From day 1 to several years later, Helios has been a wonderful & warm community for the whole…read morefamily. A place where our kids are loved and encouraged to grow. Not once did our kids want to skip school, and this is from someone who used to dread Mondays. We have easily toured 50+ elementary and middle schools up and down the Bay Area over the years...public, private, charter, prestigious, tech-forward, venture-backed, STEM-focused, etc. We felt the most at home at Helios. On my first visit to Helios I was blown away at how naturally close the kids were and told myself I want my kids to be part of that, because I was a bit of outcast growing up. For me the #1 thing about a school is whether the kids are loved. It's not just about the programs, reputation, resources, and growth - although Helios does very well in all these areas now and keeps getting better. Placement of students into a high school that is right for them is particularly impressive. So many memorable teachers at Helios have blessed our kids and encouraged their natural interests in animals, spelling, flag football, rock climbing, etc. Our somewhat shy but gifted kids really have blossomed, and for that we are tremendously thankful to the entire Helios community of teachers, staff, leadership, and parent volunteers.

Helios is this warm fuzzy school, where the teachers work their butts off to figure out how to help…read moreeach kid learn and be happy, with excellent academics too (somehow, without the stress). Is it perfect? Nah. But on the things that matter -- SEL, academics, community, teachers, etc -- it's pretty wonderful. I like organization, so here goes: * Academics: Exceptional (without the pressure!). Literacy and math are both leveled. For math, kids are grouped by skill level rather than age -- so my little 2nd grader trots off to the 7th grade class for math. He is finally happy in math! Literacy is broken into different literacy circles, with differentiation with it. * Learning approach: Helios approaches education with a focus on projects and themes. Each grade band focuses on a theme, which gets integrated into history and science. At the end of each semester, they do a "Celebration of Learning" (like a portfolio). I was super impressed by what they'd done. I had one kid who went through our local public school for kinder and now our other kid is at Helios kinder. The difference in depth is remarkable. * SEL: Helios uses the Six Seconds curriculum now. This is a formal class, as well as integrated into other parts of the curriculum. Every time I walk into the classroom, I can see the lessons being applied. It's legit. * Community: Tight-knit, nice community. Supportive. There is NO showing off about how smart your kids are (I've seen this in some gifted communities). On the contrary, parents are quite open about their kids' challenges. * The kids: Kind, with a diversity of personalities: quirky, sporty, social, shy, etc. I've never heard of bullying. When I've heard of kids being mean, it's been minor one-offs and taken very seriously [but empathetically] by teachers / administration. * Teachers/administration: this is one of the most amazing things. We've been elsewhere. In some schools, it's "here is how we work; hope that works for your kid." If you're lucky, you get a school where there's a little flexibility to accommodate your kid. Helios is the first place I've seen where the first tier question is, "what does he/she need? Let's figure out how to do that." There are so many examples I can cite of teachers going way out of their way to help my kiddos. * Campus: it doesn't look too flashy. It's big enough and the kids like it, but it's not like Nueva's. But it does have some pretty awesome things. The wilderness village, for example, is amazing. It's like this outdoor field/wooded area where kids can use tools to build stuff (like Berkeley's Adventure Playground). If that sounds neat (it is!), it's actually so much more. It's an all year thing, and that fundamentally changes the dynamic. What's happening is that they're developing almost like their own little civilization. They vote on rules, have self-assigned jobs (my son's is to make paint from grass and strip sticks), and are recently introducing a currency system. Perfect? Of course not. There are some minor things I'd change. But it's pretty darn great. The issues some other reviews allude to are over now. Yes, there were some administrative issues a few years ago -- I watched it from the outside - that led to a lot of chaos and negative things. Then the toxic aspects that caused the issues left (key people, etc) or were fixed (training, etc). And it led to many positives, like removing roadblocks for Helios to revamp its literacy and SEL program, bringing in a more effective head of school, etc. It's an unfortunate chapter from the past that Helios has now, truly, left behind. Now? It's this awesome school which really, truly cares about its kids -- backed by great academics, legit SEL, a supportive community, and lots of cool activities.

