From day 1 to several years later, Helios has been a wonderful & warm community for the whole family. A place where our kids are loved and encouraged to grow. Not once did our kids want to skip school, and this is from someone who used to dread Mondays. We have easily toured 50+ elementary and middle schools up and down the Bay Area over the years...public, private, charter, prestigious, tech-forward, venture-backed, STEM-focused, etc. We felt the most at home at Helios. On my first visit to Helios I was blown away at how naturally close the kids were and told myself I want my kids to be part of that, because I was a bit of outcast growing up. For me the #1 thing about a school is whether the kids are loved. It's not just about the programs, reputation, resources, and growth - although Helios does very well in all these areas now and keeps getting better. Placement of students into a high school that is right for them is particularly impressive. So many memorable teachers at Helios have blessed our kids and encouraged their natural interests in animals, spelling, flag football, rock climbing, etc. Our somewhat shy but gifted kids really have blossomed, and for that we are tremendously thankful to the entire Helios community of teachers, staff, leadership, and parent volunteers. read more

Helios is this warm fuzzy school, where the teachers work their butts off to figure out how to help each kid learn and be happy, with excellent academics too (somehow, without the stress). Is it perfect? Nah. But on the things that matter -- SEL, academics, community, teachers, etc -- it's pretty wonderful. I like organization, so here goes: * Academics: Exceptional (without the pressure!). Literacy and math are both leveled. For math, kids are grouped by skill level rather than age -- so my little 2nd grader trots off to the 7th grade class for math. He is finally happy in math! Literacy is broken into different literacy circles, with differentiation with it. * Learning approach: Helios approaches education with a focus on projects and themes. Each grade band focuses on a theme, which gets integrated into history and science. At the end of each semester, they do a "Celebration of Learning" (like a portfolio). I was super impressed by what they'd done. I had one kid who went through our local public school for kinder and now our other kid is at Helios kinder. The difference in depth is remarkable. * SEL: Helios uses the Six Seconds curriculum now. This is a formal class, as well as integrated into other parts of the curriculum. Every time I walk into the classroom, I can see the lessons being applied. It's legit. * Community: Tight-knit, nice community. Supportive. There is NO showing off about how smart your kids are (I've seen this in some gifted communities). On the contrary, parents are quite open about their kids' challenges. * The kids: Kind, with a diversity of personalities: quirky, sporty, social, shy, etc. I've never heard of bullying. When I've heard of kids being mean, it's been minor one-offs and taken very seriously [but empathetically] by teachers / administration. * Teachers/administration: this is one of the most amazing things. We've been elsewhere. In some schools, it's "here is how we work; hope that works for your kid." If you're lucky, you get a school where there's a little flexibility to accommodate your kid. Helios is the first place I've seen where the first tier question is, "what does he/she need? Let's figure out how to do that." There are so many examples I can cite of teachers going way out of their way to help my kiddos. * Campus: it doesn't look too flashy. It's big enough and the kids like it, but it's not like Nueva's. But it does have some pretty awesome things. The wilderness village, for example, is amazing. It's like this outdoor field/wooded area where kids can use tools to build stuff (like Berkeley's Adventure Playground). If that sounds neat (it is!), it's actually so much more. It's an all year thing, and that fundamentally changes the dynamic. What's happening is that they're developing almost like their own little civilization. They vote on rules, have self-assigned jobs (my son's is to make paint from grass and strip sticks), and are recently introducing a currency system. Perfect? Of course not. There are some minor things I'd change. But it's pretty darn great. The issues some other reviews allude to are over now. Yes, there were some administrative issues a few years ago -- I watched it from the outside - that led to a lot of chaos and negative things. Then the toxic aspects that caused the issues left (key people, etc) or were fixed (training, etc). And it led to many positives, like removing roadblocks for Helios to revamp its literacy and SEL program, bringing in a more effective head of school, etc. It's an unfortunate chapter from the past that Helios has now, truly, left behind. Now? It's this awesome school which really, truly cares about its kids -- backed by great academics, legit SEL, a supportive community, and lots of cool activities. read more

Helios School - My kid playing in the wilderness village - Middle Schools & High Schools Near Me - Sunnyvale, California

DS has been at Helios since K, and he's now in G2. He's a silly, curious 8yo who can be shy and sensitive at times. He loves science, crafting, and reading - especially nonfiction books. Even though he's well ahead of grade level academically, he still learns something new every day and truly enjoys the experience. He has a solid circle of friends who share his interests (the pi song has been a recent favorite!). He's genuinely excited to go to school every morning, which really says a lot. We really appreciate how the school has nurtured both his love of learning and his growth as a person, and we're grateful for the support we've received from the entire school community. read more

