This is an amazing school -- early childhood education the way it's supposed to be. My daughter is…read morea student at the kindergarten here. I am impressed and astonished on a daily basis by the stories she shares with me and the way this school functions.
I am an educator with a master's degree in education and I thoroughly researched all of our options before selecting this school for our daughter. My decision to send our daughter here was based on scholarly research as well as my own knowledge of what transpires inside typical LAUSD classrooms.
Structure of the kindergarten classroom: There is one kindergarten classroom with 10 kids (there's room for more, but enrollment was slightly lower this year). There is one teacher (who is incredible -- caring, patient, creative, available, friendly, down-to-earth, smart), one teaching assistant, and several other adults in the classroom who assist with children who require 1:1 support throughout the day.
Academic: This is one of the most appealing aspects of this school. Because of the small class size and the incredibly talented teacher, the kids here get a finely tuned education that meets their needs seamlessly. There is no one size fits all approach at this school. The kids don't sit at desks working on the same assignment packet. They move freely around the room in a structured way (during small group time) and engage in hand-on math/science activities, reading/writing activities, etc. Kids get homework, but the assignments require a family approach and are super low-key and low pressure. For example, we had fun last week practicing her sight words using any modality we chose. The assignment was to then write a single sentence describing the ways in which we practiced the sight words (chalk on driveway, typing on the computer, marker on paper, spelling them aloud, tracing letters, etc.) The parent can write the sentence and the entire class shared their experiences on Friday. Another assignment involved taking a poll (favorite fruit) and graphing the results. My daughter had practice calling friends and family, conducting her own research, and tallying the results. The whole family was involved in the assignment, we had a week to do it, and it was fun and simple.) At this age, there's no reason for kids to feel academic pressure. In fact, they learn best when they're engaging in educational activities for their inherent worth. This school captures that spirit.
Social/emotional: My daughter entered the school as a very reserved, shy, quiet child who was terrified of new environments (even after two years of full-time preschool). She has been so well supported in this environment that she considers herself to be adaptable and outgoing. She now seeks out social experiences and takes less time to adjust to new environments and people. I have seen her growth this year and attribute it directly to the social experiences that have been facilitated by the staff at this school. Because of the abundance of highly-trained, intentional teachers on the playground and in the classroom, the kids are closely supervised by an engaged, invested adult who is there to support and guide the kids in the case of a conflict. When my daughter shares with me rare stories of conflicts she's been involved in or witnessed on the playground (petty kid stuff like joining a group, or being excluded from a group -- all developmentally appropriate and typical stuff). there's always an adult who immediately steps in a guides the kids to find kind and sensible works for deescalating the situation. I'm a teacher and I've seen what goes on on playgrounds, the way adults cluster and ignore the kids, and this NEVER happens at this school -- because they're teaching future teachers (it's a LAB school!), so the bar for professional conduct is set VERY high.
I have family and friends with kindergarteners in surrounding school districts as well as LAUSD (Conejo Calley, Valencia, Simi) and I am consistently impressed by this school. My daughter is learning the same academic skills, at the same pace, with ZERO pressure on her or our family and I know she's getting tons of wonderful attention all day, every day.
Tuition: This school is not free. However, it's incredibly reasonably priced for a private school. Once I factored in the price for after-school child care, the difference was so minimal that choosing this school was an easy choice. I've visited so many other schools and this is, by far, the best environment I've come across. I can't imagine a better school for my daughter.
