The Hamlin School

About The Hamlin School

The founder of our school, Sarah Dix Hamlin, was a feisty, passionate young girl from Westford, Massachusetts who believed that girls and women had a right to be seen and heard, to be educated, and to be safe in a world dominated by men. As one of the first female graduates of the University of Michigan, Sarah Dix Hamlin used her education as a platform for change both in the United States and in India. Her powerful and enduring legacy is manifested in our San Francisco school that continues to bear her name and now educates girls and non-binary students to take their rightful place in the world. Sarah Dix Hamlin designed a K-12* day and boarding school with the intention of cultivating the skills and essential capacities that would ensure success in life and leadership. Her goal was to educate girls to meet the challenges of their time, which is the first line of our mission statement. The Hamlin School is the oldest non-sectarian school created for girls and young women in the western United States; the roots of the school date back to 1863, when the Van Ness Seminary was founded. Sarah Dix Hamlin acquired the seminary in 1896 and changed its name to the Miss Hamlin’s School for Girls. The school’s longstanding reputation of excellence in education is well-known in the Bay Area, in the state of California, and across the country, and the school remains dedicated to many of the rituals and traditions that have defined and distinguished it for well over a century. That said, the DNA of the school also has a strand that values a deep commitment to growth, relevance, and thoughtful change. Sarah Dix Hamlin’s mission to educate girls to meet the challenges of their time remains core to the school’s present-day mission, and the school continues to define itself as an institution dedicated to both tradition and innovation in education.