I have no words to describe what this school has meant for our little ohana. Our child attended…read morefor two years and was provided with exceptional care and compassion, patience, and everything you could ask for in a preschool. Every teacher there felt like they were born to be a pre-school teacher! We feel incredibly grateful to have found Ewa Plains Enrichment in Ewa Beach for our son. From the very beginning, it felt personal. We were not just enrolling in a school but becoming part of a warm, loving community that felt like family. Miss Jessica and the entire team of teachers are everything you would hope for in a preschool. They are warm, kind, intelligent, and fully engaged with the children. Their sincerity and care were evident every single day. It was almost tangible how much they truly loved each child, including ours. The mission of Ewa Plains Enrichment feels centered in love. Every lesson, classroom moment, and interaction reflects that. Our son not only learned how to read here, but something lit up inside him. It was as if a light switched on, and now he reads his own bedtime stories with joy and confidence. This milestone was nurtured by the school's incredible literacy program and the encouragement of his teachers. The school's focus on literacy is truly outstanding. The dedication and joy the teachers bring to reading is something our family will never forget. We also deeply appreciated the school's commitment to Hawaiian culture. Field trips to the lo'i, the pumpkin patch, and the library helped connect learning to the land and the community. Through songs, stories, and hands-on experiences, the children developed a strong sense of place and respect. As a Buddhist family, we always felt completely welcomed and respected at this Christian school. The values of kindness, compassion, gratitude, and responsibility were shared in a loving and inclusive way that felt deeply aligned with our home life. Our son also had the opportunity to share his own heritage during Culture Week and to learn about the cultures of his classmates. Seeing his identity honored and celebrated was incredibly meaningful and helped him feel proud and connected. The school created beautiful memories throughout the year, from Christmas and Easter performances to a heartfelt Mother's Day celebration. Preschool graduation was one of the best graduation events I have ever attended. It was thoughtful, joyful, and full of love. You could see how much the staff cared about each and every child. During a year when our family needed to take extended international trips, the school was flexible, understanding, and supportive. They even prepared homework packets for our son to bring with him, so he could stay connected and continue learning while we traveled. That level of care and thoughtfulness meant so much to us. Ewa Plains Enrichment has been around for many years, and that experience shows in the most beautiful ways. The staff have worked with so many different types of children and family situations, and their understanding, flexibility, and wisdom come through in how they support each student. You can tell they have truly seen it all and are prepared to meet each child where they are, with love and confidence. Ewa Plains Enrichment consistently goes above and beyond what is expected. They are always thinking about the children and their future. This is not just a school. It is a place where children are truly seen, nurtured, and loved. We will be forever grateful to this school, which is a true gift to the community and island!

Our family is so fortunate and blessed to have found this school! We desired a school that was not…read morejust a "daycare" but one that would challenge our son and continue to foster his growth intellectually as well as be faith based. Our child has excelled and fluorished not only in academics but also socially and spiritually. His growth here has been astounding. The staff here are amazing and were able to create a lesson plan and curriculum based on his needs. They address all aspects of a child's development and offer different activities and experiences for them. He went through three different neighboring preschools before we found this one and we wished we had found it sooner.

Both of my kids have and are currently attending here. Very pleased with the wonderful…read morecommunication between administrators and staff. So far, we've enjoyed many of the teachers, Ms. jaime being the best one yet! She is fabulous and truly was such an amazing teacher to our child. They are accommodating with various allergies and have great communication with parents. I would highly recommend.

Pretty good preschool for my 4 yr old. Carmen answers your questions, she's on point, and is always…read morethere. Virginia and Sara, teachers of my daughter, are very caring and sweet. This place has AC all day for the children. They offer build it club, water play, soccer, and swim lessons with Leahi swim school. Daily emails and photos on what your child did in school. Overall, I am very satisfied with her level of care there. Yes, I would recommend this place if you live in the area.

This USED to be a great school! Back in 2022 under Director Syreeta. My kids were only 2 and 3 y/o…read moreat the time and we were so happy we got to enroll both our boys at the same time. From entering the school to taking our boys to their class it was all smiles and good morning always filled with aloha. We knew our kids were not only being taken care of but loved. Every single staff would know/call our boys by their name. The director was always approachable, addressed us by our names and was always present in my kid's life until last December 2025 when while on our vacation we heard she was no longer there. To our surprise the entire front staff was gone. Keypads were installed, no colorful office , no aloha, no smiles ... felt like going to a business building ? Cold, quiet ... sad. Luckily my oldest left last year but my young is still a student there. Needless to say from January 2026 it's been terrible. Director Monica haven't emailed us back since January , horrible communication, changes in tuition and overcharges ... I wish I could've pulled my kid back in January ... so if you haven't : DO NOT ENROLL YOUR CHILD AT COLE ACADEMY!!! I heard seagull in Ko'olina is accepting new students 12 months and older ! Find a place that your child will be treated with love and you as a parent with aloha and respect. I'm writing as a parent but let me tell the stories I heard from teachers make it even worse . Loyal and caring teachers that left because they can't deal with management anymore. Feel free to reach out if you need more info!