As a former student, this school has been a good place for me, and the teachers were quite nice…read more They really helped me as a former student to get my life on a better path. However, in some situations, I wish the dean's office had been more supportive instead of gaslighting students who were facing vulnerable circumstances. Additionally, I observed that the school seemed to be more favorable toward Caucasian students compared to students of color, particularly in academic settings. For example, Caucasian students often received A+ grades, while students of color frequently ended up with B+ or lower, which I find highly unfair. All students of color deserve the same opportunity for excellent grades and education as their Caucasian peers. I hope that systemic injustices in our education system can be addressed.

The food is diabolically trash and must be improved. I'm not expecting 5 star food but like they…read morecould do better than undercooked bread and potatoes with dry chicken. On top of that most of the food is cold. Luckily there is a bunch of food spots around the area. But hey at least it's free for now.

Great school, great community, great administration. The school takes really great care of their…read moreteachers.

We attendee a parent student event. My brother in law was encountered by one of the school staff…read moreand was verbally threatened that he would be tackled by one of them if he did not verbally identify themself. Where is the cordial and respect we hold to a high standard for educators? Apparently none. I had to calm the staff member down and redirected the situation.

A very promising middle school located in the middle of "nowehere" in Sunnyvale, CA…read more Actually, it isn't anywhere in the middle of nowhere as this school's location has been pretty much reputed as not really the safest place for a school to be. In about the three years that I have been sending a "trophy" here, there had been about 2 - 3 lock downs and those aren't funny. Columbia Middle School has pretty awesome staff and very cool teachers too, according to the 2 kids I am now sending here. Not to forget their pretty dedicated band director and music instructor, Charles Ancheta. I have personally met him and his passion for his job makes the Symphonic Band members inspired and in tune to their instruments. I have attended about 90% of their concerts in the last 2.5 years and these students audibly improve a lot each time. Student population ranges from 6th graders to 8th, with a majority of Asian-Americans and Hispanic Americans. Their teachers are of different ages too, but I have not heard anything but praises for these teachers. I definitely havea very high regard for primary and secondary teachers as these educators mold these kids and are basically the instruments for practically shaping up these kids for the future. Oh well, bullies are present from there to here....I mean, is there ever a school without these dingbats? Columbia Middle School seems to be pretty strict about bullies (they better be!), I have had about 2 occasions where one of the kids got bullied and I got a few follow-up calls from the vice principal as to how the case was being handled. I have absolutely zero tolerance to bullies and zero tolerance to parents who refuse to straighten these kids up. As with keeping their kids healthy, CMS is also pretty strict about food brought from home. No candy bars, no chips, no sodas. Food is affordable from $1.75 breakfast and $3 for lunch. Kids don't complain! Physical Education is also pretty proactive. These kids have running and swimming seasons. Their swimming pool is big enough and is also kept clean. I used to swim a few laps in their pool everyday in the summer before I moved in to my place now. Deepest is 10 feet, I believe....so diving may not be a good idea. What about parking and traffic? During peak hours (8am and 3 pm), there're the usual traffic volunteers that defintely help a lot in easing traffic flow. There is a parking lot to the right side of the main gate where parents would normally wait for their kids. Right now, however, that space is being limited as half of it is being used for makeshift office for the Columbia Neighborhood Association as the main building is getting renovated. Street parking is allowed but NOT on the side of the school. Morse Avenue is located between Ahwanee and Maude avenues. It's a little bit in the middle of the outskirt, if I may say, and so this had earned a little rep of being a little unsafe. Therefore, several cops would patrol the vicinity at certain times of the day. Soooooo, beware of parking violation and Mr. Officer on his bikey. I have hight hopes, for you CMS. Keep up the spirit and continue providing good education to our aspiring teenagers!

