I visited this school today with Melissa and Jax for the Hawaiian Humane Society program on…read moreteaching Young kids about animals. The staff was super friendly and helpful. The teachers were kind and excited for us to be there. Jax the dog from secret life of Jax met about 30 kids today. The children got to practice the proper way to meet and greet a dog. Thank you for having us. Volunteering today with @thesecretlifeofjax for the Hawaiian Humane Society

Waiau is a great school! I'm glad my child interacts well with the staff and other children. The…read moreonly issues I have with this school is one office staff who is rude and an extracurricular teacher who does not know how to speak or interact with children. Overall I wouldn't have my child attend any other elementary school!

I attended the Town Hall in Pearl City to hear Governor Ige and other officials speak about…read morecoronavirus. He explained to us about social distancing and to take precautions in everyday life. For example- keep a sanitizer with you. The auditorium or cafeteria of the school was brightly lit, clean and easy to find. Snacks like bags of cookies and crackers were available to the audience on a back table Governor Ige was able to take a pic with me and I enjoyed the Town Hall mtg experience as I usually don't attend anything political.

My grandchildren catches their private school buses at Pearl Ridge Elementary Schools parking lot…read more The bus arrives any time between 6:00 am and 6:10 am. I think its nice that the school allows these private school buses to use their parking lot so the children have a safe place to wait before heading off to school. It's great that the school is able to utilize the parking lot early in the morning for a worth while cause without disturbing their daily routine. This location is great...... there's lots of parking, it's appears to be a safe area and very accessible to the freeway. Thank you Pearl Ridge Elementary for helping to keep our children safe.

Thankyou Kamehameha Schools Kapalama for hosting the ILH cheering Championships tonite, 10/30/2025…read more Convenient ticket sales on line made entry fast and easy once doors opened. There was a gorgeous full rainbow and a blessing of a light drizzle on our way and while waiting to enter. Beautiful Senior walk and congratulations to seniors and their families with verbal recognition to their parents. Big congratulations to all the participating schools' cheer squads and coaches. Very special for Iolani to place first in all 3 divisions- now that's a fantastic Treat, the evening before Halloween. Glad a couple food booths were available for purchase for those who were hungry. Good sound system, ceiling fans were operating but it was very hot most of the 3 hour competition. Results were ready after the senior walk. November 12@ Blaisdell - state championship.

This is a private school and you need to have Hawaiian blood to be a student here. If you get to…read morethe top of the campus you'll get a great view of the city. There's a guard station at the base of the school. You'll need a legit reason to get on to the campus or they won't let you up. This campus is massive. It's preschool through 12th grade. They even have dorms on campus. The campus is clean and beautiful. I wouldn't want to trek this place by foot as the roads curve up and down. Imagine the workout!

I wanted to give myself a couple years to reflect before leaving a review, that way I could iron…read moreout my own thoughts and speak outside of emotion. That being said, this school was awful for military kids. If you're a military family considering this place, please reconsider. There was a such a huge implicit bias against non-Hawaiian kids, ESPECIALLY if they were military. Due to being military, we've been to quite a few catholic schools, this was hands down the worst. As someone from the Midwest hearing about the Ohana and kindness in the reviews, we were so excited, but were ultimately let down. The admin was inexperienced, the curriculum was inconsistent, and it honestly felt like grade school daycares with little taught outside of very basic English and math. I cannot discourage military families enough, they honestly hate military families. This is a catholic school in the absolute loosest of term. 10/10 would not recommend sending any child you care about to this school.

Great school. Excellent preschool and grade school. Two of my children have gone here. I like their…read morestyles of teaching. It is a small school but that is what makes it great. I recommend this school to those who are cTholic and for those who are not.

Before moving here, I was warned that the public school in Hawaii is not good and Pearl Harbor Kai…read moredidn't prove me wrong. At the beginning of the Covid, they decided to go with the very controversial online platform called Acellus which included racial and biased information not appropriate for learning, and Pearl Harbor Kai did nothing but to keep using it although other nearby schools immediately decided to drop the program. The principal at that time had no intention to listen to concerned parents, but now he is promoted to some position at DOE. How bright is Hawaii's DOE future? I can say there are a few wonderful teachers there if your child get lucky. Unfortunately, my child never had that luck and he was assigned the most notorious teacher that is known to yell and scream hysterically beyond being strict two years in a row. When I confronted, Principal and VP said they never heard anyone complain about that teacher nor heard her yell, which was flat out lie. I know of more than two hands full of families who left the school to homeschool, avoided the school and chose private school path because of the teacher. Unacceptable behaviors such as placing kids outside the classroom the whole afternoon, publicly shaming students, to name a few. A former student who had her said she still had nightmare about that teacher. She should retire for the sake of all the students there. Too sad the only way to get your child a safe, non-yelling environment, is to withdraw from that school and pay for a private school in Hawaii? I was warned about Hawaii public school correct.

