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San Ramon Elementary

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About Us

Welcome!

A woman with long blonde hair smiles and gives a thumbs up with both hands.

Amanda Langford
Principal

San Ramon Elementary School offers a strong program that provides academic excellence and positive character education.  The academic expectations are high to prepare all of our students for college and career readiness. Students, teachers, support staff, parents, and community members have helped create an environment where children have the opportunity to learn and thrive; where children are encouraged to strive for their academic best, and where children are offered opportunities to develop the interpersonal skills needed to interact with others in a respectful manner. 

San Ramon has always provided this kind of environment and each year we just keep getting better.  That is because we are a team that supports one another through hardships and celebrations.  We work hard to ensure that students meet the challenges of achieving rigorous academic standards and are prepared for higher education.  We strive to create a respectful environment where children can feel safe to grow and reach their highest potential. 

I am proud to be the principal of San Ramon Elementary School where staff, students, parents, and community members work together to provide our children with the very best education possible.

School Profile

A wooden sign with the words 'San Ramon Elementary' and 'A California Distinguished School' in front of a school building.

San Ramon Elementary School is one of eight elementary schools in the Novato Unified School District.  Since 1968, we’ve provided an educational home to around 500 students a year in Kindergarten through 5th grade.  We strive to create an excellent learning environment that addresses the needs of diverse students.  We are proud of the ways we stand out as a school, including:

  • Emphasis on a strong professional learning community among staff that uses data and formative assessments to inform our teaching strategies,
  • Universal Access for all students to special education services, which knocks down invisible barriers between students who qualify for special education services and others who don’t but are in need of intervention, to ensure all students get the support they need to succeed.
  • A community and culture that is rich with opportunities to develop students’ leadership skills.

Through a continuous focus on student achievement, effective communication, and mutual respect, we have developed a sense of commitment, camaraderie, and common purpose. We are creating a school we can be proud of, a school whose mission is academic achievement and social success for all.

Our Mission

Children, parents, and staff work cooperatively at San Ramon in a safe and caring environment. We believe that all children can learn, be successful, and prepare themselves to live in and contribute to a changing world. As a staff we will ensure that:

  • Every child is provided with equal opportunities for excellence.
  • Each child is empowered to contribute successfully in the 21st century.
  • Pride and enthusiasm will permeate the learning community
  • No limits are acceptable on the learning potential of any child.
  • Students, parents and the staff are held to the highest standards of performance.
  • Every individual will treat others with courtesy and respect.
  • Colleagues will collaborate regularly to learn and implement more effective strategies for helping each child achieve his or her academic potential
  • Every student will achieve or exceed grade-level academic expectations – no excuses

A young boy smiles brightly as he hugs a large inflatable globe.

Developing Student Leaders

A group of children wearing black shirts with the message 'Do Good. Be Kind.' sit together and laugh.

San Ramon promotes leadership opportunities for many students. Students in grades 3-5 have the opportunity to serve on San Ramon’s Student Council. Two teacher advisors provide leadership opportunities for our student officers and classroom representatives. Each representative and officer participates in Community Time through leading the Pledge of Allegiance and school happenings announcements. Some students have been given the opportunity to be part of a Solution Team, a process to collaboratively address conflict resolution or bullying situations. This year, we were particularly pleased with our newest leadership opportunity, the Stage Crew. This group of 4th and 5th graders lead In Motion routines to the school to help model and develop healthy activities and choices. Also, part of our student leadership squad, the Neon Jackets, assists with special needs in addition to supporting a positive, welcoming environment for all students in the play yard. For almost fifty years, the San Ramon community has evolved into a close-knit, focused community.

Programs

A young student focuses on her schoolwork at her desk.

Our school has a strong focus on literacy, because a solid foundation in reading, writing, listening, and speaking will build academic success for years to come. We also use Everyday Math and Math Expressions to create an important understanding of the Mathematical Practices in the early years, building a high level of “number sense” to build upon.