My two kids have been at Helios for 4 years so far and we love it! Some of the highlights: - At the elementary school level, my child has really appreciated having kind and nurturing teachers and has blossomed under their care. There are two teachers plus a floating teacher in every classroom, so there is personalized attention with very small ratios. Children can talk and share about their day and the teachers really listen, without hurrying them up so they can complete their assigned syllabus. My child's teacher remembers her interests, recognizes and builds upon the topics that catch her fancy, like giving her additional books by an author she liked, or encouraging her love of marine animals with more discussion and resources. - Through the camping and nature programs, kids are encouraged to play, build self sufficiency, learn basic skills (cutting, whittling), be independent (set up their own tents), adjust with others (take turns to do things in the tent), learn to be away from home, be safe while starting a fire, and many other things. The kids love camping for the outing and adventure, and parents love it for the skills it builds in their kids! - In the middle school, academic rigor starts to slowly build with more homework. Teachers start to encourage kids to do more than the bare minimum and to think through their assignments in a deeper way. If your kid is academically inclined, they will thrive in this environment of "low bar, high ceiling" where they can go above and beyond in researching an assignment and this will be recognized. - The math program is well planned and structured, and kids are permitted to accelerate in math if they have the interest and the ability to do so. At the senior level, Helios has brought in some stellar math faculty. Natasha Gelfand is the math coordinator and Joshua Zucker teaches the higher levels of math in a way that keeps kids interested, curious and learning more! - The Speech and Debate elective run by Mike Orlando has been very popular, and many kids (especially boys) look up to him as a teacher and enjoy his humanities classes. He is a longstanding teacher at the school and has a great way of handling middle schoolers. The music program run by Sean has been a great success as well, Helios has its own middle school music band and the kids enjoy listening to it during school gatherings and assemblies. - The parent community is great and helps each other out. I've made some good friends there. What gives us pause? - The fees keep going up year after year like every other private school in the Bay Area - There is no High School, so you will need to find a school after 8th grade. read more

Helios is a really lovely school. Small, nurturing, great kids, amazing teachers, and solid administration. Project-based learning can feel too fuzzy for some but Helios really knows how to do it rigorously and well. Their SEL program is really robust too. If you'd like a school for your gifted child that treats each student as an individual , Helios is for you. read more

The school is wayyyyyy beyond our expectation. It is perfect for families with smart and self-motivated children. Our kid is really happy at school every day. They have fun while learning about how to learn, how to take care of themselves, how to regulate emotions, and tons of other things. Kids are not constrained into buildings and classrooms. They are out. They go to camping, go field trips, go museums and have fun! I really love it here. read more

Our son attended Helios for K this year, and it was not a good experience. - Inexperienced teachers: The teachers in our class did not have the classroom under control. For example, if a child starts crying, the teachers often physically remove the child, which escalates the situation. We observed another child who was quietly crying from pressure, and no one comforted him. A third active child seeks attention from the teachers, and the teachers would roll their eyes at him and ask another staff to pull him out to another room. - Unreasonable expectations: Helios expects children to sit still for 45 min lectures. They expect 5yos to silently meditate for 10 mins without moving. This is unusual for a K class: many children struggle. - Impractical setup: circle time involves children sitting shoulder-to-shoulder, with no personal space. Frequent transitions between classrooms require kids to finish their work, line up and walk to another class. A kid might be engrossed in an activity, only to have the teachers take it away and ask them to line up. - 3yrs ago, the Helios board fought with the old Head of School, who left to form Tessellations, along with half the teachers and families. Because of this, most Helios staff are new. - Ben Chant, the new Head of School, just joined in '22. He is alarmingly intolerant of neurodiversity. During a school tour, a parent commented on how much he liked the wobble chairs at Helios. Ben told him "this is not a therapeutic school - if your child needs these supports, this is not the place for you". - "Expeditions": On paper, the "expeditions program" sounded great. However, in practice, the class dives into esoteric details of worm anatomy for weeks on end. This is really boring and comes at the expense of a real science curriculum. - The community demands a large time investment. The first month involves 2-4x/week activities. The school requests mandatory donations of $3000+, and requires a meeting with the Head of School if you can't donate. We've moved our child to public school, and it's much better! It has a larger classroom, better library and lab, free lunch, and free laptops. The teachers have 20+ years of experience and are more loving. At Helios, my child was starting to refuse school, and at his new school, he's happier and motivated to go to school! And the best part - it's FREE! Overall, Helios is not good at supporting gifted children's needs, especially at the younger ages. Save your money and go to public school instead! read more

Helios School used to be an amazing school for gifted children, but with new head of school Ben Chant, the focus has become profits and prestige instead of on supporting the actual kids in the school. Do not even think about applying here if your child is neurodiverse. The new school policy is actually hostile to neurodiverse and 2e children, to exclude and ostracize them so that they go somewhere else. While previous interim head of school have tried hard to be inclusive and welcoming to gifted children with asynchronous social skills, Ben is actively trying to turn Helios into second-rate Nueva and Harker where children who do fit the mold of a perfect and easy student are not welcome, even when they are highly or profoundly gifted. In previous grades we've been generally satisfied with our teachers and the previous head of school. Things drastically changed this year, where any small non-safety behavior challenge that was previously treated with compassion and understanding now leads to our child being excluded from classes and school events and generally disrespected despite our family meeting every request the school has made. There are still amazing and passionate teachers at Helios, but unavoidably there are also mediocre ones who have limited experience and understanding of working with gifted children. From talking to other parents of neurodiverse kids, we hear similar horror stories. At least now during applications, Helios is upfront to say that it is not a school for 2e children and any challenges are for parents to figure out on their own. As the school is no longer supportive to gifted children with asynchronous development, there is little else that warrants its high tuition. The facilities are below average compared to other top private schools. The curriculum does support acceleration in math/literacy, but lacks in many other aspects. The SEL curriculum is very shallow and ineffective. The required meditation sessions are great if your kid already likes meditation and can sit still for 15 minutes, otherwise it actually creates more stress and anxiety. Overall, we are extremely disappointed by the experience this year and can no longer recommend Helios to other parents of gifted children. read more

