).
PreK-​8^th
270 students
$ 7.5k Tuition