My family toured many of the private schools in the area before landing on Nysmith for our child…read more The whole family, including our child, couldn't be happier with our choice. I am a Nysmith alum and know firsthand the value of the education they provide. It's been amazing to see how they've preserved and built upon the core experience and vision that founder Carol Nysmith built. To be clear, I have no incentive to post this review other than to help other families in the area consider Nysmith as a choice for their children. Before we chose Nysmith, e considered and toured a number of schools, including Basis Independent, Flint Hill, Ideaventions, Pinecrest, and Edlin. Most of these are among the top ranked schools in Northern Virginia. We felt that Nysmith had the best blend of factors for our child. - Academics: Nysmith has incredible academics, highly personalized to meet each individual child's needs. Nysmith's roots are in nurturing gifted/talented children, and with that approach comes the understanding that not every child is equally advanced in every subject. Some other schools will assign lots of homework to kids, which isn't really our vision for academic success. We like Nysmith's approach, which is to cultivate and nurture a love of learning rather than to put kids on a treadmill of endless homework. We also like that Nysmith integrates subject matter expertise into their curriculum from kindergarten onward: math experts teach math, science teachers teach science, rather than one teacher teaching all or most subjects - Size: Nysmith is bigger and more established than some of the younger "startup" schools. The classes are big enough that your child will have multiple sections of students to be friends with, they won't be siloed with only 5 or 10 classmates. Teacher ratios are still great - Teachers and Staff: Nysmith's teachers are qualified and smart, which you'll get at most private schools. But there's a key difference: they seem happier and more engaged than at any other school in the area. Retention is incredible: some of the Nysmith teachers have been there for over 25 years - since I was a student in the 90s! - Facilities and resources: Nysmith has a great facility that still has the DNA of a school rather than a country club. The facility is big, the playground is great, everything feels new, bright, and spacious - Community - We're still early in our experience with Nysmith but the PTO seems very engaged with many events scheduled. By reputation, Nysmith has one of the strongest communities of any school in the area

They tout coding and robotics, but their approach is likely to produce robots that code, not…read morecritical thinkers who can innovate. Beneath Ken Nysmith's slick salesmanship and the forced smiles that greet you, lies a far more sinister reality that belies the promise of "joy-filled, personalized learning". If you're seeking a school that truly nurtures your child's heart and mind, look elsewhere! Wellbeing and emotional support are woefully neglected at Nysmith. This place sees no problem in breaking spirits, crushing individuality and forcing students into a rigid mold that stifles their unique potential and confines them to narrow expectations. Question the status quo, and you'll be met with contempt. Conformity is the sole currency valued here! Think The Bible, Torah, or Quran -- immutable and infallible. . . I have met a few great teachers but admin pressure seems to leave them little bandwidth to connect, coach, or inspire students (despite the low student-to-teacher ratios). Humans are wired to thrive in safe, supportive spaces where even mistakes become stepping stones to learning. Nysmith is NOT that space. You've been warned!

Builds no character and spends their money on facilities rather than on their departments and…read moreteaching in general.

Best school ever! The teachers are extremely nice, I get along well with my friends, and the…read moreacademic level is great-A LOT of kids end up going to TJ, and a most of the school has level IV AA classes. My science teacher is the best one I have ever had and was awarded an award for being the best teacher in Fairfax county! No joke!

If you want to enjoy a diverse learning experience, then this is your school! This school has a…read morewide variety of pregnant Hispanics, horny white girls, and feisty blacks. Many of our students graduate with a high GPA of 2.2 and get enrolled into big colleges, such as NOVA and Radford. Another thing to add about this wonderful school is the exotic foods given to the hard working students. To finish this great review I'd like to add how hard working the teachers are and how they produce plentiful amounts of intelligent students. Thank you for you time.

Literally the best high school I've ever attended. The desks are mad e of the finest maple veneer,…read morethe café serves the freshest local produce, and the teachers are clearly selected only after a scrutinizing hiring process to make sure they truly love their students. This is one of the finest learning institutions around. If you live in the Herndon district I highly recommend you go here.