We love Helios. The school is doing an incredible job in developing and challenging gifted kids. The program has a very thoughtful individualized approach to ensure each child learn at proper level with learning 360 degree skills. read more

Wonderful school that does gifted education right. Ability based grouping for math, theme-based inquiry-based curriculum for humanities and sciences, interesting electives and wide selection of topics for intersession, independent projects starting in 3rd grade, imagination lab for learning design and engineering skills, twice a year camping trips focused on life skills, real social emotional learning that goes way beyond reading a few books. Huge yard and green space, wilderness exploration area, garden, chicken coop, older building but kids don't seem to care. Parent community is tight knit, lots of events. Oh and the aftercare and after school enrichment options are awesome and very convenient. read more

One of the things we love about Helios is the openness in listening to parents and students, and addressing issues as they arise. With handful of exceptions, the teachers and staff are caring and committed to the community and to education. Project based learning is engaging and at times inspiring, with celebrations of learning, "investigations ," and passion projects, giving opportunities for creativity, multi disciplinary learning and independence. The focus on teaching to ability not age has evolved to empower students to take charge of their own learning and student community. Kids have an opportunity to carry out their ideas, such as organizing a student council, student-initiated weekly community meetings, and a student run Helios Olympics. Students are respected by teachers, fostering relationships based on trust, honesty and respectful . Overall, Helios is a wonderful school that is maturing and improving over time. We heartily recommend Helios to those seeking a small nurturing project based school with invovled parents, dedicated teachers, and education that treats each child as an individual. read more

Helios has been a big disappointment. Certainly there is no single definition of gifted children or single approach for their education. Do schools label themselves as "gifted education" actually serve the needs for gifted children? Do they really care? Or is gifted education just a brand? It's like buying a box of cereal branded as "healthy" or a bottled drink branded as "slim" and naively expect to feel and look great after consuming the products. "Healthy" and "slim" are simply marketing slogans. Similarly, "gifted education" sells. The marketing is appealing, but do they walk the talk. Helios was founded in 2010, following Nueva (1967), Odyssey (1997), and Synapse (2008) to brand itself as a gifted school. All of them emphasize "project-based" learning and social emotional learning (SEL). The similarity is not surprising if you know that pretty much the same people have been involved. Founders of Synapse and Helios came from Nueva, and Odyssey's former head is now at Helios. Since they all speak the same language, why do they hop from one school to another like playing musical chairs? What did they fail to find in one school and look for in the next school? The answer is perhaps power, and that explains a lot of things at Helios. Despite its small size, there are numerous non-teaching administrators with prestigious titles - a gifted consultant who is not allowed to talk to parents, an art specialist who does not teach, a tech director who does not update the website, a director of communication who does not answer emails, and two curriculum directors who have so far failed to create a curriculum. There is also censorship of community emails and exclusion of opinionated parents. Teacher turnover is quite significant. If you think a gifted school offers accelerated subject learning, you are in the wrong place. Helios is more a laid back, stress-free school flavored with Northern Californian spirituality (or rather ideology) plus Silicon Valley materialism. If you happen to be wealthy and your kids are the easygoing physical and social kind they may actually be very happy here. They get to make, create, and get dirty. That said, what they can learn from school is dubious. Significantly, what Helios did to make itself stand out (from Nueva and Synapse) is to get rid of the standard IQ tests for admission. Instead they do "Qualitative Assessment" (QA). The student is not asked to read, draw, or solve problems in the process. While standardized IQ tests have their limits and flaws, they are objective. QA is subjective if not arbitrary or a formality. Using QA as the sole evaluating tool leads to admitting easygoing, sociable, articulate extroverts. Apparently for the school conversational skills are more important than intelligence. "Project-based learning" is a noble and trendy term. Every semester they come up with a whimsical new topic--Mars, Shakespeare, Corn, Aliens--and teach all subjects under the big umbrella. In theory each topic has great potential for integrated studies (for "corn" you can teach Maya civilization, colonization and slavery, and genetics). In practice nothing of the kind takes place because the teachers lack such training. There is no structure, no established curriculum or textbook, no past experience to learn from. The poor teachers are left on their own to learn about the new subject in the last minute, make a reading list from scratch, and design classroom activities and assignments. What can you expect? The teachers come from Craigslist, not Stanford. How much can they really offer. The emphasis on "teamwork" only exposes the low teaching quality. Students are often given a storybook to read and to "discuss" (find 5 big words to share with class). After they finish a book they get another, always fiction, rinse and repeat. Teachers don't intervene. If they need to learn things they use Wikipedia (called "research"). For hours a day they "write" (copying Wikipedia). Teachers just watch. How does this education prepare them for high school, college or real life? There is neither breadth nor depth. The quality of curricular planning and teaching is amateurish. Students are bored, and don't learn a thing. The marketing of SEL is misleading. In every class there is an ostracized kid or two suffering verbal and even physical bullying, getting pushed around or knocked over. The school ignores it, sides with powerful parents, and blames the victims. Several students left the school, some in the middle of school year, for this very reason. If you look beyond the academic and SEL, there is no art or music except for lower grades. There is no health education, science lab, or sports facilities. In general the school is disorganized and suffers poor leadership. The school head is more a politician than an educator. Despite all the slogans and rhetoric, you feel that their heart is not there. There is neither sincerity nor expertise. Helios is gifted education betrayed. read more

