This review is a little long because I have a lot to say about this school. TL;DR -- lots of…read moreschools have great academics but not so great social environments. Saint Nicholas has top-ranking academics, sure, but, what my children learned about themselves and their peers, and how deeply their teachers cared about and fostered that, is what really made this school the very place for my 5 preschool through elementary children. To put this review in perspective: when I was a child, my family moved to Houston and surveyed top local private elementary schools to enroll me in. I attended one, then another top local private school. Both were academically quite excellent, completely in keeping with their reputations. Unfortunately they were also very cliquish, and because I was the new kid, it took quite a lot of time and effort to fit in, despite having experienced a very loving, inclusive, and thoroughly enjoyable social life at my previous schools. Looking back now, I can understand that the social environment was simply unhealthy at both these Houston private schools. In fact, though I loved learning, my ability to learn and thrive academically was severely compromised by the social situations at these schools. So here's my review of Saint Nicholas: when it came time for my own children to find a private preschool, kindergarten and elementary school to attend, I wasn't going to assume the social environment at a private school would be healthy, inclusive, loving, or provide a positive social foundation. And, though of course I wanted my children to have the very best educational foundation possible, to provide them with the greatest optionality for later educational and career choices, I also knew that the social and emotional environment at a school is equally important -- possibly even more important, because of the foundational nature of what a young child comes to learn about their own innate value as a human being by how others relate to them. I, and more importantly my children, found Saint Nicholas to be the same kind of positive, inclusive, encouraging environment that I had experienced myself at the private schools where I had thrived as a child. Classmates were friends. Positive and respectful interactions with classmates were expected, encouraged, and fostered. It's all about the teachers! The teachers at Saint Nicholas are actually aware of how the students interact, they actually care about this just as much as excellent teaching and excellent curriculum, and, they are very gifted at not only helping the students learn greater social skills, but inspiring them to want to. And these teachers have been at Saint Nicholas school for a long time. Saint Nicholas will probably show you their top-ranking academic test scores and student accomplishments, or maybe you'll hear anecdotal stories from other parents about how their child went from being behind academically, to being ahead academically in just one year. But that's not what mattered to me, and I don't think it happens just because of academic excellence. I certainly don't think high national test scores tell the whole or even the most important part of the story. I think what matters most about a school is what the child learns about themselves, and the value of every human being. At Saint Nicholas, my children learned that they were smart, capable, and valuable. They learned that they could thrive in both inter-dependent and independent endeavors. They learned that they were worthy of both respect for who they were, and being called into the greater self they were growing into. Again - it's all about the teachers. The school administration is capable enough, but I don't believe a school can administrate this. Saint Nicholas has somehow gathered and kept some truly phenomenal and caring teachers.

I just wanted to share that my daughter, thanks to the excellent instruction and personalized…read moreattention that she received at SNS, had absolutely no problem acing HISD's G&T testing this year in Kindergarten. She consistently gets top grades in her class, and we thank SNS for preparing her so well, academically and socially, in their pre-K programs. SNS transformed my shy little girl - who had spent the first years of her life at home during the pandemic - into a confident, smart little social butterfly. My son, attending SNS for summer camps, has also benefitted from SNS academically and socially. Being with slightly older classmates over the summers pushed him ahead of the curve, and he was popular among the younger kid crowd, as the older brother to my daughter. P.S. I believe first responders and BCM employees receive a discount on registration, and the school offers a sibling discount on tuition, as well. Cannot recommend this school enough!

My daughter love this school. She has been a student here since kindergarten and is currently in…read more2nd grade. The school has amazing administrative staff and excellent teachers and assistants. I love that they offer after school care. Once your kid goes to this school, you'll all be treated like family.

