In 1996, a group of families and educators founded Sea Crest School, with the vision to provide “an independent, well-rounded education option” for the San Mateo County coastal communities. Ever since then, we have had the privilege of stewarding young minds and hearts through their journey of discovery, growth and development.
Our mission is clear: we are dedicated to providing the best in innovative education to inspire and empower our learners to engage curiosity, express creativity, act with compassion and lead with courage.
Starting a school is hard work. Without the commitment of the community, our talented faculty and staff, board of trustees, and our clear mission, Sea Crest would not be here serving our Half Moon Bay community.
Now, we share a strategic vision that’s rooted in our mission and that history – and takes it into our next chapter as a school.
Our strategic vision affirms our dedication to creating an environment of curiosity and creativity, emphasizing environmental and marine education and critical thinking skills to nurture future leaders.
It commits us to empower students through diverse, creative, and personalized paths, incorporating project based learning, character development, and service learning rooted in a community of belonging. It challenges us to prepare students to thrive in a rapidly changing world, fostering responsibility, environmental awareness, and creative problem-solving for a future where they can lead with courage and empathy.
This vision is the result of the entire community’s input. As Sea Crest School turns our focus to the next five years, we are committed to aligning our compass toward the following Directions:
1.
Strengthen Our Sense of Place
2. Deepen The Student Learning Experience
3. Invest in the Future
4. Leave it Better than We Found It
In the following pages, you will see our rationale, our strategic goals, and our intended initiatives for each of these four compass points. It is not a comprehensive list of everything that will happen, but it will guide us in everything we do.
I am excited to share it with you, and I am grateful to the insight, commitment, passion, and ingenuity of the Sea Crest Community in co-creating this strategic plan with us. We invite you to stay connected with us as we implement this strategic plan together in the years to come.
Best, Lauren Miller, Head of School
Sea Crest School developed its strategic plan over 9 months in a community-driven process.
Facilitated by the nonprofit organization
Leadership + Design, this work was driven by a Strategic Planning Design Team composed of teachers, school leadership, parents, alums, and members of the Board of Trustees.
Nearly a hundred additional voices from across the community were included along the way.
We started our work by listening to our community, holding four events to hear ideas of various groups: two were open to all families, one was held for employees, and one was held for board members. We then went deeper, conducting dozens of in-depth interviews with a randomly selected cross-section of faculty, staff, trustees and parents.
By listening – and understanding what made Sea Crest distinct in the local educational landscape – we identified four areas to focus the strategic plan on. This allowed us to investigate where we were doing well –and where we could do even better – in each of these areas. All of this information was distilled into a series of brief summaries.
With this work done, we invited all members of the community to a community design day where they were invited to review the work to date – and brainstorm potential strategic initiatives. Led by our partners at Leadership + Design, this well-attended event filled our gym with an energizing conversation that included employees, parents, trustees, and others invested in the future of our school.
The initiatives that emerged were reviewed and refined by our strategic planning committee, and evaluated for feasibility and strategic importance by school leadership. The result – affirmed by the Strategic Planning Committee, as well as by the Board of Trustees – is in your hands now.
We are grateful to the insight, commitment, passion, and ingenuity of the Sea Crest community in building this strategic plan with us.
strengthen our sense of place
_ Environmental and Marine Sciences
Our location on the coast of the Pacific Ocean brings a unique setting for a school. It is complex, dynamic and rich with place-based learning opportunities for students. Sea Crest’s Marine Science program takes students through a 10 year study of ocean literacy. Over the next five years, Sea Crest is expanding this focus to include a more direct and structured approach to the connection between our marine and coastal sciences and environmental education. By doing so, we can take advantage of what it means to live here – to be stewards of the land, supporters of local agriculture, and leaders in Marine and Coastal Sciences.
Sea Crest will strive to become a leader in connecting students to our unique coastal community. Students will leave Sea Crest understanding the richness of the place in which they live, feel connected to the land, the sea, and their own place in this world. By taking advantage of our unique location, we will offer a range of unmatched marine, coastal and environmental educational experiences that spark student curiosity and strengthen our graduates’ mastery of the messy and uniquely human leadership skills that will set them up for success in high school and beyond.
Continue to deepen our Environmental and Marine Sciences Curriculum and clarify learning outcomes
Expand our current outdoor education program to include authentic Sea Crest Marine and Environmental themed experiences for all students JK-8
Enhance place-based learning opportunities that foster a sense of discovery for the world right outside our classroom doors
Establish partnerships with local marine and environmental organizations to enhance students’ real-world engagement and understanding
deepen the student learning experience
_
Teaching to the Whole Child
As a student-centered school, Sea Crest believes that we should continually work to refine our curricular offerings and teaching approaches to meet the ever-evolving needs of our students. Time and again, we have heard that teaching “the whole child” is at the core of the Sea Crest experience. Teaching to the whole child to us means addressing the intellectual, emotional, physical, social, and safety needs of a student. By deepening our holistic approach to education, Sea Crest can become an even better place for kids.
