About Us

School Details

By the state of California, Saint Raphael Preschool is licensed for children ages 2.9 years through Kindergarten.

Program 4.5 hours daily (two classrooms: Angels & Saints)

Offer 2 (T,Th), 3 (M,W,F), 4 or 5-day attendance

Ratio: 1 teacher for every 7-8 children with extra support from teacher aides

180 school days plus a Summer Program

Extended Care offered for an additional fee (7:30am - 6:00pm)

United with Saint Raphael K-8 School and Church

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Preschool Calendar 2019-2020

Schedules

Angels (2.9-4 year olds) and Saints (4-5 year olds) Classroom Schedule 
8:30-1:00 - Monday to Friday (2, 3, 4, or 5 days a week)

Extended Care

Before school care is available from 7:30-8:30 A.M.
After-school care is available from 1:00-6:00 P.M.

Class Size

Angels - 16 children with 2 teachers.
Ratio 8:1

Saints - 22 children with 2 teachers and one aide.
Ratio 8:1

Marin Quality Counts

Saint Raphael Preschool is a proud member of the Marin Quality Counts Program. Marin Quality Counts is a program apart of the Marin County Office of Education. Our teachers are high quality teachers that are receiving extra training in order to improve their skills. Your child's brain develops the most within the first five years of their life. Which is why the Marin Quality Counts program aims to provide the best quality early care and education for your child within these years. To learn more about our teaching program visit Marin Quality Counts' website: http://marinschools.org/ece

MarinQualityCounts

Raise-A-Reader Program

Saint Raphael Preschool is a proud member of the Raise-A-Reader program. RAR is a take home book bag program that will go home every two weeks for the family to read books with their children with the goal of developing a love for books and a reading routine. By establishing a daily routine in sharing books with your child, you are helping your child learn basic pre-reading skills and each begins to develop: an understanding of language, new vocabulary and concepts, a love of and respect for books as well as a desire to become a reader, a sense of accomplishment as their understanding and skills grow, and world knowledge. The more experience young children have with language, the more their brains will grow; a love of reading is linked to, not just school success, but life success.

Curriculum

Developmentally appropriate activities for Religion, social-emotional development, language and literacy, English - language development, mathematics, visual and performing arts, physical development, health, history - social sciences and science. We are proud members of Marin Quality Counts. At Saint Raphael's Preschool, we provide a healthy and safe environment for your child. We also provide numerous activities for active, hands-on learning.

Our "Angels" class focuses on the transition to a group experience for our 3-year old children with special attention to their social/emotional development and adjustment. We offer the children a variety of experiences in art, media, play, dramatic play, movement, stories, large/small motor development and interaction with adults and their peers.

Our "Saints" class (Pre-Kindergarten) continues what has begun in our Angels class and focuses on offering our 4-year old children opportunities to develop their readiness for Kindergarten. We sing, play, draw, and explore letter sounds and various themes throughout our year as the children grow in many skills that will support their success in Kindergarten.

Our Teachers and Staff

Click a photo to learn more about us!

Edith Yates, Director of St. Raphael Preschool, lives in Greenbrae with her husband and has two grown sons who graduated from St. Raphael School.  Her older son graduated from Pitzer College and works in the mid-west at a technology company while her younger son is attending Santa Clara University studying computer science.  Edith has been involved in Early Childhood Education for 24 years.  She has taught in family child care and preschools in the infant-toddler and Pre-K program since 1993.  Edith joined Saint Raphael Preschool as Head Teacher in 2004 when our Preschool opened.  With Edith’s knowledge and experience, she helped start our program by developing the daily curriculum and organizing the safe, educational and nurturing environment. 

 Edith received her Child Development Associate Teacher permit in 2002, her Early Childhood Certificate in 2004, her Associate Degree in Science and Early Childhood Education in 2006 and her Child Development Site Supervisor Permit in 2006.  To enrich her own knowledge of early childhood education, Edith attends many conferences, workshops and seminars throughout the year.  She also has been a Mentor Teacher selected by the Marin CARES Program to help and advise newer ECE teachers on providing quality care for young children.  Staying active with her peers through professional meetings and workshops has allowed Edith to build a strong network and be seen as an expert in her field.  Edith’s background is Spanish and she has a strong call to serve the multi-cultural families at Saint Raphael Preschool as they enter a primarily English language educational system.  With Edith’s cheerful, vibrant, funny, loving and determined personality, every child receives the proper foundations for his or her education.  Edith’s philosophy of teaching has been to treat every child with respect, tolerance, discipline, kindness and love.