The best thing about Helios is its enormous parking lot. That, plus St. Martin's lot across the street, guarantees that you get a spot for any event large or small. I must confess that this has never happened to any of the schools my children have attended or visited. Parking for an all-school event, or even an all-year event or just a class event, is always a nightmare. Not here. I absolutely love it. But if you have other priorities, beware! The worst thing about Helios is its curriculum and teaching quality. I can tolerate bureaucracy, hypocrisy, and corruption, if my children are actually getting good education. But sadly no. The lower school is not as bad by comparison, but many students flee before or during middle school, for good reasons. There is little passion or rigor for teaching or learning. Morale is low. Individual development is curbed. You are supposed to drink the Kool-Aid and shout slogans, but everyone is just trying to "get by." Most people share a "whatever" attitude toward the noble environmental cause the school tries to brand itself and indoctrinate its students, at the expense of true education. Bored students chat by email and surf the Internet in class. Frustrated teachers explode at students. The school board seems to be trying. There are plans to replace the current school head, hire new teachers, outsource some programs, etc. Things may change in a couple years, if you care to wait. read more

What our family loves about Helios is that it it is both engaging and rigorous. The school teaches primarily through the use of primary sources. By doing this, students learn to read, write and think critically, as well as to evaluate the validity of sources. I love that my kids are not simply answering questions in the back of a textbook. As an example, when my son was in third grade, his class read several works of Shakespeare, then put on a performance of "As You Like It" for the entire school community. Each student had a role and memorized his or her lines using the original text. The class designed and created the sets and made their own historically accurate costumes. They learned about the history of Elizabethan England as they did so. My child now seeks out Shakespeare performances and camps because he had so much fun. Math is taught in ability-based, rather than age-based groups. My seventh-grader is learning high-school geometry and some of his same-age peers are doing trigonometry. Unlike most schools, teachers are on the playground during recesses, so social-emotional learning is integrated in relevant settings, not just as a separate class time during the day. The Head of School is an amazing, effective educator who is always striving to improve the school. She surveys the community 1-2 times per year and incorporates parent feedback into her planning. Helios is a wonderful place for kids and for parents who are willing to accept that learning can take place without worksheets. read more

We are delighted and grateful to have found Helios. It is a safe and inspiring place for our kids (6th grade boy and kinder girl). They finish each school day happy and calm. Our home life has improved because their needs are being fulfilled. If you have a middle schooler who is bored at school and irritating at home, you'll be surprised at what a difference it makes to be in the right school environment. It is also a "home" for our family with lots of opportunities for connection among the parents. Everyone we've met has been remarkably down-to-earth and open. It's a special place which I feel every time I walk on campus. "It's all of the best of what I've seen in education in the last 30 years, all in one school." -- My mom, 32 year teaching veteran from a high-performing public school (and consummate learner about education!) after spending 90 minutes volunteering in our daughter's kinder classroom. She was delighted by all of it... circle time, the math story and manipulatives, expedition/ theme learning, small groups, caring teachers, and, of course, low student/teacher ratio which has long-term positive benefits. She noticed how expertly the teachers managed the kids who were lively and full of ideas. I come from a family of public school teachers and I love public schools. My older son was in great public schools from K-5. But what our kids and families experience at Helios is in another league - it's truly awesome!! read more

In a single word - Transformative. I saw my child transform over only 2 weeks at summer camp and I attribute it to the immediate sense of understanding, acceptance, and community that Helios provides. My little man immediately felt that he had found his tribe and that he belonged. What they have here other schools only promise and rarely deliver on. Their camp is not just a camp, it is a true extension of the core Helios philosophies and framework put in action by trained, caring professionals who want to make an impactful difference on our children's future. They all fully grasp that this is an underserved population who, if not given the correct support and tools to be their best selves, could be lost in a sea of negative external input due to lack of understanding. And unlike many schools, I saw this deep understanding in both words and actions at Helios. This is hard for other schools to do consistently and holistically during the school year, Helios is able to make this happen during SUMMER CAMP as well. That is a testament to their commitment to providing this extraordinary value to our little growing minds. I think my son put it best during his first week at Helios as we walked down the hall after Poetry Camp, "This school really understands me, the classrooms are made for me, the teachers are happiest teachers I have ever seen and together we make agreements, not follow arbitrary rules." What else could a mother ask for? He was more confident, he was visibly happier, and he was learning skills beyond what camp was about - he was learning that there are teachers out there who truly take the time to care, listen, understand and provide a community that supports asynchronous children who are often defeated by the system. All teachers and staff are trained on the framework for understanding the uniqueness of gifted children and working together with the kids with a strength-based focus while continuing to provide the children with a toolkit to help with the challenges. Structure without rigidity is what Helios provides: allowing the kids to know what to expect, to take ownership in their part and allowing for some individual and collective creative license. It seems like a unicorn, but there is a family here, a community - it felt like coming to warm cozy home after being out in the cold! You can see it in the faces of teachers, their investment in getting to know each kid and teaching them the framework that helps kids understand themselves, each other and then give the best of what they have to offer. We have seen and tried other schools, this one gets it RIGHT! My son was writing amazing complex stories with his poetry teacher and the learnings he brought home both academic and otherwise are far beyond what he has learned at any school or camp. Most importantly, he has not been happier at school or camp. Each day he told stories about his positive interaction with the teacher and kids (who 'get him too") and the daily epiphanies he took away from being in a space that encourages this special social-emotional learning which is weaved into the fabric of everything Helios does. This camp increased my son's belief in himself after the other systems unintentionally did the opposite because of lack of deep understanding of the complexities of the gifted child. They are a cohesive team at Helios, including children and parents, and everyone speaks and actions on the philosophy consistently like our kiddos so desperately need. I feel blessed to have my little guy be part of this amazing community and, as a mom of an asynchronous child, I feel blessed to know there is a school, and a parent community, out there that understands my child and the road that led us to Helios. We cannot thank Helios enough for all of the hard work and effort that goes into making this magic happen and for standing up as a beacon of light in a sea that can often be foggy. My wish is that they continue to grow, and more schools learn from their example, so more kiddos like ours will have a place to call home and we can make the world a better place by giving these kids the space to be the best version of themselves. read more

