1. Walter Hays Elementary School

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Palo Alto, CA

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Walter Hays Elementary School

4.3 (3 reviews)

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Stratford School of Palo Alto

Stratford School of Palo Alto

4.0(69 reviews)
0.6 mi

A huge shoutout to Miss Ella and Miss Jahaira! You are the main reasons our daughter wants to keep…read moregoing to school (and returning for a new school year). Looking through our daughter's portfolio made our day, it shows how much you (and other teachers such as Miss Karen) have done for her. Thank you for introducing them to artists like Mondrian (so inspiring!), for your endless patience when she didn't want to nap, and for always being so open and honest with us about her development. It means the world to know she is in such caring, dedicated hands.

Warning for parents of toddlers (Early Preschool, ages 2-2.5): We withdrew our son after just 3…read moreweeks due to safety concerns at Stratford Palo Alto. - A teacher opened a metal gate while my son's hand was in the hinge, crushing his finger. It required an ER visit to sew up his finger and fully remove his fingernail, which may never regrow. - During recess, my son was repeatedly left by himself in direct 80°-ish sun, resulting in sunburns. Despite the hot weather, he returned home daily with a full water bottle; when I asked, the teacher couldn't even locate his bottle. - During initial drop-off transitions, teachers stood by passively while he cried, offering no engagement or comfort. When I looked over for help because I was trying to leave, teacher just stood there and said, "He's just going to keep crying." The school refused to compensate us for costs related to the injury sustained under their care (they did waive withdrawal fees and gave us the school's insurance policy). We ended up paying about $3500 in nonrefundable fees / tuition for 3 weeks at this school, not to mention extra costs for nanny overtime, missed work, etc as a result of my son's injury. We've since moved him to another preschool where the difference is night and day.

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Stratford School of Palo Alto
Stratford School of Palo Alto
Stratford School of Palo Alto

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Hope Technology School

Hope Technology School

4.4(13 reviews)
1.4 mi

As a grandparent, I have had the opportunity to have my grandchildren near me (I am involved in the…read moreschool) and part of the school program. Both of my grandchildren are neuro-typical, and have done excellently here. The oldest, who is finishing the Middle School program has consistently tested well on the nationally normed tests, and has benefited from their small class sizes, caring teachers, and focus on developing empathy and service to others. She has, with all the attention advanced ahead a grade, and done extremely well. The youngest, who is moving into the middle elementary years is all about play and friends; yet he has been engaged and challenged to do his best. He has risen to the challenge and done well. He loves his friends and he loves to learn. I have found the school's unique mix of students (inclusion serves everyone well) as well as the small class sizes, and the emphasis on building good relationships and resolving conflict has served my grand children well. It has been a great experience for us all.

I know this school is built for people with learning disabilities and ASD, but I feel like the…read morestudents here don't reach their full potential. This is not necessarily the faculty's fault, but I think the curriculum here is way too slow and dumbed down for students. My daughter struggled in this school because it was too slow for her, and she was way ahead of her classmates despite having ASD. The accommodations were great, but I believe the school didn't provide my daughter education she actually learned. She would come home and talk about how much she played on an iPad or a device, which is just unacceptable. Why are kids playing video games in class? This is school, they need to be learning different subjects. My kid talked about how their classmates were playing mobile games on their iPads that they brought to school. I think this school can be better if they focused more on pushing kids beyond what is expected, because if we keep holding our children's hands throughout life because they have autism, it invalidates that people with ASD are actually extremely capable of succeeding. I pulled my daughter out of this school, and I believe it was the best decision. She is now an undergraduate and researcher at the University of California, and I notice that no one from Hope Technology school attends the University of California, nor do any of the staff members graduate from there.

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Hope Technology School
Hope Technology School
Hope Technology School

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Emerson Montessori School - Science Class

Emerson Montessori School

4.1(13 reviews)
1.4 mi
Available by appointment
Established in 1993

I am shocked this school hasn't been reviewed yet. It's been around for over 20 years and they…read morereally are such a gem. Located off Oregon exp- it's in the same building as the preschool heads up but completely separate. It is true Montessori with differentiated learning, one 6th grader taking trig, and incredibly kind teachers. Yes it is small- has three sections. 1/2 grade, 3/4/5 grade and middle school which is new. That being said the teacher ratio is more like 1:5. Their science was impressive too. They were working on strawberry dna- for 1st graders. Classes are about 7-10 kids and it's year round or 10month option. So much more reasonable than other schools. About $2000-2100 a month including after care. Plus they teach Spanish, Mandarin and art and music. No choices- all subjects! Their website does not do the school justice. The teachers- especially raji- really love the kids and know what they are doing. Great place where kids don't bully and all the kids work with each other.

My child and her friend attended the WriteNow! summer writing camp focused on "creative" writing…read more The teacher Chuck Bernstein, who is also president of the Early Learning Institute at the school, was harsh and punitive to both kids as well as to other students in the class if they didn't do exactly what they were told, down to including very specific story elements in their stories. Even if they did do the assigned writing, but finished early and then worked on something else, they got in trouble - Chuck crumpled one of their poems and nearly threw it away because he thought they were off-task, rather than asking. Every day he had students present at the end of class, always running overtime into pickup time, and then angrily shushed both students and parents who made ANY noise (even just entering at the door, whispers, or rustling papers). An easy fix would be to do these presentations earlier so they didn't run over-time, especially for parents picking up multiple kids at different camps or otherwise on a tight schedule - but he did not react well to this feedback. On the first day of the program, the person at the front also was angry that we were dropping off at the time we did, even though we had paid for the before-care. On the second day they had a sheet of who had before-care and after-care, but did not on the first day. But to get angry at us for dropping off, rather than asking about before-care, is also baffling. The program's flyer boasted that kids would love writing after this. My child went in loving writing and came out disliking it much more than previously, and her friend started out hating writing and ended the same. Since Chuck also teaches at the school, I can only imagine that this harsh approach is one he takes with full-time students during the year, too. We will certainly never return.

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Emerson Montessori School - Chinese Class

Chinese Class

Emerson Montessori School
Emerson Montessori School - Field trip

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Field trip

Laurel School - View from the play structure facing the field

Laurel School

5.0(5 reviews)
2.3 mi

Do you want to find the best school? Do you want your kids to learn about new things? Do you want…read moreyour kids to get a good education? Would like your child to feel special? Then Laurel School is the best place to go!!! Laurel School is the best because it makes kids feel special. For example, we celebrate birthdays and also 1/2 birthdays. Kids bring in parents and get to share their most favorite book. We also share treats. Another reason that Laurel is great is because we have a lot of celebrations. One of the many celebrations is pajama day. Pajama day is a special day where you get to wear pajamas all day because of good choices the kids made in class. A third reason why Laurel School is so AWESOME is because there are lots of wonderful teachers your child can learn from. For example, there are separate librarian, music, art, P.E., and Spanish Immersion teachers. And all of the kindergarten-3rd grade teachers are AMAZING!!! These teachers work very hard to give the students a great education. We know you will love Laurel School if you come here! Adults and students agree that this is an outstanding school. Even the experts agree, we earned the California Distinguished School Award in 2014!!! We hope you are lucky enough to join us one day. Reviewed by Mrs. Yee's and Mrs. Bassett's First Grade Class C-5!!!! Go Laurel!!!

Laurel has changed a lot since I entered kindergarten there, but it still elicits a smile when I…read moredrive by. I had great teachers and many fun memories of the place still live in my mind. It always seemed so big when I was there, now it seems so mini. Guess that comes with growing up!

Walter Hays Elementary School - elementaryschools - Updated November 2026

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