We cannot say enough good things about the community at Woodland School. From the moment we began…read morethe admissions process, we felt like more than just another application. The Admissions Director, Melanie, is truly exceptional. She went above and beyond to support our family, showing incredible flexibility and genuine care throughout the process. Beyond the administration, the school itself is impressive. We fell in love with the beautiful, sprawling outdoor campus--it's such a rare and refreshing environment for kids to learn in. One of the most striking things we noticed was how confident and articulate the students are; their comfort with public speaking is clearly a testament to the school's curriculum. We also spent a lot of time admiring the Maker Lab, which is easily one of the best we've seen. While our family's personal circumstances shifted and we couldn't enroll this year, Woodland remains at the top of our list for any family looking for a balanced, high-achieving, and supportive environment

Absolutely terrible terrible school. If I could give it 0 I would. The years I spent here were the…read moreworst in my entire life. None of the teachers want to be here they are all underpaid and regularly complain about their salary. While I was there I would consistently hear teachers say "I can't answer that that's above my pay grade" or joke about how they can't afford to pay for anything. Many of them were just bullies and put no effort into teaching us. The teachers also have no control over the students with classes being so hectic that lesson plans would get put on pause. If you are a smart student you won't be challenged here, if your a student with learning disabilities you will get NO support. The campus is laughably small and unclean. The buildings are in horrible condition with middle schoolers learning in portable classrooms. In my opinion it kind of feels like they just added the middle school on in the 80's to make more money. The food is horrible but the kids are even worse.

Do you want to find the best school? Do you want your kids to learn about new things? Do you want…read moreyour kids to get a good education? Would like your child to feel special? Then Laurel School is the best place to go!!! Laurel School is the best because it makes kids feel special. For example, we celebrate birthdays and also 1/2 birthdays. Kids bring in parents and get to share their most favorite book. We also share treats. Another reason that Laurel is great is because we have a lot of celebrations. One of the many celebrations is pajama day. Pajama day is a special day where you get to wear pajamas all day because of good choices the kids made in class. A third reason why Laurel School is so AWESOME is because there are lots of wonderful teachers your child can learn from. For example, there are separate librarian, music, art, P.E., and Spanish Immersion teachers. And all of the kindergarten-3rd grade teachers are AMAZING!!! These teachers work very hard to give the students a great education. We know you will love Laurel School if you come here! Adults and students agree that this is an outstanding school. Even the experts agree, we earned the California Distinguished School Award in 2014!!! We hope you are lucky enough to join us one day. Reviewed by Mrs. Yee's and Mrs. Bassett's First Grade Class C-5!!!! Go Laurel!!!

Laurel has changed a lot since I entered kindergarten there, but it still elicits a smile when I…read moredrive by. I had great teachers and many fun memories of the place still live in my mind. It always seemed so big when I was there, now it seems so mini. Guess that comes with growing up!

I truly loved my experience at the JCC Preschool. I'm the mom that tours every single school prior…read moreto making a choice. I'm extremely picky when it comes to the care of my children. I'm taking the time to write this review because we've recently moved around in the area and have experienced other schools. Solidifying even more what a magical experience being at the JCC was for us. We were at the JCC for a total of 4 years with both my son and my daughter from the time they were 12 months old (in the mommy and me program they call the Yad-B-Yad with teacher Shuly). In our experience, the teachers are loving, caring and they were truly invested in the development of our kids. The Director Lauren Berman is amazing. The amount of care she leads the school with is incredible. I was part of the school parent committee where we worked first hand with Lauren to help make key decisions about the school, so I saw first hand the amount of strategy, planning, and thoughtfulness that went into running the school. We were also at the JCC during Covid. And I truly believe our kids excelled during this time because of the strategy and execution of how they handled the school. Lauren would call her strategy (the Swiss cheese effect). Creating multiple layers of protection for the kids safety while ensuring and maintaining a loving environment. I know first hand, other schools did not handle this time nearly as well. Our son was at Phillips Brooks (when he aged out of JCC) while our daughter was still at the JCC. And our experience was sub-par there compared to the JCC. I would do it all over again. Sending my kids here. I miss the warm staff, the community of parents, and being in the classroom for Shabbat singing songs with my kids and their classmates. I miss seeing my kids garden, picking tomatoes and kale with teacher Debbie. I miss seeing my kids run around on the giant grassy field playing games in the sun. I miss seeing them dance and sing during their music class. I miss the care that went into planning activities for the day. I am truly grateful to all their teachers who planned a day packed full of activities to instill ability of freedom of choice and asked thought provoking questions to instill a curious and creative mindset in my children. I love our memories from the JCC, they have a very special place in my heart. I often look back fondly at our school year book filled with images of celebration, warmth and smiles. The thing I know from being at other schools is this, in my experience the JCC is a special place, special place, being led by amazing leadership that truly love and care for their families and students. This combination is hard to come by.

