About Us

School Details

Licensed for children 2.9 to school-age

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

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

Ratio: 1:7/8

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

Saint Raphael Preschool 2017-2018 School Year Calendar

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

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

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

Saints Teacher

Miss Dahl was born and raised in San Rafael, California. She has two children, Nicholas a business graduate of COM and Bella, who is starting her third year at CSU East Bay in Hayward.

Along with her five siblings she is a graduate of San Rafael High School.  She has obtained a Liberal Arts degree from College of Marin as well as a Preschool Teachers Permit.  To keep current in the ECE field, she attends workshops and is involved with Marin Quality counts.

For the past ten years she has taught at preschools in San Rafael including Trinity and the JCC.  Miss Dahl is excited to worship early Sunday mornings at 3 Crosses in Castro Valley. She is involved with various ministries that help support people in need. Her greatest calling in life is to share the love of Jesus with your children and to be His hands and feet to others in need. She is thrilled to be back and part of St. Raphael’s Preschool!

Lois Dahl

Angels Teacher

Hello my name is Maria Diaz.

I was born and raised in Marin County. I’m fluent in both spanish and english. I’m twenty four years old and I am the youngest child in my family. I’m an aunt of two boys who also attended Saint Raphael’s Preschool. Both of my nephews were taught by Mrs. Yates. I’m a Saint Raphael Alumni, I graduated with the class of 2008. It brings me joyful memories to be back here ten years later, especially working as a teacher associate. I’ve recently received my teacher associate certification at College Of Marin. I took classes on Child Development which I learned a lot from and enjoyed a lot. Going back to school are in my plans in the near future to continue my education.

This is my first experience in a preschool classroom and I enjoy working along Miss Dahl who guides me through this new experience. I am happy to be part of the Angel’s Family Class Of 2018. Children are so full of life and happiness, I love working with them. The children bring me joy and make me smile everyday. I look forward to working and learning along with them. I’m hoping to make the children’s preschool experience as memorable as it was for me being an SRS student. There’s no other place I would have wanted to get this learning experience from. I’m thankful for this opportunity I have been blessed with.

Maria Diaz