Update 2018: 4th year here. School improves every year. Teachers are better every year. Fewer annoying parents. Best middle school education in the country IMO. The reputation of the school as very hard is well justified. Some kids have left mid-year due to performance. Annoying parents that are still here are generally less vocal since other parents started pushing back on their crazy demands of the school...or they left to spread their cheer elsewhere (thank goodness). My son has some friends with these parent and those kids HATE their parents already as tweens...karma I guess. Update 2017: School has just gotten better and better. The Head of School (Mr. Walker) is exceptional. The worst complaint my son has is that one of his teachers is "kinda boring". There were a lot of really negative parents the first two years that complained about EVERYTHING, but many of them seemed to have left. It's really a great place to learn. It's challenging, but my son really likes it...especially having separate Chemistry, Biology, and Physics classes. Update 2016: Still happy with the school. They have continually improved on most aspects of the school. Poor performing teachers have been moved out quickly. Kid loves it. *** So far so good. The teachers are amazing and the best part of the school. There were certainly some facility issues with the new building at the start of the year but that's smoothed out now. Granted, the school is not for the academically weak. But after 5 months at the school our son really loves it. He's in a rigorous program, is challenged, AND he enjoys it. We are very lucky to have this school in our community. The downside isn't the school but all the tiger parents...never happy with anything. They put incredible pressure on the school and their kids. It's disappointing that two of the negative reviews here are from people whose kids don't attend the school. It's like walking by a restaurant and then reviewing their food! Obviously a competitor. read more

Do you want to send your child to an office building with half a basketball court and a patch of astroturf for 7 years? Join BISV today! For only 41k tuition that will increase every year! WOAH such a good deal right? Ok the education is pretty good especially STEM but still read more

My daughter attended BISV elementary and now the middle school. The school claims students get 10 hours of homework weekly, but the reality is 25 to 30 hours. That's 3 to 4 hours on weekdays and 6 to 8 hours on weekends. There's no coordination between subject teachers to spread out assignments. My daughter is a strong student who keeps up with the work, so this isn't about struggling. It's simply too much. Other parents report the same experience. There's no time left for extracurriculars or family. The principal has not addressed parent concerns on this issue. I regret enrolling my daughter here.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ read more

My son applied to this high school. Somewhere during the process, the previous director of admission was gone. Somehow, the email address was still valid - I am assuming this because a few of my emails asking for the status of my child's application never bounced back. I left a couple of VMs to the school number that was never picked up. After weeks, someone new left me a VM and asked me to call. After a few unsuccessful phone tags, i received an email from the new director of admissions (Kailyn) who told me exactly this to my email titled "Application for HS at Parkmoor was never processed": While I understand your frustration, it is ultimately the family's responsibly to ensure that all aspects of the application have been completed. As you can see in the screen grab below, your student's transcripts are still outstanding, meaning we never received them. Additionally, the 2025-2026 Application Checklist clearly states that the application fee is nonrefundable (please see the attached pdf). The part about the TS missing was obviously wrong since it reached the previous director who no longer is with the school. my suggestion - avoid this school, its in a really shady area with permanent homeless encampment visible from the campus and now it seems that the staffs are also shady. read more

We applied this school. We have an interview and we waited 15 minutes until we call them and they just ask a admin to interview us randomly. The original interview is 30minutes but we only had 15 minutes in a rush. Very bad experience. How could they forget the interview read more

As a BASIS parent for years, I'm glad I've finally stopped sending my child to this school. Here are some reasons why. 1. Environment - The school itself is built like a prison with no outdoor space whatsoever. My kid also reported a lot of bullying that occurs on a daily basis. Overall, the building is bad, and the environment inside isn't much better either. 2. Faculty - The school faculty could care less about you or your student. As long as they get their money, they don't care. The whole system is entirely money based and extremely greedy. 3. Stress - According to my child, BASIS makes it seem like good scores are the only way you'll be successful in life. And if you can't achieve that you'll be shamed for it. These are my 3 main reasons why I highly recommend you to not go to this school, among many others. read more

