This school has been awesome forever. It is truly a "Leave it to Beaver" school, for those of an…read moreage to remember that sitcom. I was PTA President for 2 years in the late 80's/early 90's time period. And it was one of the most special times of my life. Becky Harvey was Principal. Ed Timlin, who later was the long time Principal at Arrowhead Elementary, was Assistant Principal. They were an awesome team. The staff & teachers were top notch. One couldn't have asked for better. Parental involvement, teacher & staff care, safety, nurturing, a location steeped in the history that was the beginning of the English colonies, and classmates who are eager to excel & learn.... This and more is what you will find at Thoroughgood Elementary.

I have been holding off on this review because I wanted to provide a balanced approach to this…read moreVirginia Beach Lower School. It is my opinion that this is one of the premier city schools, but am I being subjective in a 5 star rating of where my children attend. I do think that I am being fair and I will provide some details about the school, it's history so as to back up my rating. I will also provide stats on performance which is what ultimately determines a schools success. The school is named after Adam Thoroughgood the city's founding colonist who was an indentured servant that rose to becoming one of Virginia's earliest burgesses and later, a member of the Governor's Council. In 1635, he was granted 5,360 acres in return for the transportation of himself, his wife and 105 persons. One of his "head rights" Augustine Warner, is of particular significance. He became the great-great-grand father of President George Washington. The land that the present day school and Thoroughgood neighborhood sets on is part of that original land grant by the King of England which makes this area so special. The current Principal at TES is Dr. Cheryl Zigrang in her 14th year at this position. She is the backbone to this place of learning for children K-5. Her caring attitude and compassionate attitude is contagious throughout the caring staff that she manages. Her high standards of academics and consistent utilization of the kids remembering a number of rules and manners has elevated this school of 700 students into the "Best of Virginia Beach". Dr. Z has been offered promotions to administration and turned them down as her calling is at the school she one day hopes to retire in. The building itself is one of the cities oldest, constructed in the mid 1950's. Even though old it is very well maintained by long time janitor Mr. Harold Lawrence. It is over due for a new build out and the School Board recently approved a time table of 2016-2018 for a new TES. It will be put in the present day ball field while keeping the current facility in operation through construction. How about the performance of Thoroughgood. Well let's start out with saying it is a fully accredited school in the state of Virginia. It also has received the 2012 Governor's Award for Education Excellence numerous times and is without a doubt one of the cities top schools. Of course the benchmark the state of Virginia uses is Standard of Learning, or SOL. Consistently TES is not only one of the top schools in our city, but the state of Virginia. A snap shot of one piece of data, the 5th grade writing exam. Going back to 2005 and every year to 2012 Thoroughgood has exceeded district and state standards, thus one of the reasons for the Governors Award on a annual basis. When I say this this school is awesome, it's not just lip service. We had one of our children at a pricy private school in the area and discovered this is a great value, offers just as much challenge and is safe from of the schenanigan's that other schools are plagued with. Anyone reading this review and unsure about how to go about obtaining more info it is easy. Call the school and arrange a tour that will be conducted most likely by Dr. Z herself. We love our TES Flying Seagulls.

Overpriced, however considering the public school system it's either pay me now or pay me later…read more Let's face it the educational system in this country has been ruined by folks with 'perceptual errors' that tend to get nearly everything and everyone backwards. Unfortunately our public school system and kids have paid the price. Cape Henry is a fine school with good teachers the high tuition is probably a good thing because it keeps out the undesirables. I'm not saying they're aren't some rotten apples here, but they're capped and somewhat isolated whereas in the public schools the rotten apples often own the place.

Great experience at CHC. We have a Pre-k student who can't wait to get to school, and raves about…read morehis teachers and what he's learned. Wonderful school culture.

Finding an authentic Montessori environment is rare, but Marie, the Head of School at Organic…read moreBeginnings Montessori, has curated a phenomenal program from toddler through elementary. Her unwavering dedication to true AMI methodology is evident in every detail. Marie hasn't just built beautiful, intentional spaces; she has also hired an exceptional team of teachers and staff who clearly share her vision for a high-fidelity, child-centered education. This is a genuinely wonderful community. Highly recommend!

Read the business description. It is all true. This is a rare pearl, an actual, true Montessori…read moreschool.