We have been at Helios 7 years and our kids have thrived. They are challenged and deeply respected as people. The social emotional curriculum is embedded in everything they do - be respectful, be responsible, be kind - and it allows the kids to take educational risks, to be daring in their learning and find their passions. The project based learning is fantastic and lets the kids do real work, out in the real world, with real impact. The teachers are so interesting and I have personally learned a lot from them - not just my kids. Helios was the best decision we ever made. read more

My daughter moved from our public elementary school to Helios in 4th grade. Three years later, I can honestly say that our experience at Helios has been life changing. She genuinely wants to go to school every day, which has made a huge difference in her happiness and her learning. The Helios program supports the needs of our asynchronous daughter incredibly well. We were surprised when she placed into Pre-Algebra as a 4th grader, but have been even more amazed to watch her math skills grow as she has the chance to work on the edge of her ability in a supportive environment. The school uses Art of Problem Solving for advanced math topics; the conceptual depth of the program suits our daughter's needs well. The school's use of expeditionary learning interweaves Humanities and Science in a way that better captures our daughter's interest. She can see more relevance in what she is learning and the opportunities for hands on, in-depth study suits her better than learning that is a mile wide and an inch deep. The passion project opportunities and Imagine Lab space allows our daughter to be more self-directed to decide what she learns and how far she can take her interests. This is both self-motivating and helps her learn how to break large projects into more attainable chunks. Lastly, we are always impressed with the level of support and understanding that the teachers provide. Asynchronous kids can be intense. The teachers are always willing to meet to discuss how a child is doing and how to help them grow in new ways. We are most grateful for the school's counselor, who is amazing and brings a sense of calm, joy, and understanding to the entire community. No school is perfect for every child, but Helios is about as close to perfect as we could have imagined for our daughter. With my two other children in high school and middle school at a different independent school, I can say without a doubt that my daughter will be prepared for the challenges of high school and will have enjoyed her late elementary and middle school years to boot - not a bad combo! read more

Helios School has been a great fit for our 5th grader who joined in grade 4. Our child is forming meaningful connections with peers and teachers. He is more confident, and more willing to be himself than he was at his previous school environment. Projects and discussions encourage critical thinking, and consideration of diverse perspectives. Having the opportunity to take math several years above grade level with a small group of ability peers offers a stimulating challenge. As a gifted program I appreciate that Helios encourages learning for the sake of growing versus feeling competitive. read more

Speaking from the perspective of a parent who has first-hand experience another top private school in the area and Helios, I can say that once you get into the nitty gritty of everyday classroom life and away from all the "on-paper" curriculum and syllabi, that Helios gives a far superior education than the much touted accelerated curriculum of the other. If you are the kind of parent who wants "measurable" results on everything, (and I am that parent sometimes as well), it can be hard to comprehend how much your child is learning. It is only when you move away from the kind of engaging , hands-on education that I realized, how much more my child was learning and how much more joy she was deriving from it. To give an example, one of the things that they learnt at Helios was, how sound is processed by the auditory system. (This was part of the overall theme of Humor). One of the things they did as part of this investigation, was as a joint Art+Science project to draw a comic strip illustrating step-by-step how the whole system worked, starting from the sound entering the ear canal to pinging the ear drum, how the vibrations travelled to the brain and everything. .While I thought that was pretty cool, it was only when a family friend was asking my child about what's going on in school ,when she embarked on a 20 minute detailed discussion on exactly what happens from the point they utter a word to until your face reacts to it with a smile or a frown , that it hit me: how much she had learnt , how much thought she had given to it and how unafraid she was to reason out on the spot with an intelligent adult, things she had not thought of before. To me *that* is invaluable and hard to make a trade-off on. While it is true that Helios can do a little better or being more tight and focused on curriculum , strike a better balance at times on keeping creativity and collaborative learning going while keeping some kind of structure in class and student accountability, I feel that the school is actively working on those aspects and I see it making great strides in that regard. In that respect, I want to add another thing, I have researched a *lot* of schools in the area, there is not a single school in my experience which has been more approachable or more open to responding to concerns , personalization and suggestions as Helios has been. Project-based learning is the future of education and the school is right on top of it. The kind of engagement, deeper learning and higher order of thinking that happens when things are being learnt and investigated in the context of a theme that ties everything together has to be experienced to be believed. ( Governance, Ancient civilizations, Clean air and water , pollution and energy, exploring the concept of perfection through poetic pieces all under the umbrella of Chasing Utopia ). The school library organizes author visits on a regular basis, where students get to talk to and meet the authors of books they read. The Imagine Lab is every child's favorite. Math is one subject that is not connected with the theme-based learning and rightly so (though even there when the opportunity arises they will do some problem solving that relates to the theme when possible). The Singapore math curriculum for the elementary school and "The art of problem solving" for middle school are really one of the best math curriculums out there, the math classes are all based on ability and allow for mixing of grades/ages and are really focused on problem solving and strategies rather than worksheets and mindless repetition. As a result the children learn to "think" out math problems rather than just learn how to "do" problems when they follow a known format. There are so many good things that are going for this school that are almost impossible to find elsewhere. Yes, there are tradeoffs as I have found there is in every school. To our family, the environment and the kind of mindset that Helios provides is something we cannot provide or replicate in other schools or education systems . Some of its shortcomings we can work with the school and teachers and some we have to live with and/or compensate on the side. But we cannot compensate for what our child would miss out on without an Helios education. read more

