Founder Katherine Delmar Burke Founded 1908 | Established 1908 Head of school Michele Williams Phone +1 415-751-0177 Mascot Tree | |
Motto Educate, Encourage & Empower Girls Similar The Hamlin School, San Francisco University, San Francisco Day School, Convent & Stuart Hall, Drew School Profiles | ||
Katherine Delmar Burke School or Burke's, is an independent girls' school for kindergarten through eighth grade, located in the Sea Cliff neighborhood of San Francisco, California, United States, near Lincoln Park. Until 1975 it also included a high school. It was founded in 1908 by Katherine Delmar Burke and was named Miss Burke's School.
Contents
- History
- Students
- Head of school
- Sports
- Mascot and colors
- Cafeteria
- Campus
- Youth Voice
- Notable alumni
- References
Burke's is one of three all-girl K-8 schools in San Francisco. Burke's celebrated its centennial during the 2007–2008 school year. The school is a member of the California Association of Independent Schools.
History
Burke's first location in 1908 was at Steiner and Pacific Streets in Pacific Heights. It then relocated to a house at 2310 Broderick Street. In 1918 the growing school moved to a new building designed by architect Julia Morgan (a friend of Katherine Burke), located at 3065 Jackson Street. The school began acquiring property in Sea Cliff in 1929. At first only the Kindergarten and First grade were located there. The rest of the property was used as a sports venue for the upper classes. There was a large grass sports field, basketball courts, and 5 tennis courts. In 1949, grades 2 through 6 were moved there after the completion of new classrooms.
The high school and grades 7 and 8 remained at the Jackson St. building until 1975, when Burke's high school closed and the building was acquired by San Francisco University High School.
Students
Head of school
Michele Williams, July 2012 – present
Sports
Mascot and colors
Mascot: Pine Tree
School colors: Green and Gold
Cafeteria
A healthy, organic lunch and snack is provided daily by Acre Gourmet, and is included in student tuition.
The cafeteria also doubles as an auditorium and assembly hall.
Assemblies happen once a week for lower school and once every 6-day rotation for upper school.
Campus
3½ acres, including:
Youth Voice
The Youth Voice is the student council. The officers consist of 1-2 moderators, 1-3 green officers, 1-3 community service officers, and 1-2 spirit officers. There are also four advisory representatives (reps) for each grade, one from each homeroom/advisory, that are elected each semester. The officers and reps meet once a six-day rotation, and the officers meet separately once a rotation. There are also two teachers who supervise the meeting.
Each year, near the beginning of the first trimester, 7th and 8th graders write speeches and present them in front of the Upper School. Then, there is a vote to see who will be the officers for the year.
Moderator responsibilities include planning and running weekly assemblies, planning Upper School lunches such as the Holiday Lunch and the Halloween Lunch, and run the Youth Voice lunch meetings.
The community service and green chairs help to choose and communicate with charitable organizations outside of school. They then plan and run fundraisers (like bakesales) at school to raise money for the chosen organizations. They also plan and run food drives.
The spirit chairs help to plan spirit days, such as fake an injury day and the very popular Generation Day. They encourage people to attend sports events at school and help to make the school community more spirited.