LOVE this school! My son transferred to OH from a public school and I must say, he has…read moreexceptionally excelled in his reading, writing, and math capabilities. Not to mention, the staff, the headmaster and his family, are all so incredibly kind and an excellent reflection of core Christian values that I want my son to be influenced by. Ms. Weathers pours her heart into these children and my son adores her! She is incredibly sweet and my son always comes home talking about nothing but positive experiences with this teacher. I recommend this school to all my fellow Christians who want a solid Christian education for their children. They are doing it right here

Thank you Oak Hill Christian School for allowing our boys to grow in an environment where they were…read moretaught to live for our Lord Christ Jesus no matter the profession they might want to pursue!

South Lakes. What a…read moreplace. I really loved my time here except for that I hated it because high school is the worst place on earth. Anyway, it gets such a bad rep but who gives a shit. It's a great school with great teachers. There are so many different types of people and it's so diverse. I wouldn't have gone anywhere else!

I've done the Relay for Life here the last 5 years. They have been constantly upgrading the school…read moreas the years have passed. The track has been redone and is that cushy rubber material that is easy on your joints. This past year they have redone the field as well. I am not exactly sure what the material is, but it's a synthetic grass that is installed over these little black pellets that allow it to "give" when you go sliding across it. I've always found the staff and most of the students to be pretty awesome as well.

My 5 star review is based on substituting at Chantilly High School. Staff was friendly and made it…read moreeasy on my first day substituting. I worked in the Academy side of the school which is at the rear of the school.

There are truly two things that keep me going in life. Chantilly High School, and the Ninja Turtles…read more(i dont know about you but raphael really glues my lettuce). When walking down the halls of Chantilly, you can clearly feel a magical energy circulating throughout the minds and halls of the school. Its this magical energy that i'm addicted to. There is no better feeling than that of walking through the threshold of this exquisite building, going from class to class I practically feel like i'm floating! Now, I may be a little biased, but Mr. Bennett (who teaches multiple computer tech classes in the Chantilly academy) is a master when it comes to teaching. You know how when you were little and your mom had to hide vegetables in your food or else you wouldn't eat them, well Mr. Bennett does this with his in class material. I highly recommend that you come to Chantilly! You're going to love the way you learn!!

As a member of the first graduating class of Westfield HS, it gives me great pleasure to write…read moretheir first Yelp review and let people know that "Yay! I'm a fan!" Sure there were things to complain about but as an adult I have my dream job and still keep in contact with the same group of friends I had back in the day. The small annoyances? Hakuna matata. In the past few years, several national news reports have painted the school to breeding ground for obnoxious, entitled children who had nothing better to do than sell heroin and bully students. These reports don't surprise me but if you look beyond the surface you will see a culturally and financially diverse mix of students with real passion and smarts. A few special shout outs to: Senor Thomas aka Principal Thomas - He was my Spanish teacher in HS and now he's the mother effing principal! He's an ultra friendly dude who has the capacity to relate to a variety of students at every level. Westfield is very lucky to have him. Mr. Margrave - My AP English teacher whose one man production of Kaftka's Metamorphosis is still engraved to my head to this day. Ms. Bucco - She taught me how to write papers with a clear intro, middle and ending. All of the security guards who would park my car for me every morning because I was such a horrible driver Ms. Davies whose enthusiasm for random American president facts has helped me understand inside jokes on Family Guy and the Simpsons for quite some time now Any former member of the Canine Camera Crew...Wake Up Westfield What up! (I actually coined the name way back in the day)