Overall, cms is a pretty good school. It provides good teaching, a fun environment, and good food…read more It's fun and hasextra ways to help students that need it. Although its a good school, as a student, some teachers are kind if mean, strict, and overall bad teachers. Some teachers are bad at explaining things, or just walk away. But actually, cms is a great school.

I'm so glad I completed all 3 years in Cupertino Middle School this school has so much memories the…read moreprincipal was nice I loved my teachers so much especially in 7th and 8th grade I loved 8th grade the most compared to 7th and 6th. Goodbye CMS I'm now gonna be a student at Cupertino High School. I miss this school so much the people were nice and I made lots of friends there.

Was a former student here, which no I will not reveal my actual identity and name I used at this…read moreschool. However I can not stress enough how awful this school was from my experience. Sure there are nice teachers and sure I adore the counselors with all my heart however, the consequences given here are ridiculous. There's barely any consequences for students who constantly start trouble, they will only be given a suspension and nothing more- keep in mind we are talking about troublemakers who will bully your children. They talk about "wanting to keep this a safe place for your children" or "for you" yet the consequences given here are terrible. Not only does this go for students but the teachers get away with terrible things as well. One of the math teachers gave my friend a lower score for no reason when my friend was actually right, now this might sound like some mistake however truly it isn't, my other friends have talked about her and how this sounds like something she would do, meaning she does this to other students as well. What's worse? One of the PE teachers from when I was there did awful actions, such as touching my friend inappropriately and getting away with it. Yes, my friend did speak out about this to the office, what did they do? Nothing, he still kept his job and that's extremely alarming. This isn't a one time thing, other students have talked about his strange behavior towards the students as well. Not only that but the cafeteria food wasn't all that great... however that's merely an opinion and not a fact so that's the least of my concerns, everything else is more severe. There are students constantly fighting in this school or calling each other names or even slurs, I had to deal with a whole lot of racism when I was here. So please, as a former student, take my advice and turn away. There are a whole lot of choices that are better than this school, save your child and enroll them in another school. With all love, Cross.

Came here for basketball tournament. Nice gym. Very clean. Only downside was that AC was not…read moreworking. It was 90 degrees Fahrenheit this weekend.

I don't exactly hate this place because, from what I remember, the teachers were alright. However,…read moreI will knock them down big time because, like with Laurelwood Elementry school, they thought I was autistic and had learning disabilities despite having high grades, and showing off my skills in arithmetic in one of their teacher-student conferences for "the mentally disabled". I'm also someone who wants friends and gets along with most people perfectly, so that fact should've disregarded these mentally challenged officials claims about me being "autistic".

The state of the running track at this establishment is subpar. It is worn down to the asphalt…read moreunderneath in many places. I hope it gets redone soon.

This is a very nice school with a big campus. Teachers and students are both helpful here. This is…read morea high school but it looks more like a college.

I am a Homestead High alumni from back in the day (way back to the 80s) and I am very proud to say…read moreI graduated from such a terrific school!! I had some wonderful teachers from Ms. Ybarra for Spanish to Mr. Pelton for English. Ms. Ybarra was a powerhouse - she was probably no taller then 5 ft. but had so much spunk and energy. She was tough, but she cared so much about her students. For the most part my teachers were wonderful, dedicated and truly cared about their kids. I knew even then that I was lucky to be there - it just felt right! I was involved in drama and Mrs Clarke was amazing directing our plays and musicals. She gave me a chance in The Diary of Anne Frank, even though I stuttered and had trouble during rehearsals. Once I got onstage I came through with a strong performance and it's all because of her belief in me. The fact that Homestead students have robotics competitions and computer classes is wonderful. It might seem common nowadays - but actually not all public schools are so lucky. I would go to Homestead High School all over again - my memories are wonderful. It is one of the best public high schools in the state and we are very lucky to have Homestead for our kids and our community!!

