Relocated to Richmond and toured a handful of preschools before landing here, glad we did the…read morelegwork. We came from a Montessori school out of state, so we were specifically looking for a child-led philosophy that prioritizes social-emotional development over early academic pressure. No rote memorization, no rushing kids into worksheets. Our son is a mover, and this school gives him real space and time for physical play every day. It's the biggest line item in our monthly budget by far, and honestly one of the easiest ones to justify. Grateful to be part of this community.

My daughter is in her second year at the Richmond Waldorf School. We have had nothing but extremely…read morepositive experiences with the school and the school community. What drew me to RWS was their philosophy around educating the whole child. The skills that children learn in a Waldorf program are designed to build a healthy, educated whole individual. You can teach a child very specific skills at any school. Waldorf is helping to develop and nurture children's natural curiosity which is something that can't be found in a textbook. A curious child that is nurtured becomes a life long learner. Not everyone is familiar with the Waldorf education and it's fundamentals. CNN did a nice overview here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LgA3jX8VPwc

I went to this school it was the best the teachers a so nice the food there is so goodread more

Don't let Lakeside Elem. fool you, this is an excellent school! Top Title 1 school in VA, SOL…read morescores are extremely high at all levels and the teachers are top notch! The office staff is friendly and helpful. Most of all, the neighborhood community really does a great job being a part of the school. Both of my kids went K-5th there and still miss the teachers till this day.

This school is a mess, I don't know what to do about it, because I'm going back to this school, and…read moreI'm scared to go back because of the roaches and rats. There has been multiple times where there will be a roach in the girls bathroom toilet, the girls bathroom is so nasty. The girls will throw bloody pads all over the floor in the bathroom. The bathroom is also infested with bugs. And there has been many fights, and so much drama to the point I can't take it anymore. And one specific bad thing about this school is if you say anything about harming your self they will send you home or suspend you instead of sending you to the counseling office and suggesting your parents to sign you up for therapy. I don't think this is a good environment to be in, and parents, if you have the time to research about this school, please do before sending your kids to this school. Thank you.

I am back again with a update.. this school is very horrible 0/10 I do not recommend the kids at…read morethis school are honestly terrible and and very disrespectful.. they do sexually activities in the bathrooms./classrooms.. kids vape and smoke inside the bathroom... the girls bathrooms are disgusting and the girls don't properly throw away their used pads.. there are MANY water bugs/roaches and rats.. it's really nasty in that school and it always smells.. the Spanish teacher is VERY disrespectful.. and the principal are very rude and lie a lot to get them in trouble.. there's a lot of school shootings scares and that concerns me as a parent I want to send my child to a school that's safe and cares about kids education.. mr.London is a bad principal to .. many kids to sexual thing and the teachers/ principals never take action to help.. and many kids sell drugs and or other toxic products I hope all parents think twice before sending there children to this school goodbye..

I regret the 4 years my kids spent here for several reasons. They were bullied by students -- and…read moreteachers!!! -- and I went to Administration several times but my child was always to blame. A teacher once pulled one of my kids aside and called him a "snitch" because he informed us of some news regarding his high school application. That teacher was voted "Teacher of the Year" the same month. There was very little one on one instruction as promised and no room for varied learning styles. They were not well prepared for high school although they got all As and Bs, played several sports, were on Student Government, and in several Clubs. High School preparation was one of their big selling points.

It's hard to review a school, but when you see it from both the teacher's and parent's perspective,…read moreit's not hard. Johnson E.S. is a Title 1 school in Henrico County and has a high Spanish speaking population. The teachers work hard at what they do. When my wife was the Family Advocate, I got to see this first hand. Very passionate in what they do.