Hi, fellow parents! You're trying to pick the best preschool for your kid in an area with so many…read moreexcellent options. Other parents you know have impossibly high standards and even if, when you started your search, you weren't feeling so opinionated on the color of the sheets used during nap time, here you are - at 11:55 PM on Yelp - trying to find some breadcrumb clues to help you make THE BIGGEST DECISION OF YOUR LIVES!!! AHHH! Well. First of all, there are some funky reviews on here. *Note the date.* If they are from pre-2019, there is a new director who is going to set the bar so high that you're going to hate the head of the Ivy League university your child will surely one day attend because Lauren Berman is the most personable, accountable, reliable, responsible, and forward thinking preschool director in town. Whomever was here before, fuggedaboutit. This legend of a director just pulled the school through COVID and fires and mass exodus of educators from the Bay Area and the preschool, which my oldest son just graduated from, is sparkling in the Palo Alto sun. Secondly, parents are busy. SO MANY PARENTS LOVE THIS SCHOOL and will never have the time to write a Yelp review because they should be making lunches instead. So, know that a glowing review like mine is backed up by about 100 more that will simply never get written. Why is this school so great? Your kids will be enveloped in love, in the cutest little classrooms - YES THE TOYS ARE WOODEN AND YES THEY USE LOOSE PARTS, I promise - with an edible schoolyard garden - YES YOUR KIDS WILL EAT KALE AND HOLD WORMS AND YOU WILL SEE PICTURES OF THIS THROUGHOUT THE DAY - and a dynamic duo of music teachers to bless their days. Bless. Loaded word? They learn songs and blessings and it's not going to turn your kid into a bible thumper but instead is just going to give them a routine, which kids and religions both love, so chill. ;) [respectfully, chill] - In a non-COVID year, your kids get to take swim lessons while at school because you are on the JCC campus and there is a full service pool steps away from the preschool gates! And because according to Jewish texts, it is more important for a child to learn to swim than to study the Torah. So you get to have your kid learn to swim while they're at school anyway. Amazing. - Your kids will run on a track field or play with hula hoops in the basketball gym for their PE class, passing by senior citizens who live in the apartments overlooking the plaza and are part of our community! Yes, children still see old people and haven't yet learned to ignore them! This is educational, my people. - Your kids will celebrate double the holidays they would if they weren't at a Jewish school because there is a Jewish holiday for everything, and every month practically. AND let's not underestimate the weekly holiday of Shabbat which means baking and breaking fresh bread together, offering our little humans the opportunity to sing together, to have their weekly turn in the spotlight as the Shabbat Helper and to be part of a Friday ritual that reminds us how important it is to rest and be in a community. This year, the school started doing zoom shabbats on Friday evenings and your relatives from far away can sign in and forget to mute themselves and gush over your cute child on the screen. - Your kids will be exposed to different cultures, most notably Israeli culture and, with that, Hebrew because that is interwoven in the curriculum, but also be in an environment that embraces different languages and cultures: students and staff alike come from many different backgrounds, and are not exclusively Jewish. Like Hebrew a lot? The Ulpanon immersion program is like a year abroad program but without the travel. Highly recommended (and Lital the director there is also phenomenal). - Now that I've done some name dropping, there are some legendary teachers who have been teaching for more than 9 years (some more than 20 years) so put a pause on those rumors about teacher turnover: this staff is educated, dedicated, and for the most part sticks around. New educators in the area also get a chance to work here, paired with veteran team teachers and my impression is that the administration is very supportive of staff. How do I have the credentials to even write this review? Between my two sons who are both under 5, we have been to 6 different preschools. Lemme tell you: The JCC preschool is outstanding. OUTSTANDING.