As a former special education teacher who has been working in the education field for over 20 years, I have been so impressed by my son's first year at Helios. When he entered Helios as a 5 year old, he already disliked school because of the difficulty we had finding a good fit for him in preschool. He was showing clear signs of perfectionism and anxiety, and he was very adamant that he was NOT interested in Kindergarten. We found out through various tests (some independent and some required by Helios (all results were well aligned)) that our local school district would likely not be able to meet many of his needs academically or emotionally. This was hard for us to accept because we are public school advocates AND because we never planned financially to send our child to a private school. But it was clear that our son needed something different, and we decided to do whatever we could to help him find happiness at school, be challenged academically, work on social skills and confidence. And most importantly we wanted him to be able to truly be his quirky, hilarious, curious, incredible self, and be accepted for who he is. Helios has so far delivered on the things they advertised during admissions season and on their website...and more. I'm not exaggerating when I say that from the first week of school, my son has been excited to go every day. He is engaged, has many friends of all ages, and the thoughtfully planned and executed curriculum has been so exciting for him. The teachers have built an incredible classroom culture and they cultivate curiosity daily. In addition, they are extremely responsive to any questions or concerns we have (both the teachers and admin staff) From math to literacy, science, PE, art, and midfulness/SEL, we've seen wonderful progress and differentiated learning, all taught in a non-competitive way. And the students have real ownership over their work. There's no such thing as a perfect school. Teachers are imperfect humans like ALL of us. Sometimes you try a school and it's not the right fit for your child or family (we certainly did with 4 preschools). Of course we anticipate some bumps and challenges along the way, as we would in any school. Educating gifted children who are all extremely unique is a tremendous challenge. It's my opinion that the administration and staff at Helios are persistently working towards a common goal of creating and improving meaningful and challenging education designed specifically to meet the unique needs of gifted learners. It's commendable, and it's the real deal. We drive almost an hour to get to Helios (and home) each day. As I drive, the biggest feeling I have is gratitude. We are lucky to be there and we feel we've found a remarkable community of both parents and students. My child can truly be himself, and as a family we feel well supported as we begin our journey through elementary and middle school at Helios. read more

I was a student at Helios for three years. I have to say, the teachers were nice (at least most of them), but they were woefully inexperienced. The curriculum was worse than subpar, and the only thing good I remember about it was that the math classes were challenging. In the "Humanities" class, a combination of English and Social studies, writing feedback and any kind of teacher attention was reserved for the academically struggling. The teachers never gave me any valuable feedback on my assignments except "good job", and my academic improvement was driven by my independent reading and study, not schoolwork. In addition, there were zero tests at Helios. Zero. The school officials talk all about reducing student stress and test anxiety - but that doesn't mean that there shouldn't be any tests at all. The arts programs at Helios are a joke. Two years ago, there was an amazing music teacher who taught me to play a great instrument I hadn't had any experience with, but she left. The music teacher who replaced her was very strict, physically assaulted one of my friends, and very bad at teaching. There also used to be an art teacher that had about average teaching skill, but he left too, so the other teachers had to incorporate art into their subjects' curriculums. Furthermore, the theatre program was awful. For several years, there were only ever male leads, giving female students a disadvantage. But then my mom finally commented on it, and instead of making the leads male, they made all of them female. Not only was there a subsequent disadvantage for males, but one major character was supposed to be male but a female was cast into the role. Also, there are no auditions. Instead, the theatre director exhibited favoritism in handpicking all the cast members and their roles. A girl was picked for the lead role even though there were more experienced and talented students, just because her mom often bought food for the teachers. I didn't even get to audition and get a fair shot. In short, if your child is smart, loves learning, or wants to be academically challenged, don't send him/her here. It's a great atmosphere for a special-needs child who doesn't like studying and isn't academically strong, but if that doesn't describe your child, Helios is a horrible place for him/her. read more