 Edith’s love for her community and children continues.  She has been a St. Raphael parishioner for 27 years and in the past has volunteered with the Parish Children’s Liturgy

Edith Yates

Director of St. Raphael Preschool

Our Angels teacher is Yvonne Brady. She was born and raised in Michigan. She is one of four girls in a nine sibling family. She grew up wanting to be a teacher (since she was in the first grade). She started working in child care centers and preschool programs at the early age of 14 under a special Michigan program. Upon graduating from high school, she was accepted into Eastern Michigan University, which was Michigan’s number one institution for an education degree. She graduated from EMU with her Bachelor’s degree in Science with minors in Science, Early Childhood Education, and Art. She also received a ZS endorsement for early childhood development and her teaching certification. Shortly after college, she was blessed to have two beautiful girls. Unfortunately, she lost her oldest to cancer just after her third birthday. Months before her passing Yvonne was employed with Detroit Public Schools, where she worked as a teacher. She later had a super handsome little guy who rounded out her family in a wonderful way. She received her Master’s degree from the University of Phoenix in curriculum and instruction, while she continued teaching in Detroit Public Schools. She worked in DPS for 19 years as a teacher before resigning and moving to California (this past October). It is her aspiration to open her own child care center in the next 5-7 years. She has been blessed with the gift of teaching and she hopes to be able to enjoy it for many years to come.

Yvonne Brady

Angels Teacher

This is Kathy Damato’s third year at St. Raphael's Preschool. Prior to teaching at St. Raphael's, she taught for 12 years at Good Shepherd in Novato and 13 years at various preschools-one in San Rafael and the others down in the Peninsula. She grew up in Pacifica, and received her BA in Child Development from San Francisco State University. She has her Site-Supervisor Permit issued by the State of California and will be assisting Mrs. Yates in being the Assistant Director while also being the Head Teacher in the Saints class.

She loves working with children. They are so much fun to work with and keep her feeling young and energized. They all are so unique and add their own special quality to the classroom environment. St. Raphael's was the one preschool in San Rafael that had the exact qualities and philosophy that she was looking for, for herself as a teacher, as well as, a parent to her two sons. Everyone at St. Raphael's is kind and nurturing to all the children, parents and other staff members.

She and her husband have been married for 24 years, although they have known each other for 31 years. He is her high school sweetheart. They live here in Novato and have two children, Ryan 19 and Jack 17.

Thank you for the wonderful opportunity you and your children are giving her by allowing her to be their teacher.

Kathy Damato

Saints Teacher

Schnabie Beard

Angels Teacher

Miss Fields is a 26 years old Vallejo resident who has lived there her entire life. Currently, she attends CSU East Bay for a BA degree in Child Development. She will graduate after the Summer of 2020. Miss Fields has worked for Kindercare Learning University for the last year. She loves art and music with the children and enjoys watching them create brain connections, even though she is not yet a parent myself. Miss Fields has 11 siblings between both parents. Her family is very important in her life and she values family time together. Miss Fields believes it takes a village to raise a child so we all have to work together, parents, teachers, and community, to help the youth become the best they can be. 

Donje Fields

Saints Teacher

Carol Moss has lived in San Rafael since 1966, after moving here from Castro Valley. She has three children and four grandchildren. She came to work at St. Raphael's in the Extended Child Care Program in 1999.

She has met many great teachers who encouraged her to extend her education. She began taking Early Childhood Education classes at College of Marin and earned her Associate Teacher's Certificate. She has received her Associate Teacher Permit from the State of California. Carol continues to attend conferences and take classes in Early Childhood Education. Since she began in the Extended Care Program, a preschool was added and she has watched it grow into the great program it is now!

Carol has worked at other Preschool sites in Marin County and is back with us at Saint Raphael Preschool as an Assistant Teacher in our Extended Care Program. St. Raphael's feels like home and it has always been a big part of her community. Since Carol has devoted most of her life to St. Raphael School, she feels like it is a second home to her.

Carol Moss

Extended Care

Teena Madison is our teacher in the Saints classroom and this is her first year teaching at Saint Raphael’s Preschool. She has been a preschool teacher for seven years and have also worked in school-age after care in the past.  She grew up in the Philippines and moved to the United States twenty years ago. Today, she lives in San Rafael with her husband and four children (ages 9 to 19). She discovered her passion for teaching after homeschooling her two older children for three years. She has several Early Childhood Education units from College of Marin and a Bachelor’s Degree in Organizational Communication from the University of the Philippines and continues her training and education in the field of ECE.

Teena believes that children learn a lot through play, exploration, and meaningful interaction with adults and peers. Preschoolers have much to learn before they move up to Kindergarten and she is thrilled to be a teacher in the Saints class to support their learning. Most of all, she is happy to have found a place where she can combine her love for teaching and her faith and love for God and to be able to share that with all families.

Christina Madison

Saints Teacher
Saint Raphael Preschool is also happy to have Teacher Aides providing extra support in the classrooms.

Sydney Thompson

Dominican Student
Teaching Aide