Santa Margarita Elementary School in Oceanside

Category	Rating	Details
Test Scores	6/10	The Test Score Rating examines how students at this school performed on standardized tests compared with other schools in the state. The Test Rating was created using 2025 California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) data from California Department of Education, and using 2025 California Science Test data from California Department of Education.
Student Growth	5/10	The Student Progress Rating measures whether students at this school are making academic progress over time based on student growth data provided by the Department of Education. Specifically, this rating looks at how much progress individual students have made on state assessments during the past year or more, how this performance aligns with expected progress based on a student growth model established by the state Department of Education, and how this school's growth data compares to other schools in the state. The Growth Rating was created using 2025 Student growth data from California Department of Education.

Posted: June 18, 2026

The staff at Santa Margarita is amazing! An Outstanding School!

Posted: June 18, 2026

Posted: August 13, 2025

The small school commiunity is such a huge plus! I love that we get to know the students because of this. We end up being like a family!

Posted: August 13, 2025

Santa Margarita is an awesome school with wonderful administration and a ton of support for children and teachers too. I am very glad to be a part of this wonderful place.

Posted: August 13, 2025

This is an amazing school! They have a great sense of community.

Posted: August 13, 2025

Santa Margarita is a welcoming school always striving to make families feel welcome.

Posted: August 13, 2025

We are so happy our kids go here and we love this school so much. Their teachers have been great and we are thankful they got placed at this school.

Posted: August 13, 2025

This school is an asset to Camp Pendleton and Oceanside.

Posted: August 13, 2025

All three of my children have attended this school. We have had a great experience each time. The teachers are approachable and have the students best interest at heart. The teachers are limited due to district expectations but find ways to help meet the needs of all students.

Posted: August 13, 2025

My kids have been here 4 years now. I love the middle school staff so much. They have been wonderful to my daughter she's gone from struggling to all As and Bs. I am thankful for them and will miss them when she moves to high school next year. Ms. Curry, ms.dhelice, ms.r have been amazing for my now 2nd grader. My now 5th grader Mrs. Swart ho, Mrs. Funk and Mrs berg have just been wonderful I cannot say enough great things about this school and teachers. Thank you guys.

Posted: August 13, 2025

I am proud to teach at Santa Margarita School! Every staff member truly cares about each and every student. I love it so much that my own son will attend school here as soon he is old enough.

Posted: August 13, 2025

Students at this school are unique, well rounded and care about their teachers and staff! Its a great place to work!

Posted: August 13, 2025

Santa Margarita is a small school that caters to military families and their needs.

Posted: August 13, 2025

Santa margarita has great teachers and staff!

Posted: August 13, 2025

Posted: September 11, 2024

My son has attend this school since Kindergarten. Each teacher has helped nurtured his gifts and made him want to be at school daily. All of his teachers have sent consistent communication and were available if I had questions or concerns. The teachers and the staff truly care about the students and do the best that they can do given the challenges that they are provided. No school is perfect but this school is helping my child understand not only academics but also how to be successful in life.

Posted: September 11, 2024

Posted: August 13, 2023

My child experienced regular bullying, threats and nothing was done until I mentioned it and was still bullied. Everything was made to be his fault. There is a lack of resources for children who are ADHD or Autistic, some Autistic kids are sent to other schools due to lack of resources.

Posted: August 13, 2023

Posted: January 20, 2022

This was an amazing school with an amazing staff. Not your typical on-base school, but its on base. The Principal came to our home to meet us as we were mid year transfers. 3 kids went there and I retired, but now they all miss it. Gym (not really a teacher) was a bit of a bully and they had a substitute that was a piece of work, but once reported it was handled professionally and swiftly! Bravo to you guys!!!

Posted: January 20, 2022

Posted: March 31, 2020

I really did like this school, of course they can always improve on things such as like the food...but school lunch has never been good in the first place. And there were a couple of problems I remember the school had, like I remember that it became kind of broke at one point, and we lost a lot of staff (My P.E. teacher somehow became my yearbook teacher) due to a drop in surveys that funded us. I don't remember any other problems that we had other than that in the earlier years, but I know for a fact that they handled that crisis very well. The PTSA took a huge part in that, sold stuff after school, a lot of merchandise. And I don't think anyone ever talked about it just the students did sometimes , but we saw North Terrace as a rival sometimes. Honestly this school doesn't suck. But that was my experience with it. They did a pretty good job, I hope they keep going at it. :)

