The recent issues in the middle school here are very sad. Inexperienced and power hungry…read moreadministrators are ruining an otherwise vibrant and exciting learning environment. We hope this can be corrected before the school goes further downhill.

I just have to write a recommendation for Almaden Country Day Schoo!. We have been there for 2…read moreyears and have had a GREAT experience. They came highly recommended and I was obviously looking for a school with academics as a priority. Math and Language Arts are THE integral part of the school day. I feel confident my child will be more than ready for the most prestigious high schools. One hundred percent of this year's graduating 8th graders applying to private high schools were accepted I just heard. Wow. The hands on Science program and "Maker's Space"(which teaches children coding, robotics, 3D printing, electronics, etc.) are both phenomenal and I cannot say enough about their Art, Music, P.E., Theater, Foreign Language and Library programs. The difference however, with ACDS is its focus on each child. The moment I enrolled I knew I was entering my child into knowledgeable hands under caring and dedicated teachers that would encourage his gifts as well as continuing with academic rigor. Whether it be their after school sports or enrichment programs as well as the over 40 electives in middle school, he would find "his" path. Since that day, my child has broadened both in his academic knowledge and most importantly, his self confidence. He is an 4th grader and loves his school! The tenured teachers, under an exceptional Head of School, encourage self exploration and provide the opportunity for each child individually to find their path while still adhering to curriculum. No school is perfect and I am totally aware...but they ask. In a yearly survey we are asked, How are things? How can we do better? Does your child feel challenged and accepted? Do you feel a part of your child's education and development? Do you and your child feel a part of the community? (Along with much more!) Its other accolade is their TLC program which is one of the only specialized programs of its kind in the Bay Area. It provides 4:1 ratio for children who need small group education (within perimeters) in Math, Language Arts and Social Studies while integrating for other studies into the larger classroom experience in preparation for high school. It is a supportive environment with specially trained teachers that allows children to feel confident in their learning. My child has benefitted tremendously from this program while still feeling accepted within the larger program. ACDS has intentionally planned for seamless transitions within children's daily routines. I encourage anyone interested to go to their website or an open house and see for yourself. I encourage you to talk to other parents! Several! Or even the kids (whom by the way give the open house tours.). Your school choice is a big decision I know. I was there. The more information the better so you can make the decision what is right for your child and your family. ACDS was the right choice for mine.

I have the highest praise for this school! My grandson (now a sophomore at Pioneer) attended…read moreCastillero, and now his sister is a sixth grader there. The academic program is strong, with elective classes of high interest. The Music department is outstanding! I'm so grateful that my grandson had the benefit of learning to play the cello; his sister is now doing the same. (As a retired teacher, I'm pretty savvy about what makes a quality school. I definitely put Castillero in that category.)

My friend goes there her name is Brooklyn she is probably one of the best on our girls a team…read more basketball team called cagers. Sports are very good at castillero. I highly recommend their sports.

You do good at teaching , but you only do favorites and its horrible. I mean, this school cant…read moreeven get a 5 star rating, but they can get a one star. Now, I wonder how much the "Chromebooks" cost? Those are falling apart. And Ms. Tena is a menace to the children and will do anything to land you in the office. Then the tests are first grade, and somehow these kids still fail and miss 7 of the problems. I mean, this school generally sucks.