Through curriculum selection, aligned pedagogy and professional development in project based learning, Sea Crest will create classrooms where students are engaged in advanced critical thinking and problem solving integration. The school will adopt a range of assessment strategies to provide timely and detailed feedback to maximize student progress and truly reflect the unique complexities of teaching to the whole child. By building a community of learners across grade levels, we will promote every student’s long term academic development and personal success and build the leadership, collaboration, critical thinking, and creative problem solving skills students will need to thrive in an era of change.
Continue to create learning pathways for individualized student academic goals that challenge students to reach their full potential
Move toward grade level project based learning capstones that span at least a semester with a culminating showcase
Investigate the feasibility of forming student houses – internal communities that encompass our Buddy program and span all of the grades we serve – to promote a sense of identity and community across grade levels
Transition to portfolio assessments and narrative report cards to provide a more holistic view of student progress
invest in the future
Planning for Growth
At Sea Crest School, we are committed to providing exceptional education that empowers our students to thrive. To ensure the longevity and continued excellence of our institution – and to become a permanent asset to the larger Half Moon Bay community – we need to steward our continued financial health. Our commitment to our unique coastal community shapes our strategy in many ways. We serve a region with a limited number of families – and a high cost of living for our prized employees. Accordingly, the key to our financial sustainability is ensuring consistent, full enrollment that includes a range of tuition capacity – and being strategic in our use of limited dollars, whether they’re being used to retain employees or to enroll great students who need flexible tuition to be part of our school.
Sea Crest will develop and implement innovative strategies that will help us build an economically diverse community served by a stable cohort of incredible teachers. As a result of our financial health, we will be able to enhance the overall educational experience for our students, secure our role as a long-term asset to the Half Moon Bay community, and plant the seeds for the future.
Initiate a study to identify the most important factors for recruiting and retaining faculty and staff – and focus our limited resources accordingly –so that we cement our status as a great place to work
Develop a financial model that transparently and sustainably addresses the growing need for financial aid and desire to have a student body from economically diverse backgrounds
Establish an alumni relations program to foster a sense of community and encourage financial support from a more diversified cohort
Update our facilities master plan to include more areas for project and place based learning, school growth, and sustainability initiatives
direction 4
leave it better than we found it
Our Coastal Community
To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived that is to have succeeded.
ralph waldo emerson
At Sea Crest, we recognize our opportunity to meet our current needs while working towards ensuring the needs of the future generations in our community. Like any great school, we believe that education is one of the best pathways to creating a better world. A focus on Sea Crest’s ethic of “leaving it better than we found it” encompasses a variety of initiatives that can help Sea Crest become more integrated with our Half Moon Bay community, strengthen our student and family communities, and foster the experiences that help our graduates lead lives of purpose and impact.
Through our environmental footprint, commitment to cultivate a community of diversity and belonging and responsibility to be stewards of our coastal communities, we believe that we can empower our students carry this responsibility to lead with service and empathy throughout their lives.
Identify using best practices in diversity, equity and belonging goals across all systems of Sea Crest School
Foster a sense of belonging and joy through cultural celebrations and traditions
Work to expand the impact of Sea Crest Scholars program and launch an endowment for flexible tuition
Establish a parent education series that supports the school to home partnership while opening these offerings up to the greater coastal community in an effort to lift all boats.
Incorporate service learning projects deeper into the curriculum, connecting academic learning with community engagement
our mission
Sea Crest School is dedicated to providing the best in innovative education to inspire and empower our learners to engage curiosity, express creativity, act with compassion and lead with courage.
who we are
Diversity, Equity and Belonging (DEB)
The DEB committee is composed of trustees, teachers, administrators, parents, and community members. The goal of the committee is to prepare appropriate recommendations to the Strategic Planning Committee and the Sea Crest Board of Trustees that are aligned with the school’s Mission Statement and Values. The DEB committee uses the DEB decision making lens and School Statement of Cultural Competency as its guiding principles.
The purpose of an equity lens is to be deliberately inclusive as an organization makes decisions. It introduces a set of questions into the decision that help the decision makers focus on equity in both their process and outcomes.
These questions draw attention to how the decision holds potential to impact certain groups, specifically those in underrepresented groups. An equity lens will not tell you what action to take. Rather the lens helps you discuss and reflect on the equitableness of the action and decision-making process.
OUR DECISION MAKING LENS
Who is involved in the process?
Who is making the decision?
Are we inclusive of the different members of our community?
What will this process look like?
What are the possible outcomes?
Reflecting and examining possible outcomes of the change
Preparation and support surrounding this initiative
How might the policy, program or decision affect specific group(s)?
Center IMPACT vs. intent; How will this change impact different parts of our community?
Does this align with our mission, values and DEB statement?
STATEMENT ON CULTURAL COMPETENCY AND INCLUSION
Sea Crest is committed to being a culturally responsive school that acknowledges and celebrates the rich diversity within our community. Through ongoing reflection of our institution, programs and teaching we strive to create a just, equitable and inclusive environment. The foundations of understanding, respect and communication are deeply embraced as part of the mission and guiding principles. We will continue to uphold these tenets to guide our actions and better serve and represent the broader community.
PORTRAIT OF A GRADUATE
These descriptors are the characteristics of a Sea Crest graduate, as a community we are all teaching to these guiding principles.
