This school used to live up to it's claims of meeting the child where they are, educating the whole…read morechild, fostering their individuality, etc. In the past few years I have experienced a tremendous decline in their ability to hold true to this, sadly. I give it an average star rating because these days is just a costly version of any typical, yet capable public school with the addition of arrogance in their approach.

All three of our children attended The Orchard School. We are very pleased with the education they…read morereceived and so are they. I've often tried to sift through all our years and determine what they most learned/received at Orchard and if I had to pick one attribute (and there are many), I'd pick confidence. They are all confident public speakers. For example, when my daughter was a junior in high school, she won an award that required her to speak at a dinner with over 400 people present. I tried several times to get her to practice and review her speech in advance, knowing that the previous recipient had a professional speech writer. In frustration, one evening she said, "Mom, I went to Orchard. Don't worry." She delivered a flawless speech without notes. They are all confident about their ability to learn. Orchard likes to say they help create lifelong learners and they do. Each of our children knows how to learn and they like to learn. They are all confident expressing themselves to anyone. In high school, their teachers observed that unlike many shy teens they were not afraid to ask questions and advocate for themselves or for others. And, this has continued throughout their college and post-graduate years. Orchard invites and teaches children how to respectfully approach adults. At Orchard, education is not just about science, English, history, etc. While these are important, it's also about helping develop good people and preparing them for the future.

Well I figured I should give my alma mater some love. I attended BCHC from 1996-2000, My experience…read morethere was very unique. My freshman year I was immediately drawn to the internally produced TV show. I got in and was mentored by a junior at the time who was a part of the original tv crew (it had just started a year or two before me). I soon took over co-producing the show and after my mentor left I was the producer and editor of the show. I also ran all of the AV for the liturgies, pep rallies and DJ'd most of the dances with my two best friends. Why am I telling you this? By the time I was a Junior I had a job working for Markey's AV. I started my career in Technology when I was 15 because the opportunities at Chatard. My story is unique for sure but the staff at Chatard supported me and helped me grow as a young man. On other notes not related to my career. I was and am not Catholic. Even though it is required to take a religion class every year I was not pressured in any way to take on their beliefs. I treated it as a history class. What was so amazing was that the Senior religion class was world religions. I always thought this was such an amazing things for them to do. And if you were a student there from the late 70's to the mid 2000's you had Mr. Powell as your teacher. I bet there are 1,000's of adults that when asked who is the one teacher that left a mark on you would say Mr. Powell. He was definitely mine. * The main reason my parents chose Chatard was their English program for kids with learning disabilities. I was diagnosed with ADD at a young age in the 80's. This program and the absolutely amazing teachers supported learning techniques for students with these issues. We were in our own small 6 student classroom for 2 periods of the day instead of being in the general English class. After 2 years of this program I was able to return back to the regular class. I will never forget how much that helped me in my learning through my entire life. Over the years I came back and volunteered time teaching students in the TV show program, photography in art class. I have donated art for the auctions and more. Why because I love this school. I could go on and on for ever about my experiences here. I will always be a Trojan!! And if any staff read this, I am always willing and able to volunteer. I have spent the past 22 years in the advanced technologies and engineering, photography and videography.

The real reason I review this place is the Monday and Wednesday night ZUMBA classes held in the…read moregym! The instructor (Jessica Daughtery who is also married to Chatard's basketball coach) is amazing! I have tried out Zumba at other locations and with other instructors but no one can stack up to her classes! She is awesome, energetic, inspiring, super friendly and the best part is she offers one of the most competitively priced clases. Five dollars a class or a 5class punch card for only $20! The schedule changes during the school year but right now her classes are being offered from 7:30pm to 8:30pm every Monday and Wednesday nights. The music is less latino and more hip hop/top 40 and is one of the reasons I love it so much. You don't have to be coordinated or know any dance steps. A few classes and you will fit right in. Age ranges from middle school kids all the way to senior citizens and even a few male participants here and there. Most are college/recent grad aged. As far as the school, Tuition here is about 8000-10000 a year per student with a discount for multiple children going at the same time. It's centrally located, has a great sports program, and has a pretty good reputation.There are about 600-700 students who attend school here. Zumba is held either in one of the gyms or the cafeteria downstairs. All are well kept and clean.