Overall, the quality of care was okay, but for the amount we paid in tuition, I expected much more…read more My biggest concern was the administration, particularly with Monica, the lack of clear communication. The billing was confusing. Although we were on a monthly payment plan, the amount due changed from month to month because it was based on the number of school days. I asked for clarification but never received a clear explanation. There were also changes to tuition-related charges that we weren't notified about, which made the billing even more confusing. If you're considering Cole Academy, I'd encourage you to ask detailed questions about their billing and withdrawal policies and make sure you receive important information in writing. In my experience, it took several weeks to receive a response or get clarification regarding billing. I had a bad experience with billing and withdrawal because I didn't get a timely response when I reached out to Monica.

DO NOT!!! I mean DO NOT send your little ones here!!! This school is horrible!! So as soon as you…read moretry to get into the school, there's a long line of cars when I say long I mean extremely long! Which should be normal for school drop offs, but as you get closer you realize it's because the Staff allows people to park in the drop off lane and walk their kids to class!! Need I remind you it literally has one drop off lane cause they have their school buses in the other empty lane.. Which wouldn't be too bad if there wasn't a drop off line a mile along and I'm not exaggerating! And then you look around and they have like 5 public parking which are filled with the staff parking in them!! Majority I take that back most of their teachers are just normal people who walked in and applied who are NOT CERTIFIED teachers, and got the job!! Or they friend works their so that's how they got in!! And half of which are all on social media doing drugs for the world to see!!! They have zero staff presence when you walk on property!! Absolutely no one actually supervising the kids!! And as I'm leaving I found all the staff members a little ways across the street all smoking!! I mean how is it legal for these teachers who supposedly teaching our next generation that it's okay to smoke!! And further more okay to smoke right across of a school!!

A hidden gem in Waianae, Kamaile Academy is a PK-12 Hawaiian-focused, Arts-integrated public…read moreconversion charter school. Although considered a small school serving approximately 900 students, it is currently the largest charter school in the state of Hawaii. It became a charter back in 2009. Known for it's safe environment and academic rigor, the school prepares its haumana for college through a core foundation of cultural values: kuleana, ho'ihi, na'auao pono, laulima, 'imi'ike, and olakino maika'i. It is with these values that the navigators have learned to persevere, overcome challenges, and journey their way to leading successful futures. Because of the strong ohana that is built, embedded and fostered here, the alumni have returned to carry on the traditions that have since been established. Kamaile Academy, "where learning leads to endless opportunities and infinite worth." (school vision statement).

Beautiful campus and the site of this year's 2nd Lā Kūʻokoʻa Festival…read more Great host and hostess, lots of food vendors and food trucks.... delicious drinks, educational booths, beautiful crafts and fun games for everyone. The music got you dancing and the Hula Halau's showed off their talent. The weather was nice and the sounds of the ocean made this special event of Lā Kūʻokoʻa Festival as special as its message

Personally had terrible experiences with this school. The…read morestaff was very rude and disrespectful toward me. Im an older sister of 3 siblings who attend this school. When I go to pick them up, I get all the attitude because it's not my mother picking them up (my mom does not live with me, I help my dad by picking up kids when it's his turn with custody). After seeing my siblings after months, My siblings had infected open cuts that the nurse was not aware of and apparently didn't care about because the children didn't come and complain about it. One of them is in preschool. And there was a situation where my brother called me from the office to pick him up. When I arrived about 20 min later (there was traffic on the way to nanakuli), the after school program took the longest time and had difficulty finding him and telling me where he was. They took me to various locations around the school & called around, which had me worried about how they keep track of children after school. We eventually came to realization that someone else had picked him up, about 45 min after I arrived. My siblings also tell me about their disciplinary training. And they included how they have to write their teacher an apology letter when they forget their practice sheet for their recorder (flute type instrument). And how my younger sister in preschool gets kicked out of my 4th grade sister's class by the teacher before school hours because she's just not allowed to be in there before school. Parking is hectic, and the turn to go into the school is barely a turn at all, I think they're trying to build a streetlight for the turn. My siblings are also afraid to go to the basketball courts after school, they still have yet to tell me why. They just don't. I added another star because the security guards are actually very nice. But that is about it. Wish I had better experiences. Unfortunately, trying to get the kids transferred out is my only option at this point.