To meet a broad range of abilities, the San Ramon staff teaches in flexible groupings for English Language Arts and Math. Small groups facilitated by credentialed teachers or instructional assistants take place throughout the school day. 

In addition, credentialed teachers serve our students with special needs through SDC classes, Learning Center, occupational therapy and speech and language programs. The two SDC classes serve students with significant learning disabilities and are also integrated into all school programs and opportunities at San Ramon. 

Student Support

The goal of San Ramon Elementary to assist students in their social and personal development as well as academics. The school gives special attention to students who experience achievement problems, difficulty coping with personal and family problems, trouble with decision making, or handling peer pressure.  The table lists the support service personnel available at San Ramon Elementary.

A boy and a woman high-five in a library setting, with bookshelves in the background.

  • San Ramon has implemented a school-wide intervention system called Universal Access to meet the academic and social-emotional needs of all of our students. For this program, each grade level has a 45-minute block of time Monday through Thursday when support staff is all dedicated to implementing interventions or resource support for that grade level. During this time, students may leave or stay in their classroom to get individualized or small group instruction to support their area of need. This may include phonics instruction, reading intervention, math support, speech services, occupational therapy, counseling, English Language Development (ELD), and more.

    San Ramon Elementary provides special education services to students who are assessed and found to be eligible for special education. Programs and services designed to meet the student’s needs are identified in the Individualized Education Plan (IEP). The Resource Specialist Program serves students with exceptional needs who are able to function in the regular classroom for the majority of the day. They receive individual, small group, or classroom instruction designed to meet their identified needs.

    Designated Instructional Services are provided to students who are eligible for Occupational Therapy, Speech Therapy, or other services.

    Special Day Classes are available to students who require special education more than 50% of the school day and have significant needs for academic support.  San Ramon has two such classes on our campus, a TK-2 Social Cognition Special Day Class and a 3-5 Special Day Class, with other students integrated into their Learning Center sessions.

    San Ramon Elementary provides in-class differentiated support for intervention needs.  Other intervention programs include Learning Center sessions, small-group, pull-out math and reading intervention during the school day, ELD pull-out support, and flexible grouping.

  • San Ramon Elementary school teachers are fully credentialed to provide instruction to English Learners.  All teachers have been trained in Guided Language Acquisition/Design (GLAD) strategies to better support ELL development.  All our EL students are given the English Language Proficiency Assessment for California annually to determine language proficiency.  EL students are provided with English language development (ELD) instruction on a daily basis to supplement their other academic classes.  EL students have access to specifically designed lessons to aid in their English language acquisition.

  • As a district, our goal is to provide support to teachers and schools so that every student is challenged and makes significant progress during each school year. GATE is a district-designed and funded program for highly capable students. NUSD does not receive supplemental funding for our GATE program.

    Novato has designed the GATE program with 5 principles in mind:

    • All educators are responsible for the education of students with gifts and talents.
    • Services should be provided throughout the day in all environments based on their abilities, needs and interests.
    • Giftedness is dynamic and constantly changing.
    • Giftedness is found among students from a variety of backgrounds.
    • Student education is focused on student outcomes rather than practices.

    As a district, our goal is to provide support to teachers and schools so that every student is challenged and makes significant progress during each school year. GATE is a district-designed and funded program for highly capable students. NUSD does not receive supplemental funding for our GATE program.

    Novato has designed the GATE program with 5 principles in mind:

    • All educators are responsible for the education of students with gifts and talents.
    • Services should be provided throughout the day in all environments based on their abilities, needs and interests.
    • Giftedness is dynamic and constantly changing.
    • Giftedness is found among students from a variety of backgrounds.
    • Student education is focused on student outcomes rather than practices.

  • San Ramon Elementary provides in-class differentiated support for intervention needs.  Other intervention programs offered at San Ramon Elementary include: Learning Center sessions, small-group, pull-out math and reading intervention during the school day, ELD push-in support, and flexible grouping.

