I attended Pinewood a couple years ago. I am now at an elite university on the East Coast…read more I think that Pinewood is excellent because the teachers are able to provide you with one-on-one attention. Very good for college recs obviously. Public school ones might be very general... Anyways, teachers will help you during lunch and even after school, when they are not being paid. I think it's cool how they have math help hours after school with Mr. Green (if he even works there). My favorite math teacher was Ms. Walters (Genius lady :) ) Overall, the homework is not that excessive, and, more often than not, if we are ahead of the material, we can use the time to work on assignments for a portion of the class. The English department is good, however, I would appreciate it if they would have been stricter on us. Honestly, the longest paper I ever wrote was a 10 page paper for AP US Gov, and we allocated class time to write it. In English the longest paper was about 5 pages. I wish that the length and standards for papers would increase as one takes more advanced courses. The English department prepares you well for writing 25 minute essays for AP exams, but does not prepare you for 10-20 page papers you have to write as a college freshman at top colleges (Ivy leagues, top LAC, or top UC's). Please add a writing intensive course for seniors that IS NOT GRADED, that way students can learn to write college level papers without feeling so much pressure. Just make it a graduation requirement. The Spanish language department seemed to be more demanding than the French language department. I think because Ms. Schmidt was very very strict. I think she retired now. However, Mr. Tezlaff and Madame Daniel were/are very approachable and would always practice French with you whenever you need. They want you to succeed on the National French Contest and do well on AP French! Merci beaucoup mes professeurs. If your child does have a learning disability, the school will accommodate with longer test times, separate exam rooms, and sometimes extra hours of help with a teacher, so long as you can provide a paper verifying the disability. Also, of course disability is confidential information and students are not let known of classmates' disability. It is very common for children at PW to suffer from social anxiety, test anxiety, and depression though. Extracurriculars such as sports were really fun and the coaches (thanks Craig and Jackee) are really passionate! My main complaint is that the school lacks racial diversity. Of course this is because those who can afford the school are primarily White and Asian (South Asian as well as East Asian). When there were black and brown students (some of whom are on academic/athletic scholarship) many would feel ostracized and out of place and often leave after freshman year. Please provide counseling services/ extra funding for students of color. I specifically remember always having to pay tons of money for new uniforms (they would change each season) and new equipment. I would have appreciated it if there was fund that could help scholarship students with sports/extracurricular fees.

I went to Pinewood during the 80's, from kindergarten through sixth grade. I am still good friends…read morewith several people from my class, none of who stayed at Pinewood through high school. I say this because we feel like the best education we got, and the hardest we ever worked in K-12, was during our Pinewood years. What stands out to me is the fact that Pinewood did a wonderful job of enabling us to develop academically as well as artistically. They found a balance between the phonics-based Carden method, daily reading groups, math, science, and social studies classes, and the singing, drama, P.E., and art classes. Whenever I see Beatrix Potter books I flash back to 1st grade, and what would I do without my vast collection of oil paintings and clay sculptures of horses made during seven years of art, or my memories of being in "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" and "The Velveteen Rabbit" on the Pinewood stage. Pinewood was also strict in the sense that we feared the "demerit" and worse, "getting ten" which meant you had earned ten demerits that week and would have to see the principal. I think from that we learned responsibility and how to respect others, from our peers to our teachers. From following others in my class through Facebook updates and periodic announcements in the Los Altos Town Crier, I know many of us have gone on to become doctors, lawyers, entrepreneurs, and earn PhDs in subjects like bioengineering, computer science (or English- me- maybe that's liability to the Pinewood reputation, hah). However, most of us also came from the kind of high achieving, upper middle class, occasionally dysfunctional families that make those kind of achievements seem average, and admittedly, I was a little bit of a snob coming out of Pinewood, thinking only bad students would "have" to go to a UC instead of an Ivy. In those ways, Pinewood isolated us from the realities that not every kid could have their own pony or live in their own estate, and that could certainly be held against the school, our parents, and us. Knowing what the tuition is now, I don't know how people can afford to send one, let alone multiple, kid(s) there, and I wonder if the class-based elitism is still pervasive. Weighing those two sides of the coin- the fantastic academic and artistic education against the narrow exposure to others from any other socio-economic or religious backgrounds (most of the kids in my class were from the dominant Pinewood Mormon families)- a Pinewood education might not be the right choice for everyone. However, I am still grateful for the academic foundation I received there, and the real world came anyway, after I left Pinewood.