My child was there for two years (middle school). Every year there were teachers who left the school abruptly. The reasons were ridiculous too and sometimes involved inappropriate behavior around students. You can imagine how disruptive these incidents were for the students. Sometimes these teachers were teaching high school as well which is very unfortunate. My child was without English teacher for 2 months, no subs! You have no visibility into your child's grade on a weekly basis, and from my experience at least half of the teachers ignore your email. The school doesn't even have back to school night where you can meet the teachers. Overall, I would not recommend this school. read more

I have been a student at BISV for 2 years and dread going to this school every day. This school has made me worse as a person, and as a human being, and has given me more reasons to worry. But this doesn't matter as long as the student's parents are willing to pay 40k. Basis isn't even as "smart" as it claims to be. A lot of people here are really horrible and say all sorts of crazy, racist, weird things but the school doesn't bat an eye. This isn't even a school. It's a factory where they breed children into thinking an education like this will make them successful in life. Then they go off to a supposedly good college and all is good, right? NO. After college, they will be faced with a real challenge...life. Life that they are not prepared to handle. Life that they haven't been " trained " for. The sad thing is, I'm just a 7th grader and I feel this way. So think twice before sending your kid here. Basis might make you successfully go past the college stage but you're screwed after. Enjoy :D read more

I am going to try to be objective in my review here  Below are the pros and cons for a start  Pros - Introduction to physics, chem and bio at an early age - Your child can take any level of mathematics based on their ability  - Big selection of AP's - Capstone year in 12th grade Cons - Curriculum too accelerated so it's more of cramming and getting grades rather than understanding and developing a love of learning. - Early introduction to Chem, Physics, Bio comes at a cost of not learning your basic sciences well. No science fair, no really hands on learning. Again comes back to all about cramming. - High teacher turnover - Teachers have fancy degrees but doesn't mean they can relate to the kids or teach well. Despite paying a hefty fees, I found myself spending time explaining things to my child to make sure concepts were clear. - They brag about accelerated mathematics but honestly the mathematics questions are not challenging at all and don't instill a deeper understanding in terms of practical applications. Hardly any challenging word problems. - The obvious one is the school building is NOT a school and honestly a kid shouldn't be spending the entire day in such an environment. I won't go into that one too much. We moved our child in 6th grade into this school from another highly academic school where our child was thriving and doing very well. Our child who had a love of learning couldn't wait to get out by 8th grade. Our child in now in a highly rated alternate school. As we compare the two, we realize how bad Basis was in terms of it's teachers and Curriculum. It's hard to see it when you are there but when one has a point of comparison it becomes a lot more obvious. The teachers (most) at Basis are not good and not nearly as supportive. They brag about office hours but honestly good public schools have better office hours. The Curriculum is designed to cram and cover as much as possible without encouraging a deeper understanding. They hardly do projects/labs for the topics they cover in sciences. My child remembers every topic learnt in the current school while doesn't seem to remember the sciences from Basis. The mathematics honestly covered at Basis was a joke compared to the challenging questions my child covers at the current school.  English at Basis never gave my child the training to write analytically and my child hated writing there. Thankfully the love of writing is now back with the right teachers and training . Economics was covered in 8th grade where the kids couldn't even properly apply their knowledge. Such a waste! I just wouldn't recommend this school. Don't go for the fancy Curriculum they show off. It comes at a high cost (not money) and while your child may develop a fancy GPA for college admissions in this school they may not attain the deeper knowledge in the subjects that will attribute to long term success. That's just my observation. I am truly thankful we pulled our kid out and could send them to a highly ranked alternative school. Evaluate your options well ..... read more

I would give zero stars if I could. This is based solely on email correspondence with the director of admissions. I asked if they'd be able to provide accommodations to my kids who (without sharing private details) are strong academically but need accommodations in how they access the educational materials. This is the one sentence response I got from this school: "We do not offer accommodations that alter our program, curriculum, or the autonomy of our teachers." I would have never expected such an insensitive response! I do not expect all schools to accommodate and I understand that as private schools they have no obligation to accommodate. But I would expect a more sensitive and considerate response. And btw, I have made this inquiry to a dozen of schools in the area and this is the only school who gave this response. I would not want my kids to go to a school that holds such insensitive, inflexible and noninclusive views. read more

