I can't say enough great things about Chapel Forge. My child has been attending the program for a…read moreyear now and it's been a positive experience . When I drop my child off, I'm greeted by every staff member and they know my child by name including the principal. The staff engages me in his educational goals regularly and keeps me up to date on all changes to help meet these goals . Lastly, I love that even if my child shows up with a scratch at school, they call me. It might sound like a lot for some parents, but this reassures me that he's an environment that prioritizes safety and attentiveness to each individual child.

Darrell K... you can't judge a book by its cover, my friend! The aging facade is the least…read moreimportant part of this school, and I appreciate that they've spent more money on the fantastic staff and programming than on beautification of the vintage exterior. Chapel Forge is a school that provides early intervention services for children from infancy through age 4. Some children have IEPs (Individualized Education Program) that address mental, physical, and emotional challenges that would otherwise inhibit their success in school and at home. Among the staff are physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech pathologists, and other professionals and paraprofessionals who are all trained and ready to help children work with and hopefully overcome a vast spectrum challenges. I am a huge fan of their inclusive classrooms, of which my son is a part. This is where there are some special ed kids mixed in with mainstream kids. In my mind, this will be good preparation for mainstream kindergarten. My child's time here has been marked by a whirlwind of activity. His class has 4 staff members and 17 students, which is an incredible ratio of 4.25 students to each adult. A special education teacher is in the classroom to focus on IEP goals with children who have IEPs. The only hitch is that since a bus does pick up and drop off I don't get to directly ask his teachers daily, "How was today?" though I can email or call them to check on that. The staff is amazing. AMAZING! Everyone from the principal to the maintenance workers greet the students by their names. They engage the children. They know what the kids are working on, and engage them in those ways. Our time with Chapel Forge has been brief thus far, but I'm absolutely impressed. We're getting better help through this public school than we were able to get through an expensive private preschool last year, whose staff was NOT trained to handle kids that don't fit the mainstream mold. Nothing against them, but it highlights the quality of the services at Chapel Forge especially as a public school. It is a little bit of a bear to get into with the application process, testing, and formation of an IEP, but you just have to know that it's a months-long process and keep at it. I'm so glad we did.

When you enroll your kid at SOTI, you have just enrolled yourself at SOTI. Thats the biggest…read moredifference between this school and the public schools in the area. So make sure that you quickly form a routine that works best with your schedule, especially if you're student is in K-5. I don't say this as a bad thing, but it is something to be noted. The SOTI staff was great, their system keeps parent in the loop of whats going on in classes, and also with homework and events. My child had her favorites when it comes to teachers, but I try to explain that there is no one style of teaching. Sometimes you get a teacher that just seems to get you, and other times you get a teacher that others may love, but you don't connect with their method of teaching. It happens... We started out child at SOTI in the 4th grade, and there was definitely a bit of a learning curve that they had to overcome to catch up with the curriculum. I feel like SOTI is about 1 year ahead of the county schools. We definitely had to be hands on with helping play catch up, and the teachers met with us regularly for support. Even though we only stayed for 1 year. Our time here made a huge difference, that I can still see in our child's development. For new students coming in, the summer programs give the kids a chance to make friends before the school year starts. Events like the Father/Daughter dance and Gala give parents a chance to be social with and without the kids. We made so many new friends during out time at SOTI, parting ways wasn't any easy decision to make.

This school only cares about money. There are some good teachers. The administration is only…read morethere to raise money. They will email you twice a week to ask for money. If you email with any concerns about your child you most likely won't even get a response. If you email enough times you may get a generic response passing the buck. On more than one occasion we got emails with another child's name where they copied and pasted a generic response to another parent and didn't even bother to proof read and change the name.

I appreciate the extra steps taken when a parent visits the school. ID checks are conducted and I'm…read morealways promptly helped. When transferring my son into the Anne Arundel County School District, his counsel (Ms. Worsham) was very involved and accomodating with the process. Improvements could be made on the etiquette of the school bus drivers. I've had my son relay some interesting events that happen on the bus. Often when you go to the school parking is reserved for the administration so on parent/teacher conferences, picking up after a school outing the parking lot cannot accomodate a lot of vehicles so you'll find people parked in the grass, bus lane or anywhere their car will fit. The availability of the online accesses to communicate with teachers is great. What I don't like is when I get an email about an assignment that hasn't been turned in only to be told upon further inquiry that it hasn't been entered in the system. This is a good way to track progress, homework and school assignments so that when a child gets their grades you are not surprised because you have the tools to monitor it. Gone are the days of free field trips. I'm not in love with the many field trips they have @ $35 a pop. I understand cultural events but if you read the notices they send home it states that if for any reason the trip is canceled you won't recieve a refund. Not a fan of that and I'm sure that they are obligated to disclose how/where your money was spent. Overall, good notification protocols when there are unforeseen events, weather or simply keeping parents in the loop on upcoming school events.

I run an after school martial arts program and one of the schools we pick up from is the Naval…read moreAcademy Primary School (NAPS for short). Parents ask me all the time which school gets the most out of their students. My answer is always the same; NAPS. This is the best run, most efficient, and nicest school you'll ever come across, period. I don't know much about how tuition works or any of that but I'm sure it's expensive to send your child here and for good reason, you get what you pay for. The quality of the education your son or daughter receives stands head and shoulders above the rest. I'm not saying other schools in the area are garbage or anything like that. I'm not putting other schools down let me be clear. Just that in my years of experience working with kids in after school, the teachers and administrators at NAPS do a better job than most. If you care about your child's future then definitely check this school out. I give them two thumbs up!

NAPS is a warm and welcoming school. The teachers are phenomenal, the curriculum is rigorous, and…read morethe children are kind and friendly. The staff is responsive and helpful. I particularly like that social/emotional learning is a major focus at NAPS. Intentionally building and teaching character is very important to me. Great school!

In my opinion this school is bomb. I am a 4th grader at this school and let me just say this school…read moreis great. The teachers are nice, and they reward you for good doings. 1 thing they have is an ambassador which mean when someone new comes to your class the counselor picks 2 students from that child's class and those 2 children help the "new kid" learn the rules. So I prefer this school over all others.BTW (i have been at this school my whole life, so i have lots of experience with it)