Posted: March 31, 2020

Most of the people in these reviews are parents and don't even care to ask their kids themselves if they liked their experience at this school. They don't have a say of how they feel about it, because they didn't actually see the true colors of how this school nurtures the still growing students. I went here from 3rd to 2/3 of 7th grade because I had to move. And truly, I loved it there.
-The homework in all my years there was always effective in helping me master my struggles. Yes, sometimes I'll admit it, I didn't like it sometimes and just ignored it. And every teacher that I had there always gave me a price to pay for that. There was a good balance of online, and paper homework. It really never was a problem of where there was too much of online or paper packets. In fact most of the homework that I had throughout the years here was just 2/3 paper homework. The only thing that I always found stressful was ST Math (I truly despised it), and Lexia. Those were the programs that I remember I had to do from K-5 at this school.

Posted: March 31, 2020

I will always remember each and one of the teachers I had when I went here. A majority of them were actually good teachers, and always pushed me, and other classmates to do our best. Some of which when I started going to 6th grade started to teach us that it isn't their responsibility anymore to always nag us about stuff we have to do, or if it's missing, or if we slacked off. They really gave us a good push off on, growing up and understanding we have to be more responsible. When we started getting different teachers, the periods were always often organized and never really a paining the head.

Posted: March 31, 2020

I strongly agree that this school develops the students character, I've met people there that I have had in my class a couple times in a row, and some of which were in and out multiple times. Every year I they were in my class they were someone different than they were in the beginning of the year (If that makes any sense). And I definitely feel that the teachers, and noon-duties took a part in that, as well as the principals, and counselors. I remember one principal in particular that always brought these people to assemblies once a month, and they taught us how to treat others, what it means to be a kind person, and how to be responsible, and respectful. I was pretty young and just didn't really understand or care, I just wanted a blue wristband. But once I started actually getting older I began to understand the '8 keys' which was...I can't really remember (wow how helpful!), but I think it was like, integrity, failure leads to success, this is it, commitment, ownership, speak with good purpose, flexibility...and I think the last one was balance?? I miraculously remembered the keys thanks to them, they got it stuck in my head real good.

Posted: March 31, 2020

Oh yeah, I remember a couple situations that I was involved with, and heard of. As I came into the middle school area, it obviously did start to get more serious, and I feel like they handled that righteously.

Posted: January 13, 2017

I wanted so badly to love this school. Instead it was a nightmare filled with my son suffering and facing setbacks. This school year they consistently used the excuse that they were facing set backs due to full staff change out. From the get go they failed even the most simple of tasks such as class assignments. They opted on fully integrated for special needs but couldn't provide aides. Instead of bringing that to the parents attention they instead provided an aide for morning drop off for good face. About five weeks in I discovered that aide was only available here and there.

Posted: January 13, 2017

Instead of being prepared for all types of students, they focus on nuerotypical and shove their problems into another class without aides.

Posted: January 13, 2017

I hate to say it but the previous principal was so much better. The current principal is a coward that refuses to face any issues then blames the parents when he's faced with problems.

Posted: January 13, 2017

Even with an iep in place they failed my son. Instead of preparing him they would shove him into a classroom with other special needs children without enough aides.

Posted: January 13, 2017

Posted: March 2, 2016

My first grader has had an excellent experience at Santa Margarita. The entire staff is professional and very dedicated. The admin staff and teachers are very open to communication with parents.
I can only speak for 1st grade, but the class sizes are around 20 students in each of the 5 classes. Homework comes home 1x/week and includes worksheet activity and 20min of online language arts and online math that is tailored to the individual child's level.
The school promotes health and wellness in the cafeteria and with a running club before school that is open to all students. As a standard 1x/week they get PE, library, and STEAM. There is no Art or Music instruction for lower grades.
This is a GREAT school because the leadership and individual teachers continuously try to find ways to challenge students academically , promote character values, and have fun at school assemblies and at school dress up days and holiday celebrations involving student creativity.

Posted: March 2, 2016

Posted: September 6, 2013

First of all, some of this information is outdated. 1. This school is K-7 and is adding 8th grade next year. 2. The average class size is no where near 21. In fact, it's over 30. And we'll over 30 in many. Last year was our first year here, and I was mortified by the class sizes. I feel like we were very lucky and both of our children had great teachers, both who were used to teaching in CA with these huge classes. We are moving soon, and I guess we'll see when we get where we're going if our kids are behind. The experiences we've had at this school have all been good. I honestly believe it takes a special person to be. Teacher, but it takes a saint to put yourself in front of a class of more than 30 elementary school children.

