The front desk lady is very unhelpful and sarcastic for no reason. Even a normal question is…read moreanswered with a sharp tone and an unhelpful attitude. I've been at the school for 4 years and I havent and ONE good interaction with her. Even when in very polite and did everything correctly she's still rude and disrespectful. And it's even worse when you're wrong, she's just criticizing and berating you the whole time. Even worse, it's only to students and never teachers or parents. The faculty here doesn't respect students. I hope she gets fired.

I came here yesterday for a football game with the Seahawks league. Beautiful location, clean and…read morewell maintained. I was so impressed as it sat on a hill with trees everywhere surrounding the driveway path to the school. Gate guard. Impressive. Security was on top of everything, she was awesome with a warm, friendly smile. Truly a gorgeous school.

Vicki Gilmore the principals assistant refused to help my daughter who was taking the initiative to…read moreproactively plan a strategic move on her own wanted to schedule appointment. Wow this lady was incredibly rude. I cannot believe it. We left with no appointment made and my daughter FEELING that Vicki Gilmore will never HELP her. I will file a formal complaint against HER ABUSE OF POWER.

CdM is a great school with great amenities, courses, clubs, teachers, and amazing students. I have…read morebeen here since 7th grade for 3 years and the school has far exceeded my expectations, and I enjoy every day I'm here. There are some bad things about it, but it's overall a decent school. The problems have become much less significant over time, and are over-exaggerated and drummed up by the media to grab people's attention and get more views, but these stereotypes hold little actual ground. It's impulsive for us to just slap a label on a place or group of people, but it isn't as simple as black and white. It's important to recognize that stereotypes are often exploited by people who've had no experience in a place to just assume everyone's a certain way, without trying to understand and empathize. At CdM, there is little prejudice and is usually subtle and unintended. The academic environment can be stressful, but you have the choice of taking more advanced classes. If parents are forcing their kids to get really good grades and take challenging courses, that's a parental issue. If a teacher is unhelpful, others are always willing to help. Many of the negative reviews stem from misunderstanding, as parents are prone to just taking their kid's word when they have a complaint rather than assessing the full situation, and this lack of understanding leads to further escalation of the situations. For a new student, there will always be potential friends. Many kids at CdM were negatively influenced, but that's because they didn't choose good friends. While there are many entitled and troublesome kids, the overwhelming majority are