This review is directly related towards George Washington Carver elementary. This is the last…read moreFriday in September, meaning school has only been in session for 1 month. GW CARVER IS BY FAR THE WORST SCHOOL MY CHILD HAS BEEN TO. Do NOT try to get into this school zone just because great schools dot com rates it a 10 out of 10- because that's what I did. It has been a nightmare since day one. The face of GW Carver, Ms C. Plush, is the meanest woman with glasses I have ever had to interact with. She is not helpful and should not be the "face" of the school. She is rude and does not wish to be bothered with anything. She has the worst attitude I have ever seen in my life, so why she chose to deal with parents and children I will never understand. They serve garbage food like doughnuts every day. The bus has absolutely no consistency - some days my daughter is dropped off at 3:55pm, somedays she isn't dropped off til 4:30pm. So everyday day you are getting down there earlier and earlier and you start praying that nothing happened to your child when you see all these empty buses driving by. They allow the children to nap in class. They separate the boys and girls at the playground. I could go on and on but I think you see where I'm going with this. The school is a joke. This is a warning to stay out of this district if you want what's best for your child. Good luck!

hi. recent alum here. my best friend and i attended this school. the teachers and education were…read morepretty good, but the bullying and exclusion of my best friend and i was not helped at all. i remember students were called homophobic slurs here and i had many racial microaggresions directed at me, but every time i tried to bring this up to the head of school there, i was promptly dismissed and it felt like nothing changed at all. i take note of this because a student there was so easily expelled when a white student complained about her sending a death threat, but when my queer friend and i complained to the school multiple times about the bullying we experienced, there was little to no punishment to the bullies. i also should mention there was no school counselor for a majority of the time i was there. skip forward to my eighth grade year, my best friend committed suicide. while i do admit there were probably other factors contributing to this awful event, bullying was one of the main issues as they had told me before their tragic passing. the bullying was mainly due to the fact that they were queer. orchard house never really brought their attention to this obvious discrimination in their school. after their passing, i had to leave for a week or two for my mental health, and the head of school there told my class the details of what happened with me without my or my family's permission. this school is okay if your child is white and cishet, but otherwise, please save your money.

OHS has been an incredible environment for my middle schooler. It's such a tight knit and…read moresupportive community that values each child's individuality and encourages them to share their voice. There is very little social issues/conflicts at Orchard House, and faculty still makes a point to discuss social issues and make it known that the school is a safe place, and a sisterhood. My daughter asked me to add this: "I can't imagine how painful it'll be to leave next year."

Best school in Virginia they take care of you help you get you so ready for Middle for my 5th grade…read moreson