Posted: June 8, 2013

Having my child there from kinder to 3rd grade, I have seen the good and the bad. No school is perfect. However the amount of support my daughter has gotten from the staff-from noon duties to the principal- has been nothing short of amazing. The speech therapist Ms Landini is my childs speech therapist and we have made strides, especially since her syndrome is what causes her impediment. Pat Kurtz has taken every accomplishment my child has made since kinder like she was her parent, always supporting her and beaming when that time came. Even the office staff knows my child and takes special interest in her well being. Mr Frank, the janitor, is one of the nicest people and ensures that my daughter eats every day (she has a tendency to forget), and has taught her a lot about responsibility. My daughters 3rd grade teacher, Mr Tiger, has literally turned my daughter from an insecure, unmotivated child, to a beaming, confident, spunky little girl. I have had an exceptionally good experience here, and I am sad we are leaving next year. The amount of support the school provides is amazing, and I hope that we can find a school for her next year that can match that of Santa Margarita.

Posted: April 3, 2012

Excellent school, for being overcrowded at the new campus they handle things well. The teachers are all great, and genuinely care for the kids. My son has gone there from Kindergarden to 5th grade, and my daughter has from K-2 so far. I have had nothing but positive things to say about the teachers and staff. I wish I weren't moving this summer- I would love for my daughter to finish elementary there as well. The only things that are lacking are an arts/drama program (not the school's fault- California's budget is to blame), the music program could be more extensive (again- not the school's fault), and the class sizes could be smaller (the trend continues- not the school's fault).

#	Name	Type	City	State	Distance
1	Montecito village apartments	Apartment Complex	Oceanside	CA	4.5 mi
2	St. Cloud	Condominium/Townhouse	Oceanside	CA	4.6 mi
3	Mira Costa Estates	Neighborhood/Subdivision	Oceanside	CA	4.9 mi
4	Palisades Pointe	Neighborhood/Subdivision	Carlsbad	CA	6.3 mi
5	Shadowridge	Neighborhood/Subdivision	Vista	CA	8.9 mi
6	Windsor at Aviara	Apartment Complex	Carlsbad	CA	10.1 mi
7	La Costa	Neighborhood/Subdivision	Carlsbad	CA	11.1 mi
8	Rancho Carrillo	Neighborhood/Subdivision	Carlsbad	CA	11.3 mi
9	Whispering Winds Apartments	Apartment Complex	San Clemente	CA	19.4 mi
10	Torrey Highlands	Neighborhood/Subdivision	San Diego	CA	22.1 mi
11	Redhawk	Neighborhood/Subdivision	Temecula	CA	23.1 mi
12	Amberwalk Townhomes	Neighborhood/Subdivision	Murrieta	CA	24.5 mi
13	The Ranchos	Neighborhood/Subdivision	Murrieta	CA	24.9 mi
14	Copper Canyon	Neighborhood/Subdivision	Murrieta	CA	24.9 mi

#	Name	City	State	Distance
1	Downtown Oceanside	Oceanside	CA	2.4 mi
2	Carlsbad	Carlsbad	CA	5.3 mi
3	Encinitas	Encinitas	CA	14.3 mi
4	Lake Rancho Viejo	Fallbrook	CA	14.7 mi
5	Downtown	San Clemente	CA	19.2 mi
6	Torrey Highlands	San Diego	CA	22.1 mi
7	Temecula, California	Temecula	CA	24.1 mi
8	West Side	murrieta	CA	24.5 mi
9	Mira Mesa	San Diego	CA	25.8 mi
10	Murrieta, California	Murrieta	CA	27 mi
11	Murrieta	Murrieta	CA	27 mi

Base	Distance
Camp Pendleton	8.7 mi.
Miramar MCAS	28.5 mi.
MCRD San Diego	35.5 mi.
San Diego Naval Medical Center	37.2 mi.
North Island NAS	38.1 mi.
Naval Base Point Loma	38.5 mi.
Coronado Naval Amphibious Base	40.4 mi.
San Diego Naval Base	40.7 mi.
March Air Reserve Base	46.2 mi.

Santa Margarita Elementary School

Oceanside, CA 92058

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Santa Margarita Elementary School

Oceanside, CA 92058

School Ratings

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