We liked the school. Only disadvantage is P.E is elective from 7th grade. Student can select only 1 elective from P.E/ Music or Art/ Computers/ Engineering. P.E, Art/ Music is important from Child's development. Would have been nice to give student choice of at least 2 electives. PLEASE !!!!!! read more

I signed up for a two weeks summer camp at Basis. In the Friday afternoon of the first week, I was told the 2nd week is cancelled here because they had some issues with a few OTHER campers! I had to make plan changes for my son due to the last minute notice! I am very disappointed by the reckless of the school operation :( read more

Luckily I don't have kids at Basis and we only used their gym for one week for our basketball camp. I agree with most of their parents, they only focus on acedemic but don't care about sports. Their management team not only rude but also careless about parent's feeling. I won't suggest any friend send their kids to this school read more

My son likes the school. He said the teachers are professional, really experts of their areas. Also the school doesn't set academic limits for advanced students. If your kids are intellectual curious, this is the right place. The campus is pretty small, but they have an indoor gym and 3 times PE classes for middle students. They also provide school bus to transport students to nearby club/school for extra sports, such as tennis, soccer, swimming, and more are working out. So far we are satisfied with the school. It is a new one in silicon valley, but it grows every year. read more

This school is very acedemic and stresses that point. However, they overload you with tests and quizzes, and lack good teachers. Their organization isnt the best read more

I'm going to start by saying this in a very blunt manner and will elaborate as I continue. Do not send your children. This school treats students horribly. Students have no voice, no independence, and classes upon classes are forced upon them. As a student myself, I realized slowly that I am not a Basis student, rather, a Basis statistic. I am the statistic that the average Basis student has done 10 APs by 10th grade. 10 APs? Are you nuts? No sane individual with basic learning capacity coming from a public school background and middle class family can actually manage 10 APs. read more

I am writing this review with mixed feelings. There are pros and cons for this private school, both of them are so obvious. This school just opened in 2014 pretty much from nowhere. That said, almost everything is from scratch. new school campus: they remodeled a small/medium size office building used to be occupied by IBM; new teachers: they hired teachers from all over the world, most of the teachers don't have teaching experience, some of them just relocated to bay area; new students: by some marketing tactic, they are able to enroll around 600 students in the first year. The students are pretty diversified in term of the residency: from Palo Alto to Evergreen, from Fremont to Los Gatos. They have school buses to commute. Like a lot of parents, we had a little high expectations on this BASIS school in the beginning. In the south bay (Silicon Valley), the market is just there: a lot of parents want their kids to go to an elite private school that expertise in science and technology, that offering advanced courses for the kids to explore, that providing the pool with high concentration of motivated kids in the classroom. so comes BASIS, to explore this market opportunity. So far, in my view, BASIS did good in some area, but failed in others. Before I continue my review, I need to make it very clear that BASIS school is pretty much solely focused on the academy, not other things. If this is what you look for your kids, you can consider this school and continue to read. Otherwise, I am sure this school is not for your family, please don't waste your precious time to continue read my review. Here comes the pros and cons. This is based on the 5 months experience on board of this school of my daughter, and the parent behind her. Pros: 1. A lot of teachers have very solid background, they are Ph.D's or people have research experience in universities. That said, they had formal trainings on how to do the research. Combined with the passion (some of them do have)on teaching kids these skills and knowledge, it should create wonderful experience in learning. 2. There are a lot of brilliant students there. This place has a high concentration of motivated kids from cross south bay. This creates a very positive environment, the kids do help each other on academy. 3. The parents do care what's happening in the school for their kids. There are a lot of parent groups with numeric discussions on courses, teachers, lunches, etc. The parents have a high intention to involve in the school matters and are highly connected each other. 4. The school starts to have physics, chemistry, biology courses at 6th grade. This is way ahead of other schools. 5. The math classes is divided by the capability of the kids. Some kid takes Algebra 2 in 4th grade. 6. The tuition is reasonable and affordable comparing to other elite private school. The tuition is higher than Challenger and Stratford, but lower than Harker. Cons: There are big problems on the management side of BASIS school. The management of BASIS, start from the top, tend to ignore the issues the school has, even the parents (which are BASIS school customers actually) have raised the issues again and again. 1. When the school construction work was so slow last year, a lot of parents had raised the concerns whether the school can open on time, but the BASIS management kept ignore these concerns and still promised the school campus would be ready on time. Finally it turned out the school construction not finished and delayed for 2 weeks, driving a lot of anxiousness and madness on parents. 2. The lunch time for 6th grade is on 10:30am. A lot of parents in 6th grade had requested school to change it to a reasonable time slot. They have sent emails, met with the BASIS management to discuss the issues and concerns. Even with a lot of such efforts, nothing changed. BASIS management just ignored them. 3. The lunch provider they chose for this school is very bad comparing to those in other schools. The provider simply charges more with less food. I heard one day a parent complained that the lunch provider didn't give her kid any lunch, even the parent had pre-ordered the lunch for that day. The lunch provide just sold her kid's lunch to other student who forgot the lunch, for more money. Her kid ended up without lunch that day! Overall, as I said, my feeling is mixed. I really hope the management of BASIS can improve their listening skills and listen to their customers well read more

