Diegueño Country School is an independent, coeducational elementary school for students in Kindergarten through Grade 6 from across San Diego County. Founded in 1973, DCS offers a unique program of advanced academic study and active learning. Our mission is to inspire and nurture academic excellence, confident communication, and proactive engagement as we prepare each student for success in higher education and in a dynamic and complex world.
Proactive Engagement
Opportunities for philanthropy, kindness, and mindfulness help build empathic awareness and a healthy sense of responsibility for fellow Diegueno community members and our global community.
To maintain our vibrant and cooperative community, students are encouraged to interact with other grade levels and teachers from all grades during shared breaks and outdoor play times. The students feel like members of an extended family where inclusion is the expectation each day.
Academic Excellence
Team teaching and a departmentalized approach allow for targeted small groups in Math and Language Arts that meet individual students’ needs to further accelerate their learning curve. Diegueño Country School offers a balanced academic program that promotes intellectual curiosity, advanced critical thinking skills, and self awareness. Students are taught to organize and synthesize their ideas through independent and cooperative learning in all areas of study.
Our intentional teaching balances rigor and high expectations with creative, project-based opportunities. Teaching flexible thinking and growth mindset enhances adaptability, well-being, and resilience so that our children will make meaningful contributions in an ever-changing world.
Collaborative Collective
Not only do we collaborate within our grade levels with group projects and assignments, we strive to integrate all of our grade levels so that our children feel at ease with everyone from every grade. Our 6th graders are buddied up with Kindergarteners to extend the welcome invitation to our Diegueno campus. Each 6th grader is given this mentorship responsibility while the Kindergartener reaps the benefit of the 6th graders’ years of wisdom and know-how. From the first week of school in the fall, Kindergarteners feel truly welcome and comfortable in their new home-away-from-home.
Confident Communicator
Beginning in Kindergarten, students of all grade levels participate in public speaking opportunities during in-class presentations and whole school productions. Poised, powerful, and passionate, students are given specific feedback and individualized coaching that optimizes his/her performance, which maximizes student confidence.
Whether a student is reciting a self-composed soliloquy, featuring in a Friday Morning Message skit, running for Student Council representative, or presenting to the entire school community on DIG Day, our students take center stage and gain self-assurance with each stand-and-deliver opportunity. Confident communication is an essential life-skill that is long-lasting and priceless.