An amazing school!…read more Our daughter couldn't be happier with the amazing teachers and rigorous curriculum

Educationally great, but socially out of control. There is rampant bullying and helpless…read moreadministration

Our daughter is in Kindergarten with Ms. Perez and Ms. Umanani, and we absolutely love Challenger…read moreSchool. The teachers do a fantastic job of tailoring their approach to kids with different personalities, making learning both highly effective and incredibly fun. Our daughter loves everyone there, from her classroom teachers and Extended Care staff to the administrators. It is a wonderful, supportive community where kids truly thrive!

I am delighted to recommend Challenger School - Middlefield to any parent seeking an academic and…read morecaring environment for their child. My child attended Preschool since he was 3 years old and our experience has been nothing short of outstanding. The teachers ( Miss Jia and Miss Aboli) are compassionate, patient, and highly skilled in early childhood education. The curriculum is a perfect blend of academic learning, social development, and creative play, all within a safe and nurturing environment. Since attending Challenger, my son has grown in confidence, developed important social skills, and discovered a love for learning. I am grateful for the wonderful foundation the Preschool has provided, and I highly recommend them to any family.

As an Educational Consultant I have great confidence in Bowman School. The academics are strong…read morebut without pressure. Bowman provides such a level of individualized attention it is an excellent school for many kinds of learners. The faculty turnover is low, leading to consistency and strong relationships. The Montessori philosophy promotes learning how to learn and a passion for lifelong learning. Graduates of Bowman have a long history of success as they continue their educational journies. The year round schedule and flexibility of hours make it an ideal school for working parents.

Parents need to be prepare: this school has been expand from one campus into 4 in past few years,…read morewhich explains why tuition raised 6% - 7% each year. There will be a plan for high school expanding and ask for high donation on top of tuition raise. Good luck.

Lack of responses for on any feedback from parents. Often have unreasonable rules and promises…read moreimprovements that never happens. There are some experienced teachers. But there are also a lot of new teachers who seemingly have no experience with childcare and don't take feedback.

The good: Location…read morein Burgess Park. Kids are regularly taken out to play in the park, or to the library for story time. Buildings are new and in good condition. Teachers are excellent and really care about kids. Reduced rates for Menlo Park residents (although this may be stopped owing to city budget constraints). The not-so-good. Because of space constraints, 3-5 year olds are all put together in one classroom. This holds back the pre-kindergarten children and stops the program from being a better preparation for kindergarten. When my 4-year-old went to another preschool she was given a much more challenging and age-appropriate curriculum. The school should try to give parents more advance notice of closures etc.

My child and her friend attended the WriteNow! summer writing camp focused on "creative" writing…read more The teacher Chuck Bernstein, who is also president of the Early Learning Institute at the school, was harsh and punitive to both kids as well as to other students in the class if they didn't do exactly what they were told, down to including very specific story elements in their stories. Even if they did do the assigned writing, but finished early and then worked on something else, they got in trouble - Chuck crumpled one of their poems and nearly threw it away because he thought they were off-task, rather than asking. Every day he had students present at the end of class, always running overtime into pickup time, and then angrily shushed both students and parents who made ANY noise (even just entering at the door, whispers, or rustling papers). An easy fix would be to do these presentations earlier so they didn't run over-time, especially for parents picking up multiple kids at different camps or otherwise on a tight schedule - but he did not react well to this feedback. On the first day of the program, the person at the front also was angry that we were dropping off at the time we did, even though we had paid for the before-care. On the second day they had a sheet of who had before-care and after-care, but did not on the first day. But to get angry at us for dropping off, rather than asking about before-care, is also baffling. The program's flyer boasted that kids would love writing after this. My child went in loving writing and came out disliking it much more than previously, and her friend started out hating writing and ended the same. Since Chuck also teaches at the school, I can only imagine that this harsh approach is one he takes with full-time students during the year, too. We will certainly never return.

We enrolled our son in the WriteNow! Summer Writing Camp with high expectations because he enjoys…read morewriting and we hoped he would be challenged and receive meaningful guidance. Unfortunately, that was not our experience. I spoke with the teacher, Chuck (Charles) Bernstein, and was told that he cannot judge students' writing because they have to judge themselves. That approach is completely nonsensical to me, especially in a writing camp where students should be getting instruction and feedback from an experienced teacher. My son spent about six hours straight writing, yet he was not given any comments or constructive feedback on his work. As a parent, I believe feedback is one of the most important parts of a writing program because it helps students understand what they are doing well and where they need to improve. Without that guidance, it is hard to see how students can truly grow. Don't waste your money enrolling to this camp as you kids will be wasting time here.