I cannot say enough good things about BBMS. The staff care so much about the kiddos and create a…read moresafe space where learning is fun! My daughter recently had a birthday, and her teachers went all out. Set up special decorations, sent me tons of photos and videos, etc. She felt all the love. It's nice going off to work knowing your child is in the best hands possible. Thank you broad bay, for being the best!

Our children have both gone here for years. Great teachers and great curriculum, especially for…read morekindergarten.

One of the worst experiences I have had being a parent, is dealing with enrolling a student in…read moreclasses into TCC. From the git go, the website is horrible. Missing links, dead ends, poor flow. Searching for classes is complicated and just plain tiring to deal with. Going in for help is even worst. You get different answers from different people and all seem to be incorrect anyways. Everything is just so complicated, I can see why students are giving up and looking elsewhere. My frustration level is at an all time high with just trying to get my kid classes at TCC. Do better TCC!

While some of the professors there are both professional and actually fun to learn from, that's a…read moresmall percentile of them, usually they're mostly really anal about work, give out too much of it, force you to work in groups (hate that with a passion) and usually teach you via powerpoint like it's some next-level teaching, fun fact, it's not. Usually you either have to end up teaching yourself and just using google to get the answers you need. The campus in and of itself is neat, they have some cool programs to help out students in need of certain things, like if you need a computer, they give out free laptops and stuff, the student center is pretty nice too. What I don't like about that is that if you're not currently taking classes, you can't go inside the building, like, what??? We paid all this money to go here, at least let us use the facilities for a year or two after finishing our degrees.

We enrolled our daughter at Virginia Beach Friends School for her 6th grade year, drawn in by the…read morepromise of small class sizes, individualized attention, and a school culture built on kindness. Sadly, our experience fell far short of those promises, and we made the difficult decision to withdraw her mid-year. Small Class Size Individualized Attention Our daughter's class had only six students -- something we believed would mean more personalized instruction and closer teacher-student relationships. In practice, that was not the case. Teachers were not proactively communicating with us about our daughter's academic performance or classroom participation, despite the fact that there were only five other students in her entire grade. A Serious Bullying Situation That Was Never Communicated to Us: The only other girl in our daughter's class made daily threats -- including saying she wanted to break our daughter's spine and throw her out of a window. This same peer also openly discussed self-harm in the classroom. These are not minor social conflicts. They are serious, ongoing threats that any school should be obligated to communicate to parents immediately. Our daughter started the year strong, finishing Q1 with all A's and B's. As the bullying continued, her grades began to slip in Q2. It wasn't until we proactively reached out that a meeting was arranged with the head of school, the educational director and the admissions director. During that two-hour meeting, we learned that the school had already been aware of this student's behavior, had met with her family, and had issued consequences such as silent lunch -- multiple times. We were well into late January and had never received a single call, email, or notification about any of this. That meeting produced a clear action plan: teachers would make a greater effort to connect with our daughter, and the educational director would meet with her individually each week to help get her academics back on track. Neither of these commitments was ever followed through on by the school. In the weeks after that meeting -- and after we informed the school we would not be re-enrolling for the following year -- our daughter began receiving write-ups for minor infractions: breaking a pencil, tearing up a piece of paper, not asking for help. We also received her Q2 report card, which included a D in PE. Not once had her PE teacher reached out to share any concerns about her performance or participation. In a class of six children, there is simply no excuse for that lack of communication. The pattern of events that followed our meeting, combined with our decision not to re-enroll, felt deeply retaliatory rather than supportive. We ultimately pulled our daughter from Virginia Beach Friends School mid-week and transitioned her to a public school to complete the remaining 2.5 months of the school year. It was not a decision we made lightly, but it was the right one for her wellbeing. TLDR: Virginia Beach Friends School markets itself as a place where children feel safe being uniquely themselves, and where kindness is the school's number one value. Based on our family's experience, those values did not translate into action. Our daughter did not feel supported, seen, or protected for a single day she attended. If you are considering this school for your child, we strongly encourage you to ask hard questions about how they handle bullying, how they communicate with parents, and how they follow through on commitments -- before you make your commitment.

We're in the middle of our second year at VBFS. Our daughter is thriving! She loves going to school…read moreevery morning, and is sad to leave each afternoon. The teachers and staff are all fully engaged and committed, and it shows. The teacher/student ratio is fantastic, with lots of individual attention. The only drawback for us is that there is no dedicated drama teacher or yoga this year. Our daughter loved the plays last year, and the yoga instruction, and misses both this year. But she has LOVES music, art, technology, P.E., square dancing, and Spanish, as well as her regular academics. We look forward to continuing at Friends School.

