Welcome!
San Marin is committed to providing students with the highest quality education, rigor, and opportunities to explore interests in academic, athletic, artistic, and extracurricular areas. Our goal is to provide rigorous and challenging curricula in all programs that align with Common Core State Standards and Next Generation Science Standards in a supportive learning environment for all students. San Marin also provides a safe and nurturing environment within which to learn, explore, create and think. San Marin maintains high behavioral expectations for all students. These expectations are clearly communicated and reinforced throughout the year with consistency and fairness in order to create the best learning environment possible.
School Profile
San Marin High is one of two comprehensive high schools in the Novato Unified School District. Recognized with a California Gold Ribbon Award Program and honored for our smART (San Marin Arts and Technical Arts) program as an Exemplary Arts Program, San Marin takes pride in its many exceptional academics, athletics, and fine arts programs. Many San Marin students have been recruited by major colleges and universities and have been the recipients of numerous scholarships, and many graduates attend the most prestigious and outstanding colleges and universities in the country.
Participants in our drama and music programs, among the finest in Northern California, have recently performed throughout the state of California and were awarded numerous honors. San Marin also maintains a comprehensive slate of champion athletic program that involves more than half our students on twenty-five (25) teams. All of these exceptional programs are a result of strong support from the San Marin students, staff, administration, parents, and the community.
Our Mission
San Marin High School is committed to providing an environment that promotes critical thinking, optimal learning, and achievement for all students. Our goal is that all students will become:
Diversity
We have a diverse student body that greatly enriches our community. Our team works hard to provide a safe and nurturing learning environment where all students can thrive, whatever their individual needs, abilities, backgrounds, and economic circumstances. We support cultural awareness on a daily basis through diverse literature selections and a wide range of courses to both meet student interest and academic needs.
Programs
San Marin students are supported by a comprehensive network of programs designed to facilitate a successful school experience including these and more:
- The counseling staff meets with students regularly and their families as requested to review individual goals, monitor academic progress, and prepare for education and training beyond high school.
- Individual and group counseling is available to all students from the school counselors, school psychologist, and representatives from community agency counseling services such as Bay Area Community Resources.
- The Link Crew program promotes positive attitudes and behavior in students by facilitating a support network of upperclassmen to freshmen. Incoming freshmen are “linked up” with juniors and seniors who have been selected through faculty nominations as good peer models.
Student Support
It is the goal of San Marin High to assist students in their social and personal development as well as academics. The school gives special attention to students who experience achievement problems, difficulty coping with personal and family problems, trouble with decision making, or handling peer pressure. The counselor to pupil ratio is 1:350.
Advanced Placement Courses
San Marin High encourages students to continue their education past high school. San Marin High offers Advanced Placement (AP) courses for those students seeking to qualify for college credit. Sophomore, Juniors and Seniors achieving a score of three, four, or five on the final AP exams qualify for college credit at most of the nation’s colleges. San Marin offers eighteen (18) different AP courses within the schedule.
Electives & Extracurricular Activities
San Marin offers award-winning drama and music programs and champion athletic programs with more than half our students on twenty-five (25) teams. In addition, San Marin's Art and Technical Arts (smARTt) Program is an innovative, integrated group of University of California approved classes which include:
Many of these unique courses are taught at night and after school, so students can still fit AP, honors classes and other UC-approved electives into their regular schedule, and students can do many electives concurrently i.e., Drama, Music, and Journalism, or Drawing & Painting and Tech Theatre.
College & Career Center
We promote pathways to post-secondary education for all students, with an active College & Career Center that helps students prepare for life after high school through a variety of programs including these:
- Rotary Scholars – mentors from Rotary work with 15-20 students and their parents on a yearly basis to recruit and support first-generation college-bound students.
- Representatives from colleges, vocational and technical schools, and military recruiters advise students to requirements and opportunities for post high school education.
- School-to-Career Program provides mock interviews and resume-writing workshops.
- One hour of orientation to the opportunities available in the College and Career Center.
- The College and Career Center works in collaboration with the Marin Educational Foundation and 10,000 Degrees to support college-bound students.
Parent Engagement
Parents play an integral role in the life of the school, participating on the Site Leadership Team, PreK-3 Collaborative, PTA, School Advisory Committee, and English Learners Advisory Committee (ELAC), and in many informal ways that contribute to our strong sense of community. Parents support the community in classrooms, special programs, computer lab, on the playground, in the garden, on field trips, and for special events. Fathers participate in the Watch D.O.G.S. (Dads of Great Students) Program by volunteering at least one day a year. Parents coordinate several major events every year, such as The Welcome Coffee, the Harvest Festival, Grateful Gathering, fundraisers, the Book Fair, and Science Night. Parents are trained as art docents and reading mentors. At least twice annually, parents invest time working on campus beautification projects. We have a parent volunteer coordinator who helps interested parents find appropriate placements.
Facilities
San Marin High School was originally constructed in 1968 and is comprised of 50 classrooms, 2 dedicated physical science laboratories, 2 gyms, a student center, library, college and career center, computer lab, school cafeteria, and athletic facilities. Recent remodeling modernized nearly every building on campus.
The school’s library, staffed by a Library Media Clerk, provides an extensive variety of reference and special interest materials, and hundreds of educational and recreational books. Students visit the library on a daily/weekly basis with their classes.
In addition, several new facilities are under construction at San Marin High, with funding from Bond Measure G. A brand new 18,000 square foot STEM classroom/laboratory building was completed in Fall 2020. A new 7,800 square foot Performing Arts Center was started in September 2019 and should be complete in Winter 2021. And in June 2021, we began modernizing outdoor athletic facilities, converting the existing softball and baseball fields to synthetic turf and updating the backstop, dugouts, bullpens, and batting cage.
Technology Resources
Most classrooms have at least 1 computer that is connected to the Internet. San Marin High School also has 2 computer labs with at least 25 computers in each. The computer labs are staffed by a library technician or credentialed teacher. SMHS also has two iPad carts and 8 Chromebook carts for student and teacher use. Computer skills and concepts are integrated throughout the standard curriculum which helps to prepare students for technological growth and other opportunities. Students have been trained to use computers to prepare academic documents as well as search the Internet. In addition, the Measure G Bond projects include “One to World” Chromebooks for grades 3-12. In the 2019-20 school year, Chromebooks were distributed to all students in grades 3-12.