Helios has been a wonderful school for our son and great community for our family. Our son is excited every morning it is a Helios day and can't wait to go to school. A few of our favorite aspects about Helios: - His teachers are dedicated, nurturing and energetic. They put great care into orchestrating a warm, open classroom environment and fostering a love of learning. His teachers and rest of school staff are also very accessible/responsive by email and for in-person meetings. - Teachers aim to personalize learning to provide an appropriate degree of challenge for each student. In particular with math, we've witnessed our son make great strides since the beginning of the year developing confidence in his abilities and curiosity in how math is all around us. - The Wilderness Village and the Imagine Lab are two of our son's favorite places at school. The Wilderness Village is a forested area where students have an opportunity to build a forest fort from various building materials - I would have loved this when I was a child! The Imagine Lab is part of the school curriculum and multiple times a week our son is excitedly explaining the new item he has designed and built. Helios is where our son feels supported and engaged and we're looking forward to his continued growth at school! read more

My daughter loves her HELIOS school. You may ask why? There are important ingredients to find the right school for your child's needs. Some parents just look at the end-result of academic achievement and think that all we need to get her into one of the best colleges in the US or worldwide. My husband and I are parents that believe in the culture of raising an autodidact -- a person that can quickly adapt to changes and acquire new skills as needed. That is HELIOS school for us. Nurturing a child's ability to become very confident to take on any challenges that life will through at them. If she decided one day, she likes to become a medical professional because wants to change how people are treated in a third world country or in a rural area of the United States, and she will use her artistic skills to operate a patient in Afrika in a virtual reality operating room, that it...it becomes her choice she is going to use her last bit of energy to achieve that. It's a different choice if a father can only be proud of his child that becomes a doctor at Stanford because that what he envisions for her or him. The world around us is dramatically changing, and some profession will not be there in the next 10-20 years, the question to you: "How are you are going to prepare your child for that?" In our case our daughter is in love with art (right now), there is no time during the day she is not drawing, painting and writing stories or poetry since she could hold a pencil in her hand. There is a profound difference between her artwork compared to her age group peers. As a mom of her I can say, she got a "gift "being very artistic. HELIOS is strongly geared towards these children. Not every gift is that visual, and children can display all kind of gifts, being very compassion for other people, being very athletic or mathematically inclined with different ways to look at our reality, an IQ test will not tell you the complete picture. A mainstream school may not work out for these children. In our case, it did not, because she has trouble to fit in a regular school she was very unhappy. HELIOS is a community, and as such, it will need many parts to work well for every child admitted to the school some of these reviews here at Yelp had been bitter since the expectations had been toward academic mill like HARKER. You will find at HELIOS compassionate teachers that listen and will start a dialog with you while keeping the children in a nurtured and challenging learning environment, where they will find friends that will have a similar passion and "gifts" like being artistic. We could not ask for more. read more

Our family is so grateful that we found Helios School. We found Helios after having already tried 2 schools for my son and were looking for a 3rd by 3rd grade. The change in my son was he started was amazing. He became engaged in school again, he liked going to school. My daughter absolutely blossomed when she started Helios. Things haven't all been perfect, but more than anything, what stands out for us, is the willingness of the school staff to work with us on the individual needs of our children. I have met with both teachers and administrative staff on more than one occasion when it was warranted, and everyone is very receptive and willing to get involved to make things better. Helios does not have a traditional approach to curriculum, so if that is what you're looking for, Helios may not be the right environment. read more

Helios School (formerly Helios New School) has grown into a thriving school providing an extraordinary educational environment for gifted students (K-Middle School). Love and respect are foundational at Helios and palpable as you enter the school. Our daughter enrolled in Helios during 4th grade. From the day she visited, she felt like she had found a home. She felt respected and listened to, she was happy to be challenged and engaged in learning throughout the day, and she felt recognized as an important part of the school community. Helios so completely met her needs from the moment she got there that it felt like a jigsaw piece finally snapping into place. We've heard this same sentiment expressed by many other parents as well. Social and emotional learning teaches the children at Helios how to know themselves, how to understand and shape their relationships to other people, and how to be a part of a community at any level (class, school, town, world). It gives them the tools to bring their gifts and creativity into the world. It also gives them skills to ask for help and to give help. It teaches them compassion for themselves and others. The academic curriculum is primarily project-based with broad themes shared across the school. Lessons and activities are creatively developed by the teachers and administrators to support these themes and meet curricular standards over the course of the year. Needs of individual students and student groups shape the lessons and activities further. The enthusiasm that students express about their school experiences attests to their engagement with learning in this environment. A recent move (August 2014) to a large 3.5 acre campus has provided significantly more classroom space, including science labs and an Imagine Lab for child-directed project creation, and a large space for outdoor play, outdoor classroom activities and a Wilderness Village for exploration and building with natural materials. The transition to new space and increase in student body have been well-planned and well-executed. Feedback from both students and parents has been solicited frequently throughout this transition and used to guide the school's evolution and growth. The result has been an active and engaged school community that values inclusiveness and participation at the school. Our daughter is currently in the 6th grade, part of the new expanding Middle School. We have been exceptionally pleased with the attention that has been given to the creation of a middle school that is simultaneously nurturing and working to foster independence in these gifted adolescents. Helios School gets two thumbs up from us as well as our everlasting gratitude. read more