I think that it is great that all the kids get a lot of opportunities because they have lots of…read morespecials like drama, music, P.E , and others. The teachers are very nice and are very supportive. The teachers are very friendly, helpful. and very flexible. My neighbors attend to Bullis north and love it! They think that it is much better than the other schools. One thing I really like about this school is that they still go to overnight field trips even though it is a public school. The school has lots of fun activity's and you should go to that school.

it is my school and it has such great friends I've been here for years . so fun and I th you should…read morebe here

Daughter is now a Junior. Principal Wynne Satterwhite is…read moreoutstanding - I seldom meet such a hard worker. I know she works long hours and have amazing memory for many of her students!! Her counselors, teachers (e.g. Messner, Arias, Russo,Blach,Wei,Cathy) badminton coaches all deserve medals of honor!! Daughter started 2017. She liked all the teachers. Great facilities. All teachers I met seem dedicated and nice. I like their "Challenge Day" where kids are taught to be nice to fellow classmates. I'm glad I volunteered for the 3 days they brought pioneers/captains of different industries to educate kids about their professions and how they succeed in life and how to avoid bullying by appreciating fellow students, some of whom are hurting inside. I learned a lot from these lectures.

I attended LAHS back in the late 80's early 90's... yes... way back then... and let me tell you…read more.. I have mixed feelings for LAHS. Education: High standards if you are the right kid whose counselor has interest and believes in you. My counselor insisted I attend a JC first... you know.... something my family could afford (I was an honor student!!!) being that I was from the other side of the tracks! But I managed... took many AP and honors courses... did not go to JC... got myself into many fine institutions of higher learning... Social Life: At LAHS... Cliques rule the quad... well, they used to, but something tells me it is the same old thing! While I was there I had two groups of friends... my recess crew and my lunch crew. The two did not mix I have always beenneutral and get along with almost anyone. So, this system worked for me. Teachers and Staff: I had teachers that have been there their whole careers. A bit spooky if you ask me. I think someone had even been a student there... It is a bit too much. The staff was interesting indeed. I knew most of them, being that I tried to participate in anything I could. Overall: Great education. Snobbery everywhere, had to try to fit in with the crowd. Academics a plus! I just think that originally coming from living in major cities, Los Altos was a bit too sleepy for my taste. But I thank my parents for the effort. ;-) If I had to do it over again I guess I would take the 4 years of torture again... It made me who I am today... an intelligent snobby gal... of course... only when needed! Go Eagles!

The state of the running track at this establishment is subpar. It is worn down to the asphalt…read moreunderneath in many places. I hope it gets redone soon.

This is a very nice school with a big campus. Teachers and students are both helpful here. This is…read morea high school but it looks more like a college.

Great school and my nephews went there the people there are super nice and they are helpfulread more

This beautiful school is a gem in Silicon Valley, with its wonderful student teacher ratios and…read morededicated teachers. They have some of the most integrated learning with classroom to field trips. This school has art, music and language all as part of the classic curriculum. They are truly dedicated to outside classroom learning starting in 4th grade they even have immersive over night trips. If you want to have a wonderful education and loving environment I highly recommend this school. Also they limit some tech education so that student creativity can soar.

My children have attended The Waldorf School of the Peninsula for the past four years. While many…read moreof the teachers are caring, dedicated, and deeply invested in their students' growth, the same cannot be said for the school's leadership and administration. Unfortunately, the administration is dysfunctional, lacks transparency, and demonstrates poor alignment in priorities and resource allocation. The school has a large population of neurodivergent students, yet the current educational support structure is alarmingly inadequate. This year, the entire "educational support team" for the Mountain View campus (grades 6-12) -- consisting of ONLY one learning specialist and one counselor -- has been stretched even further to cover the Los Altos campus (grades Kindergarten-5). The administration claims to have a "robust educational support team". However, a staff of 2 people is far from robust and is completely insufficient to serve the needs of the entire school (Kindergarten - 12th grade). Despite my repeated efforts to raise this concern with the administration, they failed to take any meaningful action. While the teaching staff genuinely care about their students, the lack of administrative competence and adequate support services significantly undermines the school's ability to meet the needs of all learners. There are many excellent public and private schools in the area that are far better equipped to support diverse students. Your child deserves that level of care and commitment.

