Kind, personalized, excellent teaching. Small school is fantastic for brainy kids with sensory issues.

Holden has been a great place for our daughter who started 9th Grade during Covid. The staff worked hard to keep the students engaged and did everything they could to get through that year which was rough on everyone with all the classes being remote learning. She is finishing up her Junior year now and has made remarkable progress in gaining confidence and making friends. As a parent I appreciate the extra effort and support Holden gives to help students prepare for "what's next". They really care about the students and focus on individual needs for each one. read more

This place, these people. It is going to sound wildly melodramatic but it's entirely true to say this place saved my life. Many of the same teachers are still at the school and that's one of the many reasons I remain connected to this incredibly special place. This is the place for the kid who isn't going to stay in school anywhere else. This is the place for the kid who needs a smaller class size and more interesting subjects to engage with. This is the place for the kid who has trauma they don't know how to express yet. This is place for the kid so talented and bored in their current classroom they're finding other creative (and maybe scary) ways to be challenged out in the world. This is the place for the kid who needs to be around other creative, sensitive people. This is the place for the kid who learns at a faster or slower pace than their peers. This is the place for the kid whose parents are losing sleep, are tired of fighting, are sick to their stomachs with worry about what comes next. I can go on and on: This is the place. This is the place. This is the place. It is small, it builds emotional intelligence and resilience. It builds relationships that will last a lifetime. It tailors an education that works for your kid's specific needs. When you see what this place offers, you will wonder how any kid succeeds in public school anywhere. I am now a successful, functioning adult. A mother of two, happily married, money in the bank, no debt. I drive a nice car, if those are metrics that matter to you. But let's be real, this is what we worry about for our kids, right? More importantly to me, from Holden I learned the vocabulary for how to identify and speak my feelings and my needs and how to be responsible for them. This skill guides me in every part of my life. I am so clear about the path I was on when I found Holden, and the alternative path Holden showed me in my brief time there. I owe them everything. read more

All three of my children attended Holden and we will forever be grateful. Our oldest transferred to Holden after a head injury and stayed for two years before returning to our local public school for his senior year. Our middle daughter wanted a small social environment, loved it, blossomed and stayed for all four years of high school. Our youngest kid is on the ASD spectrum and has some mental health challenges. Holden was kind and patient over the four years they were there. That's a total of ten kid years at Holden! What's different about Holden is not just the small size, but also the accepting and inclusive community. The staff all took the time to get to know our children. They loved them and they helped them grow as individuals and students. Holden also supports the family. This is rare. We will forever be grateful to Holden and consider the school to be an important part of our family history!! read more

I have never written a Yelp review before but I have to share what a wonderful, hidden gem of a school Holden High School is. This small school - with a max of 40 students at any time - truly provides an individualized, student-centered learning community for students who have struggled for a variety of reasons in more traditional schools. Holden is a very special place. The directors and staff - most of whom have been with the school for years, and are truly dedicated to the school's mission and it's students - serve not only as teachers, but as mentors. The school puts into practice the saying "it takes a village to raise a child" - as students develop meaningful, trusting relationships with the adults at the school. Because Holden is so small, every student is truly seen for who they are as individuals - with their strengths, their quirks, and the challenges they face - by the directors and teachers. Our son has been at Holden for all four years of high school, and has thrived here. He has learned to trust himself, to know himself and advocate for himself, and has had the opportunity to develop trusting relationships with teachers at the school over the years. And even though the school is small, it is able to offer each student the appropriate academic challenges, through a range of classes at different levels. To get a sense of what makes Holden so special, you really need to visit Holden in person. read more