This is a great school if you look for academic excellence. Basis has the best faculty. My kids love to learn after they went to this school. There is no question for academic. Another thing I would like to mention is that my kids learned self-management through Basis. They have their Curriculum Journal to follow everyday. They learned to take notes at school. This is amazing if they start this from 5th grade. Why I don't give 5 star is that the school facility is too small. Kids are lack of outdoor activities. Overall, this is a great school. Remember, it is a school, not sports center. read more

This is a great school. The teachers are professional. The 5th grade math teacher, Mr. Nguyen, is incredible. He is organized and really cares that the kids are learning. He is always available to help anyone who needs it and he is never cross with the kids. The science teacher, Mr. Barnes, is equally fantastic. The kids love him and he manages to teach a strict curriculum in a fun way. The knowledge and experience of the Latin and Classics teacher, Ms. Van Dusen, was completely unexpected. She speaks Latin, has a Ph.D. in the topics she teaches, and spent many years in Italy and Greece mastering her field. I feel so fortunate to have that quality of a teacher. All the other teachers are equally impressive. The academic program is integrated from year to year. Extremely well thought out and supportive. Each year plays off the teachings from the prior year, and the teachers and staff seem to really talk to each other so everyone knows what's going on. They have created a network of support for the individual child, including amply office hours, peer tutoring, study hall, and an entire course dedicated to college counseling for the 12th graders. The door seems to always be open if a kid (or parent) needs support or just wants to talk to teachers or the staff. Don't be fooled by the lack of out door space, this school cares about what your child is doing after regular school hours. Simply amazing line up of class electives and after school clubs, activities and sports. Most of the academic clubs provide opportunity for the child to get involved in and prepare for national and world competitions. Where outdoor space is lacking, the school has set up partnerships with local vendors to step in and provide facilities. Transportation is often included. And there is no lack of social events, including dances, carnivals, arts night and community volunteering, this school does it all. Finally, the opportunity for field trips (local, national and international) is on par with or better than any school I've seen. One other thing worth mentioning. The kids here are really into learning, and there seems to be a lack of drama that one typically sees at this age. There are no "popular clicks" and it's OK to be friends with whoever you want to be friends with. At least this is my observation and my kids experience thus far. Very fortunate to have this school in our community. read more

Basis is a great school if you are looking for academic concentration for your kids . I love their teachers and staff. They are very focused on your child's success in every aspect and very proactive in the approach to helping the students. I am very happy to have my high schooler attend this school and my hopes for my child have been renewed. read more