My daughter was at Helios and I sat down with the admissions director to talk about my son joining Helios. He however set about explaining how one of his important responsibilities involved "counsellng out" students. Starting by requiring the parent to have an assistant shadow your student during their school hours. Leaving aside the cost, it remains quite unclear to me how this can do anything but stigmatize the student among their peers. The principal had alluded to possibly needing this in my case. I say in my case, for this positively medieval procedure seems designed to castigate the parent rather than help the child. All this, at schools that espouse to understand, nay foster, the social and emotional well being of a child. Helios does trace its DNA to Nueva, and perhaps they have taken a page from their playbook, as this Nueva parent relates https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-nueva-school-hillsborough?hrid=b_X0Jb71IXn86yiSI7Py1g I was threatened with this. I wonder what I said or did to invoke such an "institutional immune response". Seems I made too many suggestions. At Helios my advice is to keep your mouth shut, smile, drink the kool-aid, compliment the emperors clothing, and confine your parental participation to filing library books. A year earlier, the head of school bent over backwards to bring in another parent's sibling applicant. In my case however, I was met with willful ignorance, little or no help, really just shining me one while working against me. As one parent told me "all parents are equal, but some parents are more equal." They'd long ago decided against my son. Maybe it is an affirmative action agenda. Does Helios have a bias in favor of girls. I never got much transparency on this issue, but statistically there are more boys than girls applying, so a 50-50 ratio in the classroom belies this bias. Over our 2 years there, about half my emails got a reply. The leadership are perfectionists, and they take feedback as a personal criticism. e.g. How about Kindles in the library. Nope. Support for music. Never happened. Using the Google Groups for parents to share ideas about music teachers, or summer camps. No reply. And most telling: let parents communicate directly with each other using the Google for Work the school pays for. Simple technically. What is it about principals being control freaks? Group emails are censored. I see a pattern of disenfranchisement of the parents that can only be corrosive to community. I was not surprised to see them having trouble getting parents to volunteer. This is not to say that there were not individuals or events of a positive nature. They have a gifted specialist on staff, who during the first year was freely available to consult with parents during the first year. During the second year, they put a stop to this, going so far as to prohibit her from talking to parents privately, even during the summer! Really there is a certain institutional insecurity among some of the staff. Most lack formal credentials, some come from Craigslist, or from schools I've never heard of. I don't like airing dirty laundry in a public forum, but none of the parents or board members I mentioned my plight to seemed particularly interested. It might be a good practice to conduct exit interviews with departing parents. Like me. Everyone passed the buck on why the dozens of siblings admitted didn't include my son. But ultimately the fish stinks at the head. Does Helios walk what they talk? ... a school for gifted children. But being more gifted works against you. ...that understands the social and emotional needs of the gifted... By stigmatizing them with a shadow helper. ...offering sibling preference. Just not for my family. As a parting gift, my daughter did not get accepted at any of her schools of choice for 6th grade. Many are wondering what kind of track record Helios will have as their graduates start applying to independent high schools this year. Helios required me to commit a non-refundable deposit to my daughter returning - BEFORE they rejected my son. This is not really cricket. Anyway the admissions director has already been replaced. And the head is leaving at the end of the year. "I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure." I don't have any good answers for your gifted child. In an oligopoly of gifted/private schools, parents are bullied or afraid to give feedback, even asked to sign gag orders. Parent and child alike have to play an elaborate game, with society, and with the school. It is naive to trust any smiling faces or high-touch autocrats. read more

I have been so happy with our decision to send our son to Helios. The staff and teachers genuinely care for each student. My son walks down the hallway and it seems as though every staff member knows him by name. Our experience with the teachers has been extremely positive. While I can only speak to kindergarten - I am beyond overwhelmed with the attention his teachers have given to each and every student in the class. One of my favorite things is the ability for students to learn at their given level and not be bound by "grade level" material. For Math, the whole school has math hour and each student goes to a classroom that aligns with their math level. This allows for my son to do 2nd grade math as a kindergartner and be around peers at the same level doing the same math. He LOVES it. The SEL skills he's learning now will last him a lifetime. My son is a bit of an introvert and social skills have been harder for him to grasp. I honestly don't think he would have grown as much as he has in this area if he didn't go to Helios. It just provides the right environment for him to grow socially without judgement or isolation. My experience so far is that Helios is a school that knows how to teach the gifted, embraces each child, and provides a learning environment that is beyond anything I have seen. Bonus - The parent community is awesome too and the family camping trip is SO MUCH FUN! read more

Helios is a wonderful place for gifted children. The administrators and teachers are so committed to this population of kids. We could not imagine our child, who is in 4th grade, anywhere else. They not only have put an amazing curriculum in place, but are so thoughtful to the needs of your individual child. The teachers know each child, and provide such a stimulating learning space for gifted kids. Not only are the teachers amazing at educating through hands on experiences, but the kids are learning so much from working together. I don't know of a school that has more expertise on staff in the area of social emotional learning and project based learning. I should mention the Imagine Lab is a highlight for the children, where they get to create with recycled materials etc. Having been with the school for 4 years, we have seen it grow to where it is today. I had to write a review because Helios is really living up to its full potential, and has an exciting future in Sunnyvale. The good news is that there is a school shuttle to get families like ours to this location from further North. The parents, children and staff are all thriving in the new space in Sunnyvale, which gives an incredible about of room for the kids to spread their wings, and for us all to hang out together. I am excited for our family to continue our years at Helios, but also thrilled for the Bay Area to have Helios available to serve the needs of so many gifted kids. read more