I am a student who attended multiple private schools and public schools, usually,…read morepublic school: 6th grade: 6th grade math, pre algebra if you pass skip test 7th grade: pre algebra, algebra 1 if you pass skip test 8th grade: algebra 1, geometry if you're good enough private schools, like stratford and challenger: 6th grade: pre algebra 7th grade: algebra 1 8th grade: geometry waldorf: 7th grade: pre algebra 8th grade: algebra 1, pre algebra if you fail too many test or is struggling so Waldorf is clearly behind in math. They just give a book to read for English, and they don't give you a standardized curriculum for testing , and most topics like grammar(phrases, part of speech), reading comprehension and vocabulary is not included. They don't even have history class. Science class is just doing science experiments that don't follow a standardized course. Not only they don't have a standardized course but the experiments are usually something to learn a long time ago, eg refraction or reflection. On top of behind in most classes, they also spend too much time on arts, music, dance that are optional classes to take in high school. And they have a fundraising thing for 8th grade that took up all the time for learning and it is mandatory. So Waldorf, therefore is not a good place to spend your time and money on if you're serious about education, GPA, and getting into a good college

This place is really clean and the teachers are nice. They seem to keep the students attention and…read morewell behaved which makes for a great teacher.

Our daughter has been at Bowman for a year, and our whole family loves it! The individualized,…read moreself-driven learning approach at the core of Montessori has been terrific for her, and the year-round schedule and late-day pickups have been great for us as working parents. Since we started during Covid, we don't really know much yet about the larger school community, but all the families we've met have been lovely -- and from so many countries around the world! Our daughter is learning about art, world cultures, geography, science and history while also making steady, stress-free progress in reading, writing and math. She has great relationships with her teachers and friends, looks forward to going to school every day, and is becoming more responsible and independent, in part through her "jobs" at school and her role as one of the older kids in her multi-age classroom. Bowman's leaders have been amazing through Covid, and they are clearly recognized as Montessori experts across the US. We were a little hesitant at first about the structure of the Montessori "method" and the level of intense devotion you encounter online about it, but having seen how our daughter has thrived in the Montessori environment, we're pretty much total converts. We have wonderful public schools in our area, but the idea of transitioning our daughter from full-time preschool into a 3-4 hr/day, 9 mon/yr TK program was really unappealing, for her and for us. That's a big part of what led us to Bowman in her TK year, but it's the quality of the educational and developmental experience at Bowman that has us staying for kindergarten, and almost certainly beyond.

I recently moved into the area and I would like to say that the front office staff at Almond school…read morewas a great help in getting me organized for my children to be enrolled. The school has wonderful teachers that spent time in getting my children situated into their classrooms. The parents were very welcoming from the parent groups and I feel that we are set up for success .

This is our second time around. Currently teachers are awesome ( Mrs Odell, ms graves..)…read more They had a horrible 2 nd grade teacher (NANCY LUI) who thankfully retired. Unless you were her pet, She would humilate children ( calling them fat, lazy, liars, cheats, throwing papers in their face, ignoring them, denying children bathroom breaks only to urinate in their seats...). She would scar the soles of poor, innocent children behind closed doors. My middle school child is still sick of the thought of her. Thank goodness, she is gone!!

Our family has had such a wonderful experience at LACS. From the very beginning, it was clear that…read morethe staff truly care about each student--not just academically, but spiritually and emotionally as well. The teachers are incredibly dedicated, creating a nurturing environment where children feel supported, encouraged, and inspired to grow. Our son has absolutely thrived here. He has gained confidence, developed strong character, and built meaningful friendships within a community that emphasizes kindness, respect, and faith. The integration of Christian values into everyday learning has made a lasting impact on him, helping shape not only his education but also who he is becoming as a person. What stands out most is the sense of community. Families, teachers, and staff work together in such a positive and uplifting way. There's a genuine feeling of belonging that makes this school truly special. We are so grateful for the love, guidance, and commitment the staff pour into their students every day. This school has been a blessing to our family, and we wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone seeking a supportive, values-centered education.

LACS has been great for my daughter. The staff and faculty are loving and care about the…read moredevelopment of my child as a person as well as academics.

Very gifted and dedicated teachers. They really tailor to what the student needs. Cannot recommend…read morehighly enough. Can accelerate the pace for faster than average learners, or adjust those who need more support. Both our children loved it and attended 1-3 years full time. Have recommended to other families who now go full time and say their student loves learning again. Our students have been very successful in college, too.

My son who is neurodivergent graduated from School of Independent Learners this year. We decided on…read moreSIL after considering various options that did not need his needs. We are very pleased with the quality of education that he received. The 1:1 model of instruction worked very well for him due to his unique needs. The teachers are passionate about what they do and this helped develop a love of learning. The principal Ms. Pham is caring and always available to help. Overall our experience was a very positive one, and I highly recommend SIL.