Can't really rate the instruction, because I don't have any kids old enough yet to attend (and it's…read morenot my school district anyway), but the school building is spotlessly clean, and the auditorium where my church, New Horizons, meets is top notch. The sound in the auditorium is excellent, the lighting is ample, and the seating capacity is somewhere in the neighborhood of 900! Not to many middle schools can boast the quality of the production facilities Northview has. So much so that they seem to be almost better than some high school's. There is a very large stage and modern curtain and backdrop system, a small orchestra pit, built in sound (well hidden speakers) and soundproofing in the walls and large backstage area and good lighting! Even when all the lights are down in the auditorium, you can still see your literature (Bible in my case.) The church utilizes a few classrooms for Children's Church and pre-service Bible study. The classrooms are what you expect, although smaller than the ones I remember in junior high. Each teacher has decorated his/her classroom with individual decor and flair. The building is laid out as an "X" shape with a one level design to the wings (where the classrooms are) and a two story middle area where the cafeteria and auditorium sit. Part of the flooring is the durable two part epoxy and flakes that seems to be all the rage now for it's vibrant lasting color and limitless design potential. It does take the building up a couple notches from standard school form. I'd love to hear more from a fellow Yelper about instruction here, but the facility here is fantastic.

Our family recently visited Northview on a spring Saturday during ISSMA (Indiana State School Music…read moreAssociation) orchestra competition. The school was very clean and was very well represented by the volunteers helping out during the event. One thing I always look for when attending these types of events is good signage, because that can make or break an event. If you're not familiar with a school, large or small, you need signs to get you where you need to be on time. The staff and volunteers did a wonderful job of making sure there were signs posted everywhere for visitors.

It's pretty nice. For a public school would say it's clean and fun to learn in this environmentread more

This school is insanely dangerous A lot of fights and poorly…read moremanaged Not a lot of classes and the ones that they do offer are not good

this school is so good! I'm currently in this school (6th grade) and the food is so good, the chefs…read moremake the best food to be honest. But the teachers are very nice (most of them) but yea! if your child is in elementary I recommend bringing them to westlane! It's an awesome school (the best teachers are Mr. Doss and Mr. King)

this school is so good. This school is just so good like all these teachers are really nice the…read morefood is really. not good, but everything else is great.

My daughter started John Strange this year after spending her first three years in a Charter…read moreSchool. Her transition has been outstanding. This was a Grade A school when my sixteen year old went beginning her second grade year of school. The technology is top of the line. My youngest has only 22 students in her class, allowing individual interaction with each child. The teachers are incredible and love their job. Ms. Arduini, the Art teacher, is still there and recognized my oldest when we went to register her younger sister. The principal knows my daughter by name. There is diversity throughout the school and differences in culture are recognized. I just attended the awards ceremony to watch my daughter accept her award for Honor Roll and Citizenship (5 of out 5 for behavior). It was easy to get in, organized exclusively for the grade you were seeing and we were able to spend time and take pictures. As she got out of the car this morning for school, the principal said hello to her by name. Washington Township at its finest!

Can't say enough about how happy we have been with John Strange Elementary. My daughter has been…read morethere for 5 years now and this is my son's second year. We have had the most dedicated and wonderful teachers each year. The kids have been given the gift of passion to learn by this staff. They have a wonderful music teacher who puts her heart and soul into their arts programs. They put on some wonderful plays. The only complaints I have are across the board for all schools- lunch and recess are not long enough. I think it's important to focus on health a little more and i think encouraging kids to gobble down food and limiting exercise is part of the nationwide obesity problem. I think this school does the most with all the resources they have. I would love to see all schools and teachers have more money and tools to fix many of the problems that are faced in all of our schools.

Nice job, deleting my old review. Just went down star. Anyways, here's another one accurate to new…read moreinformation.

A lovely campus and a great host location for an event.read more

This is a review for the school's annual Christmas Tree and plant fundraiser. This is truly an…read moreundiscovered gem in Indy. Picture this: a lot full of trees of all shapes & sizes, incredibly helpful people that will chop down the tree of your choice, the smell of a bonfire by an old cabin, free cookies & hot chocolate to warm you up after you've selected that perfect tree, and all the funds go to a wonderful cause. Prices are really reasonable, too.

The teacher are mid and always get pregnant near the end of the year. The bathrooms are GROSS!…read moreThey sometimes explode. We had a class pet and it pooped on the teacher when she tried to tame it... Then it died. Very tragic.