I debated on writing a review because Ms. Sara and Mickey are great people, but I feel the need to…read moremake other parents aware of the effects this place had on my child. I will start out by saying that having Mrs. Kahn as my daughters teacher was the biggest mistake I ever made as a parent. There would be times Mrs. Kahn would say," Oh your child wouldn't sit down in circle time and would go play with the toys instead, or I know her shirt has milk and paint all over it but she got upset when I tried to change her so I left it on." The first thought that came to my mind was," Aren't you the teacher?" My child wasn't bad at all, she was just excited to be in an environment with so many stimulating things in it, and as a teacher you would think her 15+ years of experience would've taught her how to handle those situations. It's as if she was so used to having perfect children and got flustered when a child didn't listen when she told them to do something the first time. And as far as my child learning anything, she didn't learn anything from her other than how to line up and go outside. The funny thing is when I would be on break from school or had her for the holidays, I would teach her the smallest things and my daughter would catch on so fast that everyone in my family could see an improvement. Why was it that she wasn't learning anything at school when she was there 5 days a week, but as soon as I taught her something on a 3 day break all of a sudden you see improvement? I'll tell you why, it's because Mrs. Kahn was NOT paying attention to my child and paid more attention to other children and was busy begging parents to give money or food to her for the parties she always threw (as if tuition wasn't enough). If she spent more time on educating the children then planning parties, maybe the children could actually learn something. My husband also would drop our daughter off and say to me ," Does she not like our daughter? She always gives us a look like she doesn't want her there, but when other children come in, she gets excited and gives them hugs." Also you know something is wrong with a teacher when the director pulls her own grandchild out of their class, and transfers them into another teachers class. In all since leaving within 3 months my child can count to 100 and can read at 3 years old, and it's all because I taught her and took her out of that school. My advice is to anybody looking at this school, DO NOT enroll your child in her class. She's obviously more focused on throwing parties and doesn't know a thing about teaching in a structured environment.

My son attended pre-k here. The amount of work they gave him was staggering, and it was all busy…read morework. They sent home packets of work for "homework" often that would take hours and have my son in tears from boredom. (Because it was the same non sense they had him doing all day while there). His work was perfect, the teachers raved about how tidy his handwriting was and how well he sat and did his work, "especially for a boy". Yet, when he had to use the bathroom one of the teachers acted like he was trying to get away with something and often would not let him go. At the end of the year I picked him up one day to find his shorts were wet and cold. They wouldn't allow him to use the bathroom and he wet himself. He must have sat in it for an hour or more without them noticing.

I have 3 kids that attended FCA for 6yrs. My last graduated from FCA 2yrs ago. Each of my kids…read morereceived multiple academic scholarships starting with San Jacinto College, then University of Houston and now my oldest is at Baylor on a large scholarship. We were relocating here from Louisiana, Hurricane Rita. The first two years Mrs. Duvall was my oldest two kids (boy & girl) teacher. She was the greatest teacher they ever had. They were academic behind and hated math. Anyone that knows Mrs. Duvall knows she Loves Math, and helps Kids love Math. She has a way of running her Learning Center structured -but exciting and fun. She had a one on one relationship with each student in the school, ......and she was the High School Teacher and the Principal. The 1st year at FCA there was 155 students ! I sat on the Parent Advisory Board 3 of the 6yrs we were there. The first year I was a part of the Parent Advisory Board I learned about the foundation of the FCA Scholarship Fund. This Scholarship Fund was created by a burning passion that every family should have the opportunity to have their student take part in a quality education that teaches Strong Academics with Values and Character. The Scholarship Fund was not made up of corporate donations. Instead, Mrs. Duvall decided to create the fund from within. She took 15-20% (Dollar amount) of the tuition income and allotted that amount to be given back out in the form of scholarship money to parents. Mr. and Mrs. Duvall have a love and dedication to kids from all walks of live. Yes, your right....they have no tolerance for teachers that don't want to teacher, and just draw a check or TEACH a TEST.

I throughly enjoy bringing my daughters to school every morning. Knowing that the same structure &…read moreprinciples we teach at home are followed up at home. Knowing my children will get the similar foundation I grew up having in school, phonics, spelling test, etc. We are on our second year at Imani with a PreK 3 student and 1st grade, excited to see the year brings.

The Infants and Toddler program is housed inside the Imani School with separate Infant, Toddler I…read moreand Toddler II classrooms. Pre-K and up requires uniforms from mandated uniform company. Pre-K girls wear smock/dress and Peter Pan shirts, boys wear embroidered polos and pants. No State STAAR testing required like public schools. The Standford 10 testing system is given to students to measure educational targets. School has board members and huge donation efforts semi annually. I have full confidence this school is exactly what it should be, I visited many schools and this felt like home.