I learned about Basis Independent School through an orientation I attended and started sharing what I had learned with my son who was in 3rd grade at the time. We spent some time on the website as well. After about a week of discussion and debate, he told us he wanted to go. In fact, he was begging to go. I was surprised how well he could articulate why, but it netted out that he wanted to be challenged and thought Basis would do this. I asked him whether leaving his friends in the neighborhood school would be a problem. He said he'd miss them but what Basis was promising to offer was more important to him. Fast forward 6 months and I believe Basis is delivering on what it promised, a STEM focused curriculum that the kids are motivated to learn. About 3 months in the school year, my son said to me that he knows he's in the classroom over an hour a day more than he was last year but it doesn't feel like it to him. I think it's partly because the kids move around from teacher to teacher and that helps to keep the learning fresh. My wife and I had initial concerns: could he smoothly transition to an environment where expectations are higher, would it be an overly competitive culture, would he develop a sense of entitlement (at least I associate private schools with this having attended only public schools) and could he handle the demands of the curriculum. So far, it's been manageable for him. It does require planning and discipline, but it doesn't feel overly stressful. And, he's never mentioned needing to do better than his peers and I've found the student body to be down to earth. We've been pleasantly surprised with some of the growth he's shown. Specifically, he's taken an interest in playing the violin after learning how to play the recorder in his music class. Moreover, he has a general awareness of upcoming assignments/tests and needing to plan for them. This is definitely new in him as he's a kid who usually takes things as they come along. Basis does teach their students to take responsibility in owning their assignments so I believe it's been rubbing off on him. He's been very inspired by some projects in his engineering class, including building a bridge from paper. He and his classmate spent weeks building it. The bridge was judged in a contest for design, strength, and weight. Most recently he's been obsessed with building a robotic hand out of legos for extra credit. His initial design was flawed but his persistence paid off with a successful design. It's this type curiosity and drive that I appreciate. Lastly, my wife was reluctant to have him learn Mandarin as his language elective because he failed to learn any when he attended a mandarin immersion pre-school. It hasn't been easy for him so far but his second attempt at Mandarin has shown progress. It was one of his favorite classes early on. The initial start wasn't without some growing pains. The building construction delays caused calendars to be adjusted but everything calmed down after 2-3 weeks. Things seems to be in a good routine now. If anything, I thought the parents were a bit over the top with their expectations and the never ending, peppering of questions. I actually felt sorry for the school administration and teachers. I do have 2 things I wish were different at Basis. I wish the campus had more space for the kids to do things at lunch. They don't have a place where they can burn physical energy. The second wish was that the parent group would relax a bit. Not sure where line is between offering helpful suggestions and crossing the boundary of becoming an overbearing parent, but feels like I see the latter at times. Overall, I feel my son is getting a well-rounded, solid education and we are getting good value for the tuition we pay. It's still early on and I'm sure the demands intensify as you move up in grades, but so far it's manageable and working for my son. There is definitely an academic slant to it but it's done in a positive way. read more

If you can imagine a school without an outdoor area, playground, inside a building - then this is it. To me a school w/o a playground can never be a healthy place for a child to spend 7 hours/day - inside a building, including lunch! Administrative staff- didn't come across as genuinely nice, but, rather as those with a veneer of nice behind a mediocre personality. read more

Very cool pass by this place today very cubic very expensive very reflective very cool architecture I enjoy being a student here will miss this place definitely. Thank you basis for being cool and solid for 4 years in my life read more

I have a 7th grader at BASIS SV. She enjoys the academic challenge, great teachers and positive social environment. She has so much to share with us after school. We are very happy that she loves to learn as well as socially happy. read more

I am a parent of a middle schooler and my kid currently goes to Basis. We plan to withdraw this year. Here are the reasons: Most of the teachers lack experience and passion. They are highly qualified (PhDs etc) but a degree does not necessarily imply that they are good teachers. The Math program at BASIS is poor. A kid from Basis often does not fulfill the qualifications for college acceptance due to the lack of Geometry. It seems that BASIS is planning to change out the Math program (Saxon) for something that's homegrown. My question to Basis is why reinvent the wheel when there are tried and tested programs such as Mathematica already available? What is the guarantee that the homegrown program will fulfill the demands of tier 1 colleges? The school is too academically focused with no avenues for sports. They do have a lackluster basketball and volleyball team. They do have visual arts and music as electives All of my kids friends including him hate going to school. They are unenthusiastic and the school has absolutely removed the joy of learning for these children. Fees are high with very little ROI. Fees increase at a rate of 6% every year. The administration of this school has very little experience. They are rude and curt and are unwilling to listen to kids and parents. The school has deans who are supposed to help with student support. These deans have no experience in dealing with children and no qualifications (like a psych degree) All they do, is yell at the kids and the only action that they know how to take is giving detention to the children. The school prefers no parent interaction. They have weird parent teacher hours in the middle of the day making it impossible to meet them. You can set up a 15 min phone conversation with them. The school tried to change refund fee policies this year wherein if we withdrew after third week of March, we were liable to pay $10K. They removed this policy when they faced a lot of parental pressure. No school in the bay area has such policies. The college acceptance is mainly to tier 2 and tier 3 schools. read more