* I offer this review for any sincere spiritual seekers who are thinking of attending this…read moreinstitution, for all institutions will always try to sell themselves in the best possible light to you. Yet, how trustworthy is any institution's own advertising and self-promotion really? That said, I would advise you not to just wholeheartedly buy into my review either. It is always best to test the waters deeply for yourself. Review The unofficial nickname for this seminary by some of its students is "the cemetery" because it is where spirituality goes to die. However, even though those students label it with that realistic nickname, they still continue to attend in order to attain that institutionalized piece of paper (degree) that they feel makes them worthy in the eyes of the socially conditioned world and their various made-up denominations. However, Jesus was a de-centralized spiritual teacher with no institutional credentials who lived and moved according to "the call of the Spirit" in the margins of society; he did not conform to the world (Romans 12:2) nor did he play by the centralist rules of engagement. The way Jesus lived was a protest against many of the prescribed norms of the intellectual and religious elites of his time and place. Didn't Jesus proclaim, "Woe to you experts in the law! For you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering" (Luke 11:52). Aren't the seminary professors with PHD's the new "experts"? On the other hand, Jesus walked the dusty countryside and the dirty city streets without any barriers between him and the people; his wisdom came from lived experience and Divine Source, not the shelter of formal lecture halls with their academic norms and sophisticated rules of engagement. But this institution is not interested in being like Jesus. That's why they have spent over a hundred million dollars beautifying their small campus with lavish techno-savvy buildings for about only 150 privileged students and faculty members while within one square mile of their bling buildings scores of people lay homeless, hungry, and destitute in the streets. Nor is this self-spending going to stop soon, as this institution will soon spend roughly 10 million dollars to renovate another one of its buildings (that they let fall into decline). Yet, "The Way" cannot be paid for, granted by a degree, or learned from the intellectual bourgeois (who love to place all of their elite titles after their names---like Reverend Doctor) in comfortable, tech-savvy, air conditioned classrooms. A true seeker must leave those societal ego badges behind them. During my time at this seminary, students and professors would over-rationalize and debate the theological merits and historical accuracy of the Good Samaritan story while there were scores of homeless people within a square mile of the seminary that they could attend, accompany, and love. Also, the seminary held a Community Lunch on Wednesdays for ITS STUDENTS, FACULTY, and STAFF while the marginalized peoples out on the streets were never invited to the SEMINARY'S RESTRICTED TABLES. I stopped attending their COMMUNITY LUNCH and spent my time attending and accompanying my destitute brothers and sisters out on the streets beyond the comforts of "the cemetery". For WHO is GOD'S COMMUNITY? How can a seminary teach its students to be "the church in the world" (as Union Presbyterian Seminary claims as its slogan) when its pedagogic professors write from within the safety of their academic status, conduct research from lavish state-of-the-art libraries, and conform themselves to the time-honored ivory tower codes of professorial hierarchies, privileged tenure, pandering for grant money, and the "publish or perish" mentality? This obvious separation from the "street level" is why scholarly works on theology seem isolated and dispassionate to spirited seekers and why the public has little interest in them. We must also ask why only over-educated people with PHD's and advanced degrees from elitist institutions are the only ones who get to teach at mainline Protestant seminaries---though Jesus of Nazareth was a carpenter's son from a disrespected backwater town who recruited mostly uneducated blue-collar laborers to be his disciples and had marginalized women as supporters and followers. How can an academic degree like the Master of Divinity (is there a more egotistical title?) taught by academics within an institutional milieu prepare a seminary student to be a spiritual shepherd for a congregation seeking God? We should also question how a seminary student can earn a Master of Public Theology degree (Union Presbyterian Seminary offers this) by completing a series of modules by sitting in front of a computer screen within the comfort and safety of their own home? Thomas Merton wrote, "The Pharisees were actually the slaves of their own system but they didn't know it." Yup!

I am but the second reviewer for Union, and over the course of my degree programs, spent four years…read moreof study and engagement within and without the seminary as a student, and am now an alum. In the course of that study, I received not one but two degrees from this institution, and I would invite you to consider the thoughts of someone who successfully completed their course of study at this institution while discerning a path to seminary- including and especially this one. It is true that seminary is not for everyone, and that seminaries as a category of higher educational institution do suffer from some of the same boundaries and challenges as all other academic institutions: the word academic is right there in the name. Yet where Union TRULY excels is not in its ability to attract brilliant and accomplished faculty from diverse background, nationalities, and specialties (which it has!), nor in its ability to prepare students for the various challenges and joys of pastoral ministry or Christian education (which it does, not shying away from the parts which are not so pretty as the white vestments of Easter Sunday). Union boasts a strong financial aid program, ecumenical focus with a growing contingent of non-Presbyterian students, world-renowned scholars on faculty and brought to campus for special events. The seminary's various mentorship and spirituality programs encourage students to form community and engage deeply beyond the classroom with things which concern them and their faith. Classes are built not just around theory, but on the ways that theology becomes real and impacts the day to day life of believers. Supports exist for students beyond academic needs, aiming to make sure that outside of the classroom, mental and physical health is being supported. Where Union truly excels is in the way it directs student involvement and development beyond the bounds of the curriculum, including student-led initiatives to address diversity, equity, and inclusion on both the Richmond and Charlotte campuses; internships which allow students to embrace their creativity and calling outside of the campuses; and connections within the community to organizations doing work to support the cities where the seminary is planted. Most importantly, to discern a way to seminary is to follow God. For some that does in fact lead to the seminary itself, to learning the theology that supports the practice and the biblical witness that then leads beyond. Every community is different, and this one seeks to support the well-being and the needs of students and support them in their study, their work, and their calling- wherever that call leads.