Our Lady of Fatima Academy

Overview

Our Lady of Fatima Academy is a Catholic K-8 private school in San Clemente, California, serving grades K-8, founded in 1965, with about 124 students. Tuition for 2026-27 is $11,380, which puts it in the middle range among Orange County private schools at this level. Religion classes are required, so confirm your family is comfortable with that before applying.

Admissions

No standardized entrance exam; admission uses an on-campus assessment or visit day.

The school publishes the following application details. The school website’s Admissions page specifies an online application with a nonrefundable $80 application fee per application; once it is submitted, families can track its progress in their account. There are two entrance assessments by age: applicants for TK, kindergarten and grade 1 take the Gesell Assessment, and applicants for grade 2 and above take the STAR Test (2026-27 parent handbook). The admission priority order is siblings of current students, then baptized Catholic children, then children from families of other faiths; children of active parishioners with a record of giving receive priority, and families from other parishes must submit a letter from their own pastor with the application. All new students have a one-semester probationary period. The final admission decision is made jointly by the pastor and the principal.

The main entry points at a K-8 school are kindergarten and grade 6. Younger applicants are usually evaluated through an on-campus visit, while most applicants above grade 5 need an ISEE score. Start in the fall of the year before entry: visit first to confirm the school is a fit, then decide whether to register for testing.

Tuition and fees

2026-27 annual TK-8 tuition: $11,380 for one child, $22,760 for two, $34,140 for three and $45,520 for four, with an $800 multi-child discount applied to the second, third and fourth child. The school does not have separate parishioner and non-parishioner rates; all TK-8 families pay the same. Paying in full before school opens in August takes another $800 off per child, which is not available to families receiving tuition assistance, bringing one child to $10,580; families may also choose 10 installments from August through May or 11 installments from July through May, all debited through FACTS (school website, 2026-2027 Tuition and Fees PDF).

Application fee $80 for new students, nonrefundable; registration fee $400 before April 1, 2026 and $500 after that, for both new and returning students; annual materials and technology fee $425 for all students, added directly to the tuition agreement. Each family must complete 30 volunteer hours at the school per year, with a one-time buyout of $1,350; unworked hours are billed at $45 an hour and settled through FACTS by May 29, 2026. Other fees: a $75 sacramental fee for grade 2 students and others receiving sacraments, a $450 grade 8 graduation fee, $130 per season for after-school teams, and extended care at $12 an hour or a monthly rate of $300 for one child, $500 for two and $600 for three. Families with an active-duty military, police or firefighter parent receive $500 off per student, and referring a family who enrolls earns a $500 FACTS credit. The school website does not list a rate for international students.

Financial aid: Tuition assistance is applied for through the FACTS platform; applications for 2026-27 open January 26, 2026, cover TK through grade 8, and carry a separate fee. The parent handbook states that only applications that are submitted and verified will be considered. The school website does not publish the share of students receiving aid or the average award (school website, 2026-2027 Tuition and Fees PDF and 2026-27 parent handbook).

Academics and programs

• Spanish throughout TK-8, with two dedicated teachers, one for grades 5-8 and one for TK through grade 4 (2026-27 parent handbook faculty list)
• Hybrid Learning Program: a dedicated Hybrid Program Teacher is on staff, and the school website features the program on its homepage as a new offering (school website homepage, parent handbook faculty list)
• Learning Support Center: run by a Learning Support Coordinator, providing both in-class support and pull-out small groups; a Student Success Team of the classroom teacher, the parents and the LSC, with the principal added when needed, builds individual plans for students; K-5 uses Lexia Core5 for reading intervention (school website, Learning Support Center page)
• Individual Learning Plans (ILPs) for TK-8: classroom accommodation plans for students with a private evaluation or a public school district evaluation on file; grades 5-8 also have a study skills class, which students with the relevant documentation may take in place of Spanish (2026-27 parent handbook)
• The middle school curriculum is described in detail: language arts uses Great Books Roundtable, Accelerated Reader, Step Up to Writing and Daily Grammar Practice, and social studies uses the Impact California materials, covering ancient civilizations in grade 6, the medieval and early modern periods in grade 7 and US history in grade 8 (school website, Middle School Academics page)
• Athletics run through the Diocese of Orange PAL league: soccer for grades 5-8 in the spring, with home games at Vista Hermosa Sports Park, basketball in the winter, flag football in the fall and girls volleyball in the fall, plus year-round cheer (school website, Athletics page)

How this school compares

These are the nearest schools at the same level and a comparable price. Select a name to open that school’s admissions guide:

School	City	Grades	Tuition	Entrance test	Class size	Distance
Our Lady of Fatima Academy	San Clemente	K-8	$11,380	On-campus assessment	—	—
San Clemente Christian School	San Clemente	K-8	$12,890	On-campus assessment	15	1.8 mi
St. Edward the Confessor Parish School	Dana Point	K-8	$11,570	On-campus assessment	—	5.5 mi
Mission Basilica School	San Juan Capistrano	K-8	$12,700	On-campus assessment	—	6.0 mi
Stoneybrooke Christian School	San Juan Capistrano	K-8	$12,167	On-campus assessment	—	8.5 mi

Total tuition through graduation

At the 2026-27 rate of $11,380, 9 years covering grades K-8 come to roughly $102,420 in tuition alone. Assuming the 4% annual increase common at private schools, the figure is closer to $120,000. Neither number includes registration fees, deposits, uniforms or activity fees. A California 529 plan can cover up to $10,000 per child per year of K-12 tuition.

Getting there from Irvine

These are straight-line distances from neighborhoods where many Irvine families live. Actual drive times will be longer, and a morning rush-hour trip typically takes 1.5 to 2 times as long as an off-peak one:

Neighborhood	Straight-line distance
Woodbury	20.2 miles
Northwood	22.5 miles
Turtle Rock	18.5 miles
Portola Springs	20.3 miles

The website does not describe bus service; confirm this during your visit.

Questions to ask on a campus visit

• Enrollment — the figure used is the CDE filing, because the school website’s homepage, About page and Admissions pages do not publish enrollment
• Average class size — neither the school website nor the 2026-27 parent handbook gives an average class size or student-teacher ratio
• International students — the Admissions page, the Tuition and Fees PDF and the parent handbook never mention international students, F-1 status or I-20s, and no international rate is listed
• Year founded — 1965 is derived from the school website’s History page, which marks the 2025-26 school year as “Celebrating 60 Years” with a 60th anniversary celebration on October 18, 2025; the school website never…
• Registration, technology, uniform and activity fees beyond tuition

How EDUBUS helps

Our Irvine-based counselors work in both Chinese and English. We track Our Lady of Fatima Academy’s admissions calendar, prepare students for the campus visit and interview, and review application materials before they are submitted. Book a school-selection consultation or read the Chinese version of this page.