Excellent services and curriculum!!! We really appreciate all the teachers and the flexibility of…read morethe scheduling system!! Our children are doing much better in school since they started attending Mathnasium!!

Outstanding facility with an exceptional and friendly staff! We signed our 8 year old daughter up…read moreat the beginning of the school year and noticed a significant improvement with her math skills. She absolutely loves coming and has displayed more confidence when working on her assignments. Highly recommend this Mathnasium location!!!

I have zero complaints about this school. Ms. Amanda is my son's teacher, she is wonderful. My…read moreson has attended this school for almost two years. It's very clean and they seem very good about communicating in general.

MAV was a great experience for our daughter's first year in a school setting. We are so proud of…read moreher and how much she's learned since joining MAV. We are so happy we chose them. We love the Montessori approach and feel that it helps children develop very comfortably at their own pace. All of the teachers, TA's, and administrative staff have been easy to communicate with and helped us with any concerns over the year. Being that it was her first year, I admit that I did have a lot of questions, but the staff was understanding and as the weeks went on, I felt more and more comfortable that she was safe and well taken care of and she became very comfortable with her teachers, as well as her peers. I saw how much she learned just after two months. The schedules work and have helped her thrive academically and socially. I can see her problem-solving skills have really developed, as well as her thinking. The monthly newsletters kept us informed throughout the year. The school programs are all fun to attend and see the children work together, and also see their individual personalities shine. I feel that the facility is very clean and that she's picked up some good habits over the year. She's also made some good friends with her peers and learned good manners. We love hearing about her day, her lessons, and activities when we pick her up. The pick-up and drop-off system works fairly quickly. We also love that they do STEM, art projects to bring home, gym, outdoor activities, and trips to the farm. It's a great facility and we do love the diverse staff, who are all friendly and helpful. We have enrolled her next year and can't wait to see how much more she learns and grows over the next few years with MAV.

My 9-month old daughter has been attending Thalia Day School in the infant classroom for about 7…read moremonths (started there when she was 2.5 months old). This is our first child so we were extremely anxious about entrusting others to care for her while we work. That anxiety quickly dwindled when we saw how they care for our daughter and how happy she is to be there. I consider our family very fortunate to have found TDS and their wonderful teachers and staff there! We would recommend to other parents.

Our son has been going to Thalia since he was 2 months old and we have loved every minute of it!!!…read moreHe is in the infant room and they do a wonderful job with him! They love him so much! Even the teachers in other rooms know him well! The admin (Ms. Diane and Ms. Katie) are fantastic and incredibly helpful! Would highly recommend Thalia to anyone!

Where do we start! 3…read moreof my kids have attended this school for years. Over that time, every single teacher that has taken care of our kids has been honest, kind, supportive and incredibly patient with them. We have watched my son overcome an initial communication issue and become a confident and capable little boy. We have watched my daughter become a social butterfly who is quick to help someone who is new feel welcome. We have seen our youngest daughter enrolled learn new words, memorize songs and spout off facts most adults don't know these days. Our children have enjoyed the distinct opportunity to have loving care while kids in parallel systems suffered during the Covid response. Teachers took initiative and went above and beyond virtually every other program available to make sure the kids were safe AND LOVED. This isn't a dog and pony show. This is the real thing. After reading the review potential people left, I decided the best course of action was to ask my kids about their experiences. Honestly I am grateful I did. My kids feel loved. My kids feel safe. My kids are happy. My kids love this place. This system isn't for everyone, and I fully acknowledge that. But for our family, we will always be grateful for the time at Sand Piper and the amazing care they gave to us.

Ms. Jackie and her staff are phenomenal. Our first daughter was enrolled for 3 years at Sandpiper…read more Our second daughter started this spring. We love the school's philosophy and their willingness to accommodate our schedule and last minute changes. We feel strongly enough to drive 45 minutes across town for our children to attend Sandpiper. In our now 5 year affiliation with the school we have never heard a whiff of impropriety. My guess is the parents complaining in the reviews raised a lot of red flags of their own and the school decided these parents weren't worth the trouble. I think we've all met the type.