I transferred here for one semester and I still feel confused about how this place runs…read more First day the bell rang and nobody moved because half the teachers said the clocks were wrong. The principal later announced over the intercom that "time is a suggestion during spirit week." It was October. The cafeteria line takes about 25 minutes even when five people stand in front of you. They run out of forks almost every day so students eat pasta with spoons or broken plastic knives. One time they gave everyone cereal because the pizza oven "needed a mental health day." The fire alarm goes off at least once a week. Not drills. Someone microwaves popcorn too long and the entire building evacuates. Teachers bring grade books outside and keep teaching on the sidewalk while buses try to park around us. Our math class moved rooms four times in two weeks because of a ceiling leak. Instead of fixing it they put a traffic cone under the drip and called it "hazard awareness training." We took a quiz while water hit the floor next to my desk. Hall passes are giant laminated boards the size of a laptop. You have to carry it to the bathroom. Everyone stares at you walking down the hall like you stole school property. Gym class got cancelled because the gym was rented for a staff pickleball tournament during school hours. We wrote essays about teamwork while teachers cheered through the wall. The announcements last ten minutes every morning. Most of it is lost and found items. There are more lost hoodies than students in the building.

I'm surprised that Franklin Middle School doesn't have a page…read more This is a voter location and there is ample parking for that. The facility is well maintained and clean.

If i could rate 0 stars i would. everything at franklin was terrible and i extremely despised my 2…read moreyears there. teachers? the only thing that improved at franklin was my depression. out of all the things i went through at franklin the only things teachers/ administrators would notice is if i was showing my shoulders.

I went to St. Timothy's from 1990 - 1994. While I really enjoyed the religious aspect of the school…read more(their religion classes were top notch) the educational portion of the school was questionable. I begged to be let into public school like my neighborhood friends the last three years of elementary school and even as a kid I was blown away by how much better the local public school was. You would think a private school would have more resources than a public school but this is not the case in Fairfax County where our education system is ballin. Many many many moons later, I had a friend who enrolled her kid in a private religious school and ended up moving him to public school a year later for the exact same reason I stated. The one thing that was awesome / appalling about St. Tim's was their utter disrespect for healthy school lunches in the 90's. They literally would cater our school lunches from McDonalds, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut. Oh memories.

Saint Timothy Catholic School has been wonderful to our 2 daughters! They have been going to St…read more Tim's for 3 years now. We can see our children going here for years to come. The staff and teachers are super friendly and caring. Christ presence in the school is truly a reflection on this community. My children feel challenged academically and spiritually. The teachers care for each child and there are daily/weekly updates on each season of the school year!

PLEASE READ ALL OF THE FOLLOWING SENTENCES…read more This school is the worst school I've ever seen. first of all they give way too much homework. the homework is so much that i have to do the homework for the whole day! And the homework is way too hard that we had to hire a tutor to come every day! Second of all is uniform. The uniform in this school is so uncomfortable and we have to buy about 20 uniform and they don't even give us money to buy the uniform. Third of all is the costs. The school is so so so! Expensive even with the uniform and the tutor and the lunch menus and the monthly payments and the stuff for the science fair and the school supplies! Fourth of all is the size. The school is sooo small that every grade has one classroom. And the staff is so little there's not enough of them. and so is the school playground. The school playground is in a parking lot and we have to play carefully and stop playing just because of the cars. And there's only a tiny playground that's a house playground that doesn't even have a swing and only first and second graders can use it!. Fifth of all, is teaching. the teachers DO NOT EVEN TEACH they just test us all the time and rely on textbooks and the teachers call their family members and even put their country song to not let us focus. And finally Sixth of all is dismissal. they don't have busses because it's a broke school and they dismiss Students with a website that is always rigged when i see my car they don't call it and i have to wait 7-10 minutes. and when students are called their names are still on the screen. I am so so so upset and disappointed for what this school has done! the whole school is lying about their best private school, trust me! And don't attend this school or believe in the 5 star reviews. I had experience and i hate this school! take your kids out of this school if you want them to graduate! If you don't know what school to go to then go to bull run elementary school. who would make such a school like this!

I have 2 kids been this school 2 years ago, then I moved my house little far, I had to take my kids…read morefrom pinnacle to public. It has been 2 years but still my kids ask me to send them pinnacle academy again. They loved that school a lot, now I heard they move new location which is closer right now, and we decided to send kids back pinnacle academy for next year again. I definitely recommend pinnacle academy for everyone.