The school itself has many problems, such as praising children for doing the smallest things, its…read moreto save the teachers from the embarrassment as they don't teach anything at value to the kids, nor will it help these kids succeed later on in life. Sending home 3 report cards in a year, it is to clearly show or trying to persuade the parents that they are teaching something at school, but clearly not. One thing I've noticed commonly is the biased opinion, as staff here that is supposedly "making sure kids are safe" during physical sports such as recess as an example, only keep an eye on a couple of students which is those who are mostly known to get in trouble. Even if that student isn't doing anything wrong, they at least try to find a way to get them into trouble. This is clearly biased, as other students are clearly disregarded regarding this matter. Substitutes are clearly another story. I'm sure as an elementary school, higher authorities try to take in any staff they get. But the don't try to see how they behave with children. I've had substitute teachers make up nonsense about our uniforms, telling us ridiculous things that aren't even said on the school website. As a student here, I am very sensitive to the sun's heat, easily being able to get a headache. I wear a hat to make sure that I am being prevented from getting a headache. Before I started wearing a hat, I was sure to look over on the school page to see if there was anything I needed to know before wearing a hat. It was pink, and completely covered my head to prevent me from getting a headache. The next day when I walked to school feeling very confident, a staff member permitted me from wearing the hat because it "wasn't part of the uniform". I went home, with a horrible headache as I wasn't allowed to wear my hat that day. Again looking back at the school website, there is absolutely nothing on the school's website about hats. What this school staff said was completely made up nonsense. I've had a teacher who used to yell at us for nonsensical reasons, as we didn't have good "hearing skills". I've had classmates who were again, well biased and discriminated against my teacher. They had written a well, sincere apology letter only to be thrown away by the teacher without it even being read. This is truly wrong, as later that day only she started to cry as she told us we were the worst class ever.

Horrible. The teachers were fine, but everything else is atrocious. NB: if your kid is getting…read morebullied, the school will turn a blind eye and do absolutely nothing. They cater to the people who fit their mold and that's it. I highly recommend IF you want your kids to have an education that's on par to what we received 30+ years ago.

Fantastic school with a great community, which is the thing you'll hear parents rave about most…read moreoften. We've been here 7 years and counting. If you see a negative review, click on the person's account and you may find that they like to give negative reviews. Maybe it's you and not everyone else AB, just sayin :-)

This is possibly the worst school. 99.9% of the teachers are clueless and have a big ego. The…read moreprincipal only cares about herself and the money. She is dirt cheap and undercuts everyone, parents and teachers alike. The school is located near another school of kids with significant behavioral problems. I myself went to this school. It was horriffic. I only had 4 good teachers in my 8 years of attending. The campus itself is beat up, due to the fact that Mrs. C is too cheap to fix anything. The teachers are also VERY favoritist. Even up to the point of selecting who they would give a good letter of reccomendation to. If they don't like you, expects a lot of demerits and detentions. Overall, this is just about the worst private school around. Do not make the mistake of sending your kid there, or you and they will regret this decision for life. Also, the teachers have a tendency to write good reviews for this school (Probably Mrs. C looking at how much work she has:none), so my review would get drowned out by their own to make the school look good. This is a waste of money that will end up in the pockets of a greedy cheap person who won't even spend it on your child.

This is a very well run school with staff and volunteers that care about making a public school…read morethat helps kids succeed. The teachers are great and care deeply about the kids. The facilities are new, clean, and extensive.

my kids loved that school, there teacher were kind and nice they made a lot of friends over there…read moreI'm proud of my son

My children are now in their third year at VCA, and I can't say it enough -- I never truly…read moreunderstood what it meant for kids to thrive in a school until they came here. At VCA, my children are genuinely known and loved, and as a parent, there is nothing more reassuring than seeing other adults deeply care for your kids! The academics and arts programs are excellent, the campus is stunning with exciting improvements ahead, and the parent community is truly special -- I love connecting with other families, often over coffee at Venture Coffee. I've been overwhelmed, in the best way, by our experience at VCA. What I love most is that the school leadership is never content to settle -- they're always striving to grow, improve, and create an even better experience for the school body and community!

We absolutely love Venture Christian Academy. Our kids are happy here every day, and the teachers…read moreare truly loving and attentive. Our daughter is typically anxious with transitions, but she settled in remarkably well thanks to the warm, patient staff and supportive environment. Our two younger children also absolutely love school--they look forward to being there each day--and both took less than a day to transition with no tears when they started. Class sizes are small--fewer than 15 students in our kids' classrooms--which means real, individualized attention. We also value the well-rounded curriculum that goes beyond academics to focus on character development and a strong Christian faith foundation. It's exactly the balance we hoped to find. The campus is beautiful and well cared for, and they're actively investing in the future with a new middle school building and gym facilities underway. As parents of three students here, we couldn't be happier with our decision. Venture Christian Academy has been a blessing to our family, and we recommend it wholeheartedly.

