The award recognizes a single school across the San Diego and Imperial Valley region that exemplifies the highest standards of Catholic identity, academic excellence, and community formation. The distinction is measured against the National Standards and Benchmarks for Effective Catholic Schools (NSBECS), the framework used nationally to evaluate mission, governance, academic rigor, and operational vitality in Catholic education.

Diocese of San Diego award graphic honoring Saint James Academy with the 2025-2026 Catholic School of the Year Award. The award recognizes a Catholic school that exemplifies the highest standards of Catholic identity, academic excellence, and community formation as articulated in the National Standards and Benchmarks for Effective Catholic Schools, and that nurtures the whole child spiritually, intellectually, socially, and morally.

This recognition belongs to our families, our faculty, and the generations who built this school over the past seventy years. We have always believed that a child’s education should form the whole person: heart, mind, and character. To have that work affirmed at the diocesan level is a tremendous honor, and it strengthens our commitment to the students entrusted to us.

Christine LangPrincipal, Saint James Academy

A School Built Over Seventy Years

Founded more than 70 years ago, Saint James Academy serves families throughout North Coastal San Diego with a 16:1 student-to-teacher ratio, a STEAM-integrated curriculum, and a high-school-preparatory junior high program that has placed 100 percent of its graduates in high schools of their choice. The school’s music program has taken students to the stage at Carnegie Hall, and its faith formation is woven through daily academic life rather than treated as a separate subject.

1952
Serving North Coastal San Diego
16:1
Student-to-Teacher Ratio
100%
High School Placement
PS–8
Preschool Through 8th Grade

Enrollment Now Open

The recognition comes as Saint James Academy opens enrollment for the 2026–2027 academic year across all grade levels, preschool through eighth grade. Families interested in learning more are invited to schedule a campus visit or submit an inquiry through the school’s website.

Saint James Academy is located at 623 South Nardo Avenue, Solana Beach, CA 92075, and is part of the St. James–St. Leo Catholic Community and the Diocese of San Diego. For enrollment information, call (858) 755-1777.