Our Tartans are always looking up, reaching higher because they are excited about learning and the unlimited possibilities of their futures. St. Margaret’s is known for unrivalled academics and programs that nurture and support the learning and growth of talented, enthusiastic students. Our Tartans motivate us every day to continually create and advance the most vigorous and innovative learning environments and experiences for them. So we too, are always looking up and reaching higher.
This makes the very best everyday for today, and tomorrow.
Strategic Plan
The launch of the visionary 2016 Strategic Plan sets a bold, aspirational course for St. Margaret’s and its students with a purposeful focus on our mission and core values.
Design Thinking
The Plan is being implemented with a design thinking approach that, importantly, puts the students and their educational, growth and development needs at the center of the innovation process.
Ryan Dahlem, Assistant Head of School for Strategic Initiatives
“Our approach to innovation is inspired by the creativity and success of Silicon Valley tech companies where the human-centered design process begins with empathy. The guiding principle of “fall in love with your end user” clearly resonates with us and our relationship with the most important element of our innovation process: the student.”
Cultural competency is possessing the understandings, perspectives and skills needed to effectively communicate and interact with others across differences, both within our school community and in the larger world. We view diversity of culture, thought, identity and perspective as a strength to be leveraged and recognize that our students need real skills to do this.
St. Margaret’s STEM program serves our students’ natural interest, engages them through experiential, project-based curriculum, allows them to make sense of the technological world, builds critical and creative thinking and higher-order reasoning skills, and prepares them for college majors and 21st century careers in science, technology, engineering and math fields.
Tartans are active learners! St. Margaret’s provides myriad opportunities for them to get their hands as busy as their minds, to explore, discover, solve problems and make a difference. Experiential learning at St. Margaret’s allows students to apply their learning in real situations and settings outside the classroom, immersing themselves into the work and taking time to reflect on the process and learning.
We continually seek student learning interests or opportunities within our curriculum, inspired by everything from industry trends and current events to technological advances and evolving learning styles, and pursue them through an extensive Academic Leadership Team process of research, analysis and development. Explore courses and programs only offered at St. Margaret’s.
The UCI School of Engineering is a higher learning research institution offering 12 undergraduate and 10 graduate degree programs. The school educates students to be the best engineers and leaders in the nation and world by engaging them in a stimulating community dedicated to the discovery of knowledge, excellence in scholarship, and service to society; and to develop tomorrow’s technologies that will make a global impact.
Pacific Symphony
Pacific Symphony enriches the human spirit through superior performances of symphonic music and community engagement. Led by Music Director Carl St.Clair, Pacific Symphony is the largest orchestra formed in the U.S. in the last 50 years. The Symphony presents more than 100 concerts and events each year and a rich array of education and community programs, reaching more than 275,000 residents—from school children to senior citizens.
Breakthrough SJC
Breakthrough San Juan Capistrano is a tuition-free program providing academic enrichment opportunities and support for highly motivated, underserved middle and high school students so that they can realize their potential to excel in high school and graduate from college. Nearly all Breakthrough SJC students are from low-income backgrounds and will be the first in their families to go to college.
edX
Founded by Harvard University and MIT in 2012, edX is an online learning destination and MOOC provider, offering high-quality courses from the world’s best universities and institutions to learners everywhere. The world’s leading universities, nonprofits, and institutions comprise edX’s more than 90 global partners.
St. Margaret’s Board of Trustees concluded a year-long review of the school’s guiding principles last week, finalizing and unanimously approving updated language to the school’s Core Values.
Equity and Inclusion joined four other St. Margaret’s Core Values —Character, Community, Balance and Breadth, and High Expectations—in the Fall of 2019 to act as a guidepost for the future of St. Margaret's and all Tartans.
Grade 7 science students, Middle School design and fabrication students and Upper School 3D art and design students came together to design and construct structures with a focus on either visual appeal or functional stability.
Teams broke out by division focus to review and discuss the school's core values, and develop open-ended, probing questions in preparation for ethnographic interviews with students.
The kindergarten students set up stress-relieving options for play in the Upper School courtyard during lunch on Monday, and also prepared salads for the older students to eat between exams.
St. Margaret’s had a delegation of 15 professional community members and six students at the 2019 National Association of Independent Schools People of Color Conference and the adjacent NAIS Student Diversity Leadership Conference in Seattle.