College Preparation

San Ramon has a strong culture of promoting college ambitions.  Our commitment to literacy, math, individual support, and student leadership lay an essential foundation for the next years in middle school, high school, college, and career.  New skills are built upon skills previously learned.  Your child’s abilities to read, reason, speak, write and do math at grade level are critical to their academic growth and development, and we are committed to supporting their success every step of the way.

A blue and white school logo with the words 'We are college bound' on a glass door.

Parent Engagement

At San Ramon, parents are partners in education and we make every effort to inform, educate, involve, and empower parents and our community partners. 

A group of women laugh and chat together at a table outdoors.

  • We communicate with parents in a variety of ways including:

    • Friday Folders
    • our weekly newsletter, the Dolphin Splash
    • classroom newsletters
    • automated phone messages
    • parent conferences
    • principal chats
    • parent education presentations at PTA and ELAC
    • our school website
    • a text messaging service

  • Parents volunteer in a variety of ways inside and outside the classroom, helping with classroom presentations, serving as art docents and school garden coordinators, organizing Campus Clean-ups and Safe Routes to School, serving as literacy/learning buddies, coordinators and helpers for our San Ramon Running and Walking Club, and field trip chaperones.  Our Men’s Group hit its stride in its third year of existence by spearheading our annual Mud Run, assisting with maintenance needs on Beautification Days, re-configuring our garden plumbing, and helping with our PTA functions food preparation.

  • The PTA organizes fundraising efforts that build community and support vital programs including:

    • Technology Support
    • Literacy/Reading Intervention Support
    • Supplemental Science Materials
    • Poets in the Classroom
    • Zumba
    • Youth in Arts Artists in Residence programs
    • Fieldtrips and assemblies
    • Classroom and playground equipment
    • Classroom enrichment materials and curricula

  • Parents serve on our Site Council, which is responsible for the development of the Single Plan for Student Achievement and the fiscal oversight of the categorical funding received by San Ramon.

  • Our English Learner Advisory Committee (ELAC), made up predominantly of the parents of our English Language Learner (ELL) students, meets regularly to provide educational opportunities for parents and support for their children’s academic achievement.  Our ELAC meetings have parents regularly in attendance and are being paired with joint PTA meetings multiple times per year.

Facilities

San Ramon Elementary consists of 24 classrooms in a cluster configuration, 1 library, 1 staff lounge, 1 computer lab, and 3 playgrounds.  Each cluster houses seven classrooms, each of which opens into a common, covered learning space. Additionally, there is a separate kindergarten cluster with two classrooms with a common work area. We have 20 general education classes and 2 Special Day Classrooms (SDC). All classrooms, restrooms and the library were modernized in 2005-06, and a Multi-Purpose Room was opened in May of 2013. 

The school’s library, staffed by a full-time Library Clerk, provides an extensive variety of reference and special interest materials, and hundreds of educational and recreational books. Students visit the library on a weekly basis with their classes and are encouraged to visit before and after school. Six computer workstations within the library are connected to the Internet so students are able to access resources and information online.  

A group of children sit on the ground in front of a school building, watching a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Technology Resources

A young girl with pigtails smiles as she uses a laptop at a table.

Our staff and parents are committed to developing our students’ technology skills. San Ramon is a dual platform school, housing Chromebooks at the 3rd-5th grade levels and iPads at the TK-3rd grade levels. All students have access to computers in the classroom and the Library Media Center. Our PTA’s generous contributions provide supplemental funding to our technology licenses to enhance the learning opportunities of our students.

All classrooms have at least enough devices to allow a third of the students to have computer access at a given moment. San Ramon Elementary also has one computer lab with 34 Dell computers purchased by the PTA and other local donors, staffed by a part-time technology specialist.  Computer skills and concepts are integrated throughout the standard curriculum.  In addition, with funding from the Measure G Bond, the “One to World” program distributed Chromebooks to all students in grades 3-12 in the 2019-20 school year.

 

 

 

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