Fall 2014-2015 was my daughters first year at Holden. As I'm writing this review she is signing her friends school year book on her last day of school. I am so thankful for this little school and all the teachers and staff that make this school so extraordinary. I wish I heard about this school when my older son first entered HS. The school itself is small ,renting space from the church but has no affiliation with. At first we thought wow this place is small but as the year went on we realized that with only 45+ students it is the perfect size. So if you are looking for a school with lots of athletics,huge field,etc stop reading this is not the school for your kid. If your looking for a school filled with enthusiastic and caring teachers and a safe & accepting atmosphere this is the place for your kid. The school offers a part time homeschooling option which was great for our daughter who loved the option of continuing homeschooling and having a community of her peers. Visit the schools website and on the homepage it really says it all but I strongly encourage that you set up a visit. It's not just a school my daughter goes to learn it is a community with not just academic support but emotional support not only for the kids but for the family. All the kids have a counselor that they meet with once a week. My daughters counselor Haley has been such an inspiring person in my daughters life. I can not express how thankful my husband & I are for her role in our daughters life this past year. The people here REALLY CARE. It shows in parent potlucks, parent meetings, field trips, academics,fundraisers. Our family went through many losses this year and what school sends cards,emails and comforts your child?! I can not stress enough how caring the teachers and staff are at Holden. The academics are challenging and what I really appreciate is the small class size and tutoring. My daughter never leaves school not understanding what she was taught that day. The teachers also like to shake things up with very creative ways to review the work they just studied which my daughter LOVES! Different approaches to learning that are fun and she tells us how she is looking forward to reviews, yeah I told you this school is amazing. I really appreciate the respect the teachers and staff have for the kids and vice versa. Of course kids will be kids and act out but I like how Holden is on it and bullying or all that stuff that goes on in other HS's is not tolerated here. That brings me to the kids. Great bunch of kids! Such a diverse group of kids. That was something we were a little worried about when looking for schools. We wanted our daughter to attend a school as diverse as the world she lives in and we found it. My daughter is sad the year is over but she is looking forward to another year of yearbook club,RES,review games,feminist club, jamming in the music room at lunch,field trips, volunteering etc. We as a family feel really lucky to be part of the Holden community! read more

I am an ex-student at Holden. I went there for quite a while and my first year there was amazing. Ever since then, the newer students who came in were out of control. There is absolutely no control from the teachers on the students who constantly yell and wreck havoc in every class. On top of that, there's name-calling and slurs being thrown around from the students and most of them cuss every 3rd word. I got cussed at and bullied even with teachers around who did not even bat an eye. There's nobody who holds these students accountable and they get away with everything if it isn't something that is an obvious expulsion (drugs, assault, weapons). There's a lot of cliques now at this school and it's the "you can't sit with us" type cliques. You're either liked or you're hated. I felt so unsafe going there with all the troublesome students and stuff I have experienced and heard from my friends. Leaving this school was one of the best decisions of my life and I wish I did it earlier because I am now in a school that completely accepts me and respects who I am, and I have a ton of friends who include me in so much stuff. It is the exact opposite of this school. If your kid is not the absolute perfect fit for this school, do not even bother looking into it. In fact, don't bother looking into this school at all. There's so many better options. read more

I cannot say enough positive things about Holden High School. Our daughter was struggling to say focused in the chaos of a big public high school. She moved to Holden her Sophomore year and since the day we walked in Holden's front door we have felt an enormous sense of relief. The staff is phenomenal - they make a concerted effort to truly understand every student as learners and as people. We feel like Holden staff have perfected the process of supporting students academically while pushing them to be self-motivated and independent. They push the kids to be their "best selves" socially as well as academically. This extends to the school's "transitions" program - a very thoughtful and well paced strategy of helping every student plan for their lives after high school. They give the kids agency in their decisions and normalize every choice post high-school whether it be straight to the work force, to a 4-year college or somewhere in between. The school focuses on community and our daughter, a very social person, has felt every bit a part of an interesting and dynamic school environment, even though it is small. We are looking forward to our daughter's graduation from Holden in 2021 with excitement and anticipation that she will 100% ready for what comes next, feeling confident in herself and her academic readiness. Holden has been a terrific partner in our daughter's education journey and we are extremely grateful and lucky to have found such a terrific school. read more