My child admitted to self-harm due to stress while at this school. When contacted, the representative of the school refused to acknowledge that my child was stressed and harmed herself, in spite of sending a photo of her scars. read more

School emphasizes academic part which is good but management is very disorganized. Management needs to pay attention to parents' feedback.

My daughter is in 7th grade . Initially she struggled but after getting help at office hours and leaning to plan her work load she has excelled . She likes going to school and has made good friends . The teachers are good but like any school There are some that are not that good . Only draw back is lack of green grass and also I think there should be more break times especially one in the afternoon . It is a long day for the kids so they need more snack breaks . Also wish there was Better food available more than just at lunch time . Teachers are good . There are some kids that are rude and don't look like They come From a good background but they will be disciplined . read more

This is a go-for-profit school so it eliminates high spendings facilities, such as outdoor sports field, single one building with poor A/C for more than 800 students! And its location is in a cheap/noisy/gun shooting neighborhood. The school management and administration don't take parent suggestions. Full of bully behaviors in the school and nobody cares. Teacher attrition rate is high. They are like a training organization, only focus on academics. 90% are Asian students, the 10% are teachers kids! Do not recommend this school! read more

If the school administration doesn't realize the agony amongst registered parents, the school is NOT going to last long. With the delayed construction, and a ridiculous program charging extra dollar, just to cover "school supply, school map, school schedule" sort of things that can be clearly explained in a piece of paper. Do they think Silicon Valley engineers are idiots? Wait till they learn! Engineers know best how to earn those cash, one-way only --- DELIVER, in a timely manner with top quality! read more

Almost a month into the school year, the school building is still a construction site. The facilities are severely lacking with no gym, no cafeteria, no library, no basketball courts. After school clubs and activities all have to be held offsite as the campus has no space and these activities are prohibitively expensive. The administration has a public charter school mentality rather than a private school one. We are yet to see what the academics are like but that is the only hope. read more

If you want a well-balanced environment for your child that both stimulates their intellectual interest and keeps them preoccupied in an outgoing and friendly environment, I highly discourage you from sending your child to BASIS Independent Silicon Valley. Kids from 4th grade run around the halls shouting out their latest scores from weekly tests ("What did you get on the test? I got a 93!") There are 5th graders in the AP Calculus courses. While all of this academic rigor looks great to college admin officers, it lacks depth and foundation for a solid education, one that piques the interest of students in the subject, not just in the numbers planted on the top of papers. And the admin boast that the environment they encourage at school is a friendly, non-competitive environment. Right. Simply put, BASIS is a business with a corporation-like attitude toward learning, not a real school. Here are other bones I have to pick with this school: 1.The admin at this school, for the most part, are rude and cold. My child mentioned that while she was walking down the hallway, she made a harmless remark to my friend and they fell into conversation while there was a passerby admin walking out of the office. The admin looked at my child and rolled her eyes, to my surprise and outrage. Never have I been to a school where the admin were so aloof and acted superior to everyone else. 2.We pay 5 dollars for my child's lunch every day, a pricey amount for a meager peanut butter and jelly sandwich with some carrots on the side. Might I mention, Harker's food is scrumptious in comparison, with a full salad bar and other amenities. And it's included in the tuition. 3.The clubs cost upward of a minimum of 100 dollars. Clubs like Mock Trial cost 1000 per student to choice, which is fairly ridiculous, considering that that is merely the base price, non-inclusive of field trip and tournament prices. Seems to me like BASIS is trying to leach all the money out of us as possible. 4.The school encourages a non-bullying environment, yet it is anything but that. My child tells stories of witnessing her peers getting bullied by others who think they are smarter. Scores equate popularity in this school, and the less advanced students are often made fun of. The admin don't seem to see this, but instead pull students aside for being disruptive in class by chewing gum and forgetting their pencils. Seems to me that the admin are quite often bored and try too often to enforce their authority over menial details. Many people may ask, why do I choose not to pull my child out of school if I have these complaints? Well, the school does not come without its benefits. It does offer more AP courses than any other school in the region. My child is pushed academically every day, and I have seen her excel at this school. The fact of the matter is, this school is not for everyone, like other BASIS branches. The things I listed above were just several of things that I have witnessed through my child, and if you are a parent who believes that education should be more than pencil to paper and living for a college admin officer's approval, then this may not be the school for you. read more