My children attended her while my husband was stationed at Pearl Harbor. We loved the school and…read morethe administration. The teachers my kids had were incredible! The staff love the students and want them to do well. We miss Pearl Harbor Kai!!

We absolutely love this school! My son will be heading into first grade this year and we are so…read morelucky to be a part of this wonderful program! Cannot wait until both boys are there next year! Thank you for taking such good care of my son!

This school should be better. Despite fairly high test…read morescores, the experience here falls far short of what families should expect. Hawaii's schools rank in the bottom third nationally, and in our two years here this "highly rated" school felt closer to a 3/10 compared to mainland standards. The main issue is poor leadership that prioritizes staff convenience over student experience. Most problems could be solved with stronger leadership and genuine care for families. There is no parent-teacher organization, leading to little accountability or transparency. Leadership resists parent input and improvement with endless excuses. The lack of facilities is unacceptable: no playground or equipment for 1st-5th graders, no multipurpose room for assemblies or plays, and no covered recess space. Children are taken to an empty field with no benches, tables, or shade, and recess ends when it drizzles. Quarterly awards are held in a hallway where parent views are blocked by pillars and under tarps. Some grades have only one recess, with no lunch playtime, and physical activity is sometimes withheld as punishment. Most students eat outside under tarps. There is no on-campus A+ afterschool program, leaving few options for working families. The curriculum is bare. No foreign language or music education is offered. Technology is underutilized, limited to standardized testing and drills rather than creative or project-based work. Homework is minimal and uninspiring, tests are returned weeks late, and the pace seems set for the slowest learners. Hawaiian studies lacked rigor--no graded work was returned, and a year of lessons consisted mostly of storytelling. Overall, children are not challenged with projects, teamwork, or creativity. Parental engagement is minimal. Parents are rarely welcomed to events, and only one was allowed when invited. Open house is reduced to teachers writing their names on the board rather than presenting their teaching style or curriculum. The school motto emphasizes behavior and conformity over curiosity and growth. Annual fundraising subsidizes field trips rather than addressing critical facility gaps. The campus is tiny yet holds 700+ students. On the positive side, classrooms have air conditioning, the children are generally well behaved, and the office staff are kind and helpful. Families deserve better. Leadership must shift from "doing the minimum" to creating an environment where children thrive academically, socially, and creatively.

My son attended kindergarten here. You see, in Hawaii, you need to be 5 by July 31st to enroll in…read morepublic school for kindergarten. Since my son's birthday was August 3rd I decided to enroll him in K at HFA since the cutoff was a bit later instead of attending the ELC another year. The kindergarten class he was in was VERY rigorous, highly structured, and expectations were very high. The side and the teacher were on it. My husband attended Catholic school all his life and he said that is what Catholic school is like. There were times I worried that my son wasn't ready for K. The teacher assured me he was doing ok. He recieved praise for good work and consequences for any poor choices he made in class. At first I was put off by the behavior chart but realized this helped my little guy. When I truly realized this teacher was great was when we had to transition distance learning due to COVID. It was incredible to see my son know exactly what to do, even though he was online. This teacher had the routines down. My son participated as if he was still in class responding to her attention getters. We planned to have my son enroll in public school after his year at HFA so we did just that. His report card from HFA was not stellar. I was worried because I knew I needed him to take a test at the public school he was going to enroll in. He took the test to check to if he had the readiness skills of a first grader and he passed and was able to enter 1st grade. To add, he is doing amazing in first grade. If finances were not tight, we would have loved to continue here. Thank you Miss Lorna, Mrs. Koga-Higa (she left), and Ms. Ng (who wasn't my sons teacher but always kept an eye out for him)!

It's good and I like the teachers they helped my son and my daughter I love there educationread more

Truly an amazing school to send children to. They not only focus on education but cultivating…read moreChristian character.

First of all, this school basically says "Screw you AND your kids" to everything. Being late due to…read moretraffic counts as a unexcused tardy. "Screw you and your kids, if somebody died from a crash. Its your fault". Secondly, for the upcoming missions week, they are STEALING 3 days from the students march BREAK. "Oh yeah, after weeks of school, full of homework that exausts the kids. Lets make them waste their break to go somewhere else." Thirdly, this school wastes all their money on activites and gives it all to the church. This school is VERY unorganized. Barely any P.E things to use, seems like they just hire teachers instantly because some of the teachers here SUCK at teaching. For example, the bible teacher gave the STUDY GUIDE for the first FINAL a DAY BEFORE the final. Also, this school says its better then every other school but is not. A student got detention for four hours for being on their phone AFTER school hours, and they try to force your kids to stay an extra hour for three days a week after school for band. (Band is also terrible here and is quite boring to the students). Do NOT send your children to this school, consider something else.