I have seen Rivendell School almost every week when I drive by to deposit my recycling. They have a…read morebrightly colored playground and a huge peacock statue that was once was covered in CD's which was very very creative! It reminded me of a real peacock! It has since lost the CD's and is now dressed Hawaiian style. About a week ago I saw that Rivendell has signs up for a book sale. The prices looked very reasonable. About 50 cents to 2 dollars, depending upon what type of book. I went in and looked around the place. I was very impressed! The school is fairly small and the main room is covered in books. A very impressive library! I bought about four or five books all for a very good price and the ladies that were working there were all very nice and sweet. After going to the book sale I decided to investigate more about what Rivendell School was about. I saw that they have been around Fort Collins since 1976. They are a nonprofit, secular private school. They have a huge emphasis on respect. They teach children how to respect the teachers and each other no matter how different you may be. In other words they don't let the cliche's run wild like at regular public schools. Their curriculum is less 'goal oriented' meaning they don't primarily focus on test scores and make things so directional. If a child needs a little extra attention then they can get that extra attention because of the small class size. Wow! How I wish I could have gone to a school like Rivendell! I was not impressed or amused overall with my public school experience and think I would have done much better in a place like this. While I don't have children I would highly recommend this place to friends that have children that are about to start school. I think they could greatly benefit from it. I also will be keeping tabs on the school's events and would love to continue to support this place! There really, really needs to be more schools like this!

Both of my children attend or attend here. The teachers are wonderful, caring, and highly…read morequalified. The curriculum allows students to progress at their own pace. The low teacher/student ratio provides a wealth of time for individual instruction in literacy, math, foreign language, science, and social studies. The school has a tight-knit community that fosters a life-long love of learning,, a trait that is more than worth the cost of tuition.

Good teachers, but some students are pretty bad. I'd recommend though! Lincoln has a very nice…read morevariety of classes!

Went here for a baseball tournament. Baseball fields are nice. Only issue we has was the portable…read moretoilets were close to full on the first day and unusable by the second day. The maintainace guy came around to empty trash and apologize and let us know there was a gas station down the road. No concession stands either so need to b prepared of back to back games.

When I was searching for a school for my children, I didn't just consider the curriculum, the…read morecommute, or the demographics. I asked myself a bigger question: What kind of adults do I want my children to become? With that in mind, I chose a school that would teach them integrity, resilience, and the ability to accomplish and create in every stage of life. Ridgeview offers more than an education--it offers education for life. As they often say, "At Ridgeview, we do hard things." These challenges aren't for their own sake, but to help every child discover and develop their full potential.

I went here from 9th grade until I graduated high school. I made great friends and had a few truly…read moreexcellent, inspirational teachers, but I also had multiple teachers (particularly ones that taught history and government related classes) who were overwhelmingly biased and even frequently told blatant lies or made up stories to further their own narratives about our world. I would frequently come home after history class and feel a need to fact check my teachers; more often than not I would find that they were thoroughly wrong on the topics I had researched myself. Also at Ridgeview there is a culture of conformity. Self expression often seems discouraged and students can be severely punished for "disrespecting teachers" when in truth all that happened were mere disagreements. And, although respect towards teachers is a paramount rule within this school, teachers frequently disrespect and make fun of students; the principal himself has presented ad hominem attacks against students during debates about things like paternity leave, the black lives matter movement, or the wage gap. I have nothing against tongue and cheek banter, but what I'm talking about here is beyond that. Student council at this school is for all intents and purposes run by the administration. As such students have no real say in the frequent changes that come to the school. The current principal seems to want the school to be a place for deeply conservative minded young people to become even more staunch in their views, rather than a place for real discourse, debate, and discussion. Also this place abstains from teaching any kind of sex-ed, which I believe leads to a deeply misinformed student body when it comes to sex and sexual identity. The school claims to be a place for students who like a challenge or enjoy difficult and truly stimulating classes and conversation. If that describes your student however, the IB program at Poudre, or the AP programs at Fossil or Rocky would be better, in my opinion, and would probably set up your student to be more likely to get into top colleges with top scholarships. DISCLAIMER: I did not attend Ridgeview in middle school or in the lower grades. My review is based in my experiences predominantly in the high school. Please do not judge their middle school based on what I've said. Students typically seem pretty satisfied with their middle school experience here.

My son has always struggled with being away from me. He hated daycare, preschool, and kindergarten…read more At one point, I even chose to homeschool him because of how difficult school experiences had become for him emotionally, We also tried therapy and many different schools and programs, hoping to find the right fit for his needs. Then we found Axis International Academy! From the very beginning, the staff went above and beyond to support him. They worked closely with his 504 plan and even adjusted it as his needs changed when he began vision therapy on top of behavioral therapy. Every single person treated him with kindness, patience, and understanding like he was their own child, enough that his therapist felt like he was finally over that bump and no longer needed to continue our sessions (twice a week at that point) As a former teacher myself, I have high expectations when it comes to schools and educational environments. For us, it was never about whether he was capable of learning. It was about understanding why he hated school so much and helping him feel safe, supported, and understood. Axis did exactly that. Yes, there were challenges along the way, but the way each staff member handled those challenges made all the difference. For the first time in his life, my son genuinely loves going to school. These are the last days before summer break, and he is actually sad he won't get to see his teachers and staff every day.. on top of his new friends of course. I never thought I would hear those words from him! At this school he is spoken to in a way he can comprehend. He is celebrated, respected, encouraged, and loved. No other school we experienced compares to the level of care and commitment we found here. I also want to say this honestly.. schools cannot do it alone. A school is not there to raise a child. it is there to teach, guide, and support families. Axis has done a phenomenal job doing exactly that, not just for us, but for many other families I've had the pleasure of meeting there. In my opinion, a 2.3 star rating does not accurately reflect the heart, dedication, and support this school provides. Sincerely, A grateful parent

This school actively weeds out any children with special needs. I have a gifted child with autism…read moreand adhd. She spent months in therapy recovering from the way they treated her. We had to switch towards the end of kindergarten because they decided that instead of helping her, they would require her to watch her class on an iPad in the office with a parent. We had to take off weeks of work to just sit in an area away from the classroom waiting for them to not be able to handle an undersized five-year-old. This isn't actually legal. Legally, they were supposed to support her. Legally they were supposed to hire enough staff so that all children had equal access to their program. They didn't. They were saving up for a new building. By the time they agreed to even meet to discuss her diagnoses they'd already ruined the school for her. She still talks about how horrible it was.

This school knew about bully issues in a group of kids and said that they would talk to the kids…read morewith the counselor. Multiple times during 4th grade I was told this would take place but my kid said that it never happened and the bullying continued. In 5th grade I coached my kid to just stay near a teacher at all times since they took no action. This is the same group that had an attack with a weapon the first week of the 25/26 school year at Blevins. For the last 2 years they have known that the crossing guard is not doing her job properly, last year she admitted to it and nothing was done. This year she has not crossed 18 kids, I recorded it on the 13th kid and she was retrained but started up again after 2 months. She frequently shows up late, leaves early, and sits in her car even with a chair propped up in front of her car. The principal said he would switch with her but never did. This school says they will do things to make you feel better at the moment, but they do not actually do it.

My daughter is in 3rd grade at this elementary school since kindergarten. Based on the education…read moreculture in this country, I think this about as great of a public school that you could find. Project Based learning and Growth oriented mindset are the two main components that bring the culture of Olander above the average elementary school. You're always going to have less than complimentary personalities between certain individuals, but I am grateful my daughter goes to Olander.