I don't consider myself a very religious person, rather more spiritual in general. I did grow up…read moreattending Hebrew school, a Jewish nursery school and had a Bat-Mitzvah. I did continue on to confirmation and have visited Israel. I grew up celebrating only the more popular Jewish holidays. My family didn't observe Shabbat or keep kosher at all, but my faith was something I took pride in. It was definitely a part of my identity and will forever remain so. I knew I wanted this for my children one day but day school was honestly never something I never in a million years thought of when thinking of where our children would go to school especially because my husband isn't even Jewish! (I mention our background because if you too aren't "sooooo Jewish" or are of a interfaith marriage, don't shy away from this magical place that is our children's school. There are people from all sorts of backgrounds here!) It all stared when the littles were attending the preschool next door. I was asked by a Mommy friend to take a tour of Perelman and I actually cried on my tour. It was such a welcoming, safe space. Their method and take on education was so incredibly refreshing. When I was in grade school at a Philadelphia public school, the "mentally gifted" children would get taken out of class and get to go on special trips and learn really fun things us "regular children" didn't. We even had to take their notes for them while they we off getting special treatment. I remember this being very damaging as a young child trying to find my way. I felt less than, and it was awful. At Perelman there is no such thing. Everyone works at their own pace in every subject. The class is separated in to smaller groups where they can work beside others at their same level. The children don't know who the "gifted" or more advance students are. And they're not falling behind either. Customized attention is given to each and every student. They have so many unique ways of teaching and grading isn't your standard A,B,C etc. Its proficient, above grade level, meets requirements etc. I personally love this and think it's more encouraging and less pressure on the kids! They do however hold the students at Perelman to a higher level than what is required nationwide! There is very little homework given. At Perelman they recognize that tends to fall more on the parents. They believe the children's days are so concentrated there shouldn't be much left to do at night. They value family time. Sure reading every night, a few weekly assignments and a fun computer program called IXL, but no, no hours upon hours of HW! The staff is absolutely incredible here! INCREDIBLE! From Mona in the office who is always just an email or quick phone call away, to the smiling security guards, to Chagit, the principal who lets the children call her by her first name and whom I interact with every single day while dropping the kiddos off, to Judy the head of school and Amy in admissions. The Rabbi is amazing and makes learning so fun! He even has a YouTube channel and sends out trivia every Tuesday. The gym teacher encourages all children to try and makes everything into a game. They don't even feel like they are being graded. The kids LOVE him! He even hosts after school birthday parties! The teachers are all so amazing also. Like second moms to our children. They care. I mean, they really care. They go above and beyond for the children and again are a quick email away. They use a program called Seesaw where we can see daily clips of what our kiddos did that day in school! Way cool! Every person who works in this building knows our children by their first name. It's truly a thing of beauty! The children have Jewish studies half of the day. The children speak two languages! I only wish that was offered so young to my generation. I mean, why wait until middle school? Kids are sponges. I drive approximately 5 hours daily to take my children to school here. I mention this not to scare anyone who doesn't live close by, but rather to show just how much we love it and think this is THE best place for our girls that we will do anything to send them here. I don't play the charter school game and we really didn't want to move to the burbs. We really believe we have the best of both worlds, the city life and culture we adore and the top notch education. That's a combo very hard to come by. Again, don't shy away if you're a city fam. You DO NOT need to move from this fab city you love. There's a bus I am actually on the list for leaving from East Falls for Sept 17 and the more families that need busing, the more options there will be for us! I could go on and on for hours about what makes this school so incredibly special. I didn't even dip into holidays, special programs, specialty teachers, choir, after school art, cooking, music and Girl Scouts. Take a tour and see for yourself. Tell them I sent you. You will fall in love! We are SO in love! So are the children!

What's not to love about this school. It's high school musical in the city lol. It has everything a…read morestudent would want and more. People give it a bad name saying is ghetto, but it's 3,500 students. There are bad apples of course but there are many more gems! I worked at NE for over 5 years and loved it. The admin there is amazing, the principal Mr. Crowder is by far the best principal in the city in how he cares for his students and staff. All the APs are AMAZING as well. From Greaves to McDaniels they all are helpful and caring. They looked out for me when my daughter was attending and kept me in the loop. NEHS, a school of great character, and a place you would love to work for and have a child attend.

This school is only cares about uniform and not the education or the students but they have…read morewonderful musicals and shows that are very good for another students to join.