My daughter attended from TK to 7th grade. Like other reviews, this is not an ordinary school…read more It is fundamentally not an In-N-out style magically changing your kids into whatever parents wish. Parents have to participate in all activities in order to learn skills to teach your kids and others. Definitely a good school if you care about your children's education and willing to invest your time and effort. They are not focusing on grades but on cultivating a love of learning and reading for their entire life. I know for some people this could be unacceptable. Education is not just teaching a parrot to talk. To learn how to learn: Reading, writing, logic, and math have to be consistently practiced within your family -- better not to depend solely on any school. If any school can teach your kids self-motivated learning before K-8, it's already very successful. My wife and I learned a lot every year, and those lessons are still part of our daily life. "mistake can be a beautiful oops" If you attended any public school you know how it felt when they acted like DMV. That is why we put our daughter in D2. "Prepare the child for the road, not the road for the child."

We decided to withdraw from this school shortly after Labor Day Weekend. One of the main concerns…read morearose when I was showing a family member how to pick up our kindergartener -- we discovered the school building was completely unlocked at 9 PM on a Monday night following the holiday. Not only was the main entrance open, but the atrium providing access to all the kindergarten classrooms was also unsecured. That raised significant concerns about safety and building security. Additionally, we heard from multiple returning parents that teacher quality varied significantly, and there was a noticeable trend: returning families' children all seemed to end up with the most sought-after teacher. It gave the impression that there might be favoritism or uneven distribution of classroom placements. Another concern was the dynamic between some teachers and parents. It felt as though staff were hesitant to be candid, possibly out of fear of upsetting families. We were told things that didn't line up with our own observations about our child -- mostly overly positive feedback that seemed designed to reassure rather than inform. The environment gave off a sense that the school was trying hard to maintain enrollment numbers, possibly at the expense of honest communication. While we know no school is perfect, these issues were serious enough for us to feel that it wasn't the right fit for our family.

This review is for the staff. While the school is a high ranking, high achieving school, the staff…read moreis one of the most back-stabbing, catty, cruel staff with whom I have ever worked. I volunteered and before beginning, I suggested meeting with the teacher to discuss how I would be most helpful. The teacher agreed that this would be a good idea. After a few conversations, this never happened. I told this teacher that since it seemed meeting was impractical given our schedules, that I would appreciate suggestions along the way to help me be more effective. No suggestions were ever given so I assumed everything was working smoothly. As I sat in the lunchroom, without fail, I overheard constant gossip about students, parents, other staff, and comments about "stupid" kids, "ugly clothes", ugly hairdos, annoying parents, and useless people. Not only did they complain, they named the people (first and last). I understand the need to vent, but there is a time and place for this. At school not knowing who was listening, is unprofessional and unacceptable. At the end of my volunteer time, I was told that I was useless, unprepared, and had never communicated with them about how to be most effective. All of this was untrue and I came to find out, they simply didn't like me so they reported these things just to get me out. Little did they know, I had decided earlier that I was not returning. I honored my commitment because I have integrity, but I would never put myself in that situation again. Beware that should you volunteer, work on PTA, or do anything alongside these teachers, you will receive backlash if you don't fit into their affluent white clique.

I can honestly say I have had the best time at Los Alamitos. I have been volunteering there since…read moremy youngest was school age and have met so many wonderful people along the journey. The teachers have been great. The welcoming smiles we get coming into campus each day do indeed spread the kindness around. Now that I have been on campus daily for years many of the students also know me and say hello to me when I walk by, and for my "little" friends in Kinder or 1st I love the energetic hugs. Los Alamitos is a great community with lots of support from local business, parents, teachers, and staff!

Sakamoto is an excellent elementary school till 6th grade. It is in a nice community which cares…read moreabout the kids and programs. The teachers are good and really caring. My son came to this school from a private school and initially had lots of reservations. None of them panned out to be true. The only negative is that as a public school, the school has to tolerate some black sheeps.

Sakamoto is a great elementary school. The teachers do miracles with what little they might get…read more Not a state of the art facilities, but good citizens of the world are being born here!