A few notable experiences in elementary:…read more 1st grade - Wow, a computer!! Oregon Trail?! 2nd grade trip to Maui - chorus performance 4th grade trip to Big Island - learned about Hawaiian culture 5th grade sleepover at Bishop Museum - played all night long with friends 6th grade Camp Erdman trip - played and bonded with friends 31 Yelps Review Challenge - 20 of 31

This school is soooo slow at doing anything. Their website is NOT updated on time, they do not have…read morehelp for student (i.e. tutoring) for K-1, I had to hire a tutor because my child was not getting the attention needed and there is very little or delayed communication from the teacher to the parents (i.e. in class performance & grades on their tests, we don't see that until the following week). I do not know about you but my child gets rewarded for having a good week and getting 100% on his tests, but what kind of reward is it when it is not until the following week? There are simple ways to solve the schools short comings but it is if they truly want to; 1. Update and continuously update your website (i.e. calendar, teacher lists, events...) 2. Have an online classroom for parents to look at to make sure their child is doing the homework and has their daily/weekly progress reports (FOR ALL GRADES!). This would alleviate sooo much miscommunication between teacher and parents. (i.e. homework online used for online access to homework assignments, study materials and lesson notes and a parent portal that provides parents access to student attendance, progress reports, and report cards). Today our society is technologically savvy and so are the kids, why not keep up and in the process help the kids? Maybe if they did these updates there school might raise from a 6 on greatschool.com to maybe an 8 or 9.

Makaha Elementary School is located in a residential area. I have not attended the school…read morepersonally. I only go to the school during election years. Residents of Makaha would head on over to the school on primary and general election days. Voting takes place in the cafeteria. Residents are able to read the proposed laws poster that is provided on the wall. There's also a listing of voters names. Find your name then you're in the right place. Find a deceased loved ones name then inform the election worker that the individual had passed away and gone to a better place. Stepping inside the cafeteria there are tables set up with election workers. Head to your last name initial line to show identification card and sign in. Proceed to the designated voting booths. Each voting booths are covered with curtains and a pen is provided for the residents. Done filling out the forms...head on over to the exit door to cast the votes. Slip the forms in the machine and the machine will say "Thank You for Voting". Cafeteria itself was very hot. There were few fans turned on to help cool down residents and the election workers. In order to avoid a hot room on voting days...it's best for residents of Makaha to do early voting at Kapolei Hale or other early voting locations. 173/200

To start, I'd like to say I honestly wouldn't have wanted to grow up at any other school. This…read moreschool was very much run like a family and the teachers were honestly amazing educators. Back when I attended, we had what was called IRA, which was a rotational class every week or every other week where we did art, science, farming, music and hawaiian culture. After Makaha, I went to Kamehameha Schools starting 7th grade and let me tell you... of all the people I've met over the years at Kamehameha, none has ever told me of an elementary school experience like the one I had. Makaha Elementary to me, is honestly one of the most "Hawaiian" cultured schools on the island. In Hawaiian culture class, and throughout our normal homeroom curriculum, we learned about hawaiian values. There was a different value every module and in each module, there was a story that taught the value and had a moral to it. Also in culture class, we made crafts, learned and sang hawaiian songs, chanted, and I believe we even danced hula. I can't tell you how important it is to learn culture at such a young age and to have it taught as a normal part of curriculum and not as a "novelty" like hula might be taught in other schools. We were brought up with a hawaiian mindset and I really think it helped me to be a better person. In addition to culture, sustainability is SO important. To my knowledge, not many other schools teach about farming and sustainability, let alone have their kids actually INVOLVED in it. They didn't just teach us about it from a textbook, we grew up participating in it on Mr. Gigi's farm. Each grade was in charge of a different project on the farm. We planted seeds in the nursery, planted and harvested beans (and fried them into string bean fries mmm), grew and harvested bananas, created and maintained a model of the polynesian triangle, and we even built structures on the farm. We helped to build the woodworking house and we also helped with the gazebo though I think by now it's been completely re-done. If the curriculum was the same in the future, I would send my kids here. There was so much I gained from going to this school that I wouldn't have if i had gone to a more privileged school with affluent students and families. I do not at all regret not getting into Kamehameha in kindergarten. I don't think I was meant to go there, because I was meant to understand the importance of what I learned here so I can encourage it and teach it when I got older. The only reason I did not give Makaha 5 stars is because of the state of some of the facilities at the current moment. It would be amazing if they could get funding for a complete renovation because this school does so much for these west coast kids, more even than other schools. I hope one day that more students and others also see how valuable the education is at Makaha, and that it will afford them better facilities and more programs for the kids.

This school is the BEST! My granddaughter was at this school for two years and LOVED every day…read more The teachers were great, the principal amazing and the staff very caring and efficient. A very safe and nurturing environment. God loving structure was the best.

Let me just start by saying that you get what you pay for literally. My other half and I decided to…read moresend our child here for preschool. Communication between the school and ourselves were seamless. It was so easy to get the information that we needed in order for our little one to be set. My other half went on their tour and was just mind blown at how well behaved these preschoolers were. This is not your typical traditional school. The campus is nestled in Pearl city on E Komo Mai Drive. I am so beyond excited for him to start school with this legacy who has had the best reputation over numerous years. Everyone here, including the head of the school is nothing but professional and respectful.