Convent of the Sacred Heart High School is a private, independent

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

high school in

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

. It operates in partnership with the all boy's

Stuart Hall High School Stuart Hall High School is a Catholic all boys college-preparatory high school located in San Francisco, California. It opened in the fall of 2000 and together with the Convent of the Sacred Heart High School and Convent Elementary forms Convent ...

as Convent & Stuart Hall.

Academics

The school offers its students the rigorous

International Baccalaureate The International Baccalaureate (IB), formerly known as the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), is a nonprofit foundation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and founded in 1968. It offers four educational programmes: the IB D ...

program (IB) as well as an array of

Advanced Placement Advanced Placement (AP) is a program in the United States and Canada created by the College Board which offers college-level curricula and examinations to high school students. American colleges and universities may grant placement and course ...

courses (AP). As of 2019, the annual tuition for grades 9–12 is $45,900. Admission is selective and approximately 30% of the student body receives some form of financial aid.

History

The school was originally founded by Mother Mary Keating on August 16, 1887 as the first School of the Sacred Heart west of the Rockies. The first year enrolled 30 young women operating in two rented

Victorians In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardian ...

at the corner of Bush and Octavia. In 1888, they purchased a larger building at Franklin and Ellis for $10 in gold coin. They stayed there until the 1906 Earthquake when the building was heavily damaged. Renting another Victorian at the corner of Washington and Octavia, they were one of the first institutions to reopen after the earthquake. In 1909, the school purchased the Van Arsdale house on Jackson Street where the school remained until 1939. In June 1939, Maud Lee Flood donated the home she had shared with her deceased husband at 2222 Broadway. During

WWII World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, boys were allowed to join the lower school. In 1950, the school purchased the neighboring Grant house for $150,000. The lower school, grades 1-8 split to the new location, while the upper school remained at the Flood Mansion. In 1956, they purchased the Hammond House (also located next door on the other side of the Flood Mansion) for $165,000 to open Stuart Hall for Boys. The school now operates in partnership with the all boy's

located at 1715 Octavia Street. Typically the first two years, freshmen and sophomore year, are spent single sex but then become co-ed by junior year and higher level courses. The partnership allows both schools to operate both single-sex and coeducational classes. Coed classes are held on both campuses and student shuttle buses operate between the two. The partnership is referred to as Convent & Stuart Hall. Dianne Feinstein attended this school before becoming the city's mayor and later state of California Senator.

Student life

The school's student-run newspaper is called "The Broadview". It has discussed issues including stress and toxic friendships (part of a bullying culture), as well as issues unique to Catholic schools such as lack of sex education.

Notable alumni

Dianne Feinstein Dianne Goldman Berman Feinstein ( ; born Dianne Emiel Goldman; June 22, 1933) is an American politician who serves as the senior United States senator from California, a seat she has held since 1992. A member of the Democratic Party, she wa ...

(1951)

References

{{authority control Girls' schools in California Catholic secondary schools in California Educational institutions established in 1887 High schools in San Francisco Sacred Heart schools in the United States Private K-12 schools in California 1887 establishments in California