Del Lago is an amazing school! Small, but mighty! Great admin, teachers, kids, and families.read more

My granddaughter made good progress here ar DelLargo School. She attended another school for Kgn…read morebut was so upset we pulled her and started here. Good progress and she enjoys her teacher and her new friends. Thank you teachers.

We have been pleased with this elementary school. The teachers and staff are excellent. I am…read morethankful we came here years ago. My only recommendation is that parents be allowed and encouraged to be on campus again for picking up their students. The current policy- which changed with Covid- and they appear to not want to reverse- keeps parents waiting outside like a prison- therefore parents don't get to know each other or have much interaction with the teachers.

Transitioned to this school from private kinder and so the Bar was high, but for a 9 rated school…read morethat shouldn't have been a problem. My 7 year old was left unattended outside of school after dismissal for 30 min until a teacher found her under a tree and realized they didn't transition her to the after school program. Negative experiences continued after that - to sum it up we are considering pulling child out only 2 months in. The principle and Front office staff is horrible - and unfortunately deal breakers. Even for a high rated school with good teachers - it isn't worth it to deal with the office and Principle for the next 6 years.

I am nanny to two children that attend this school and I can honestly say I really like this place!…read more It is nestled at the base of a dead-end street residential street next to a great sports park & playground. The demographic is made up of predominantly white, upper middle class children from the surrounding suburbs and the parents seem to really take pride in getting involved in the classroom and extra-curricular events. The Principal is incredibly energetic and seems to know every kid by name which makes them all feel so important and actually makes them WANT to go to school! Although its not the biggest school, there are acres of fields for the children to play on and plenty of playground equipment. My 10yo loves that there is an actual working football league organized by the principal where the different grades play against each other each day - something i'd never heard of in other schools and in my own education! That's how much the principal cares. They have "spirit days" seemingly every other Friday where they have a DJ at lunch and wear their school pride out loud and proud. Its so cute to see the kids excited about school and I know its credit to the caring teachers and principal! This school was different than our previous elementary in Lake Forest because they focused more on in-classroom learning instead of physical homework sent home. Both kids still have spelling homework/tests every week, the usual math homework and 20 minutes of reading but not nearly the volume that we've had at other schools. However, they are still excelling and I credit this to the teachers and the classwork that is required of them to build understanding - which I think is a definite plus! The teachers & staff care and are very good at what they do! My only gripe is the way the pick-up/drop-off situation works. The school is at the base of a dead end street and so cars that come in have to loop around and tend to pack up 100s of yards. If you intend to walk your child to class, you must parallel park along the residential street because the parking lot of the school is only open to staff. There is a grassy area that the kids gather on to be picked up so I definitely find it more timely to park and walk over to the lawn and pick them up but I could see how this would be annoying for someone with young children already in the car. In that case, most would rather wait through the line. I would try to get there at around 2:30PM if you plan on waiting through the long line of cars to pick up your kids at the grassy area without getting out of your car. Its a little hard to explain - I'll try to add photos for better illustration. All in all, a great school! I just wish it wasn't so crazy to pick up or drop off your kids!

I saw the most amazing thing this morning as I dropped off my niece at this school for the first…read moretime. 6 children, along with an aid flocked to meet my niece at our arrival with smiles, hand holding and hugs. I've never seen such an all inclusive school. I attended Christian Schools growing up and couldn't believe the love that these kids showed. Come to find out the greeting to my niece was not a special occasion this was an every day event. The kids chose to come every day and show love. This school has it figured out from the top to the bottom and could only pray and wish this was every school system!

It's a great school (minus the drop off and pick up fiasco!)…read moreRules are put out about proper drop off and pick up yet parents break the rules, cut in the line, block crosswalks and stop in the middle and not pull all the way forward as instructed. People on parking lot duty never enforce the rules..... super frustrating! The Principal and teachers are great and they also have a wonderful PTA! If you can ignore the rude parents at drop off and pick up, you will survive

La Madera is a nice small elementary school with not a lot of bells and whistles but it does the…read morejob. Each classroom has a door leading to the outside and a door leading to the grand interior hall that connects everything together. The campus is quite small but has recently built a MPR in the farthest corner of the lunch area and there is a substantial grassy area for the children to play on. The parking lot and surrounding streets can be a little hectic in the morning drop off window and from 2:30 on because La Madera lies across the street from El Toro High School. The parking lot is one way so that helps a lot with the flow of traffic but there will always be those that cannot conduct themselves in such a setting. ;] All in all, its a nice little school and your kids will be safe.

Fuck this school. I used to go here . My parents would literally BEAT ME WITH A BELT to a point I…read morewould bleed and be bruised and the counselor said to me "maybe because you're bad" like what the actual fuck?

This is a good school and the principal is funny sometimes. When I first go to this school it was a…read morebig school and they have stairs too. When I go to my first period class the teacher was very kind and every time when I was struggling on stuff she always helped me and easy to understand.

The FOOD there is not good. My kids rather bring a peanut butter sandwich and some fruit than…read moreeating the stale, cold food. I really don't understand how the people in charge of contracting these providers don't go and check the food. But there is good news, once the kids graduate from Gates Elementary, Los Alisos Lobos has much better food. But the government is wasting $$$ from our taxes there.

Wasn't a good fit for our kid. He wasn't picking it up and there was no extra help. When we asked…read moreif we should get an outside tutor, it was advised against. His kindergarten teacher was not very nice. First grade teacher was nice. Seems it's hit or miss. A lot of the kids he was in class with have also left.

If you're looking for an unsafe, trauma-inflicting dump to send your kids, you've found the right…read moreplace! There's nothing like 12 year olds doing dr*gs in the bathroom and bringing g*ns to school and putting the place on lockdown!! (True story!) As a former student, I can confirm that the neglect at this school is beyond-belief. At one point in the disgusting bathrooms, there was graffiti of male g*nitalia with the word "sl*t" and an arrow pointing down. I was told you were meant to stand under it and take selfies. It was absolutely horrible! Students would drink alcohol from Hydroflasks and faint during class. At one point in my time at La Paz Intermediate, there was a student who brought a g*n to school, intending to fire during lunch. We were put on lockdown. It was traumatizing. The vice principal is an a-hole who runs her mouth non-stop without stopping to think what mental damage it's doing. Most of the staff acts like they don't want to be there. Honestly, I wouldn't want to either! The students are extremely disrespectful to adults and have no sense of authority. All in all, this is an unsafe, terrible school. I'd give it zero stars if I could. Send your children elsewhere, parents!

Amazing school, I've made a lot of new friends and had amazing experiences with them, all the…read moreteachers are amazing and if you want your child to have the most fun I recommend signing them up for music

I sent my kids here for 4 years. It's a nice school with good teachers. Classes aren't too packed…read moreand the facilities are maintained well. They keep their technology updated and allow outside clubs to have reasonable access to the fields after hours. I'm not giving it 5 stars for two reasons: 1. It could be better. The registration, administration, policies, and procedures are all good and fair, but the public / government rules will keep it from being great. 2. The principal wasn't very "there for you" (I heard she was replaced last year). Any meetings with the principal weren't there to address matters with the children, she was there to protect the school first, then the children.

Just such a terrible experience for my family. A few nice staff members. The rest are rude…read more Parking, pickup, and drop off are super difficult. We're always treated like second class citizens.