Overall we're very happy with BASIS. We came here attracted to the STEM focused curriculum, and have been very impressed with the content and coursework of the classes and the dedication of the teachers, many of whom are PhDs. Teachers have office hours after class and are always willing to help the students. It's been only 5-6 months and I'm confident that my 8th grader now has a solid foundation in math, physics, chemistry and even economics. But make no mistake, this school is definitely academic and fast paced, and is for students who have strong academic goals to start with - you cant afford to drop the ball otherwise you can get left behind very quickly. Like other schools, homework load is high but unlike other schools, designed to make you think and solidify concepts. read more

Great charter but arrogant staff, primarily the Head of School. They don't understand that this is a private school so parents have lot more questions than they might have had in a public charter school. There is captive audience in the silicon valley so it is great place to start a school but the staff needs to have the same friendly attitude that other respected schools like Bellarmine, St Francis, Presentation, Harker, Mitty have. I think the overwhelming response from the silicon valley residents may be the cause for this arrogance. We had lots of expectations from Meet the Teachers event but it was very underwhelming - most teachers have no teaching experience and the Head of School feels that 1 month of training is better or equivalent to an experienced teacher so no experience is necessary! read more

This is one of the worst schools in the bay area. Combined middle and high school makes it impossible to shield young kids from hearing age inappropriate language. No playground and small strip of play area makes it unsafe for kids. Some of the teachers are not qualified for the subjects that they teach. BISV administration is not open to feedback. The school has extremely high turnover of teachers and ad-hoc policy changes makes it impossible to take this school seriously. We left the school after suffering through multiple academic years. read more

My 6th grader loves this school and has learned so much during this school year! Most of the teachers are passionate and really knowledgeable about the subject matter. Kids study 3 different science subjects (Biology, Physics, Chemistry) starting from 6th grade. And although the focus is on sciences, they do have Latin in 6th grade (with a fabulous teacher), fine arts electives which include visual arts, but also music and drama, and foreign languages. Many of the 6th grade textbooks are high-school level. I would say that overall it's a great school for a kid who loves learning and needs to be challenged. read more

After a year and half my kids staying in this school, I finally feel comfortable to rate this school: they do have a higher than normal turn over ratio in the beginning, but everything goes more smoothly now. The teachers are very responsive, emails are replied instantly. You can talk to the dean or school executives pretty much the next day or two after email is sent. My 5th grade child had issue of organizing her homework and projects. The dean made a 3months weekly plan with her before we even realized it! For typical parents like us in Silicon Valley, this might be a school you are looking for! read more

We found this school to be outstanding for our needs. It has an academically rigorous program with many opportunities for accelerated learning. They hire great teachers and offer many extensions. While this is not the ideal school for sports and athletics, the academics and extra-curriculars are world class. We've also been pleased with administration responsiveness to any parent concerns. read more

My son is going there since 8th grade. The environment has enhanced his personality. Great academic focus from great teachers and multitude of amazing clubs and programs! read more

Very positive experience. The school has set extremely high academic standards and the teachers work hard to help and motivate students achieve those and reach their full potential. The classes are tough, homework is challenging but this is for the greater good of the child and I can see both my children working hard and getting more knowledgeable and academically stronger. The staff including the principal Ms Ruggles and the college counselor Mr Wilcox is very competent, easy to reach and very responsive. I am excited for my kids:-) read more