The teacher and staff are so rude they dont have any manners for their students, my daughter asked…read morewhere her class was and a staff said i don't know find it urself, really inmature staff worst staff, and some teacher said they were gonna report my daughter to the dean, so unnecessary

Our family has attended Cherry Chase for over five years now and we can't say enough great things…read moreabout the teaching staff, the administrators, and the community!

Awesome elementary school. Great teachers and Principal. Extensive parent involvement…read more Especially in these days of budget cuts, the well run Sunnyvale School District has managed to avoid layoffs. If you don't believe me, check out the test scores as well as the property values and rents for houses and (relatively few) apartments in the school district.

First, there were 75 reactions to my original post plus I received many messages from families who…read morefelt mistreated. I just want to express my deep sorrow for every family who has been mislead and mistreated by this school. It has been devastating to get a glimpse of the dark reality. Final update: this school is even worse and more corrupt than before, in my carefully considered and humble opinion. We had a deeply concerning and disturbing set of interactions with the new director, Luthern. I remain proud of the way that we handled our interactions, and very bothered by the way he treated us. Furthermore, we undetstand that they are removing and/or drastically reducing the nature campus component of their program which was a huge part of the draw in the first place. We are thrilled that this chapter is permanently closed for us. We finally found the most outstanding school for our children, and we will never look back. Good riddance to a poorly run institution with what we believe is an unethical and corrupt administration. And by the way, the "Gifted Qualitative Assessment" is manipulable. It's largely based on parent surveys, and which parent searching for a school for gifted children won't see their kids as gifted? We all do. Your best bet if you're not a founding family is to make sure you have a ton of money and that you are willing to part with in their capital campaign, and always tread cautiously when it comes to expressing yourself authentically.

Having a preschool aged child, I speak to many families about their interest in Tessellations, so I…read morethought it'd be helpful to share my experiences with children in both the K-8 and preschool programs. When my son was struggling in a more traditional education setting (with boredom causing other issues), and as we thought about the skills and traits to nurture in an evolving world, we found what we wanted with Tessellations. "Challenging experiential education" is a core part of Tessellations' mission, and I see it everyday in the projects, conversations, and enthusiasm for school. I've seen the growth in my children's capability and confidence in tackling new problems, and their continued curiosity. It's amazing to me that in 4th grade, my son and his friends can talk excitedly about the latest non-fiction book they are reading, which could span many subjects. One of their favorite games just involves taking turns talking through imagined adventure scenarios. (And that's when they're not being active - I hear that most of their recess and lunch is spent playing dodgeball across many grades.) Video game addiction is pervasive in these times, but I feel we have a haven from it here. The kids have so many interests that gaming is just one of many. Social emotional learning ("SEL") is a priority at Tessellations, and though many schools now say they focus on this, it can be an elusive goal. One evidence I see is how kids (K-8) play together across many grades: this requires empathy and adjustment. I believe that this is promoted by the general culture, the kinds of kids here, and mixed grade classrooms. The preschool program, called Tessellations Children's Center (TCC), started just last year, has been equally wonderful for our younger child. The teachers, who are engaging and observant, supervise almost a full day of free choice time, play-based learning, and novel activity options. Recently they planted vegetables, learned about space, drew self-portraits, and experimented with pendulums. Note that TCC is separate from the K-8 school, and kids must go through a separate admissions process for Kindergarten. Although my kids have loved the school, I'm giving 4 stars since it's been a bumpy ride, and I feel for those who've been affected. We've had growing pains and changes in leadership as we've grown to Pre-K through 9th in just four years. Many admin (and parents) have felt stretched thin as they balance competing needs. As we evolve from a startup to a larger, more established school, there will continue to be bumps. During this time, I'm so grateful to the amazing teachers, and staff, including our new & experienced Acting Head of School, pouring their hearts into the school and mission. Even though Tessellations has grown incredibly quickly, it is just one school, and not enough to handle the tremendous demand for progressive and gifted education, especially in the Bay Area. I hope we will see more schools that cultivate the love for learning and holistic development like this one.