Hillwood Academic Day School


Hillwood Academic Day is a small, independent school for boys and girls in the kindergarten through the eighth grade. The non-denominational school is located at 2521 Scott Street in San Francisco's Pacific Heights neighborhood. It was started in 1949 by Mary Libra and includes a summertime outdoor education program with a lodge in Muir Woods. Eric Grantz, the grandson of Libra and a Hillwood graduate, now runs the school, which has approximately 48 students. Hillwood's mascot is a black labrador retriever, named Max, and the school's colors are forest green and blue. The student publication is The Hillwood Herald, a blog published by the fifth through eighth graders.

History

Hillwood Academic Day School is included in the historical picture book San Francisco's Pacific Heights and Presidio Heights by Tricia O'Brien.

Campus

Hillwood Academic Day School is located inside of a three-story Victorian home in the Pacific Heights neighborhood of San Francisco.

Curriculum

Hillwood's integrated curriculum emphasizes the core subjects of Math, English and Language Arts, Science, and History/Social Studies. In addition, the school offers French as a second language from kindergarten through eighth grade. The school's teachers stress what they call "continuity throughout the curriculum and differentiated instruction" and promote a focus on the individual child, both academically and socially through small classroom sizes and tested academic curriculum. The school offers "combined" classrooms, which allow students from two grade levels to share much of the day together. The school’s kindergarten and first-grade students, for instance, often work side-by-side.

Extracurricular activities

Throughout the school year, students participate in a variety of activities after the school day. While the school does not offer organized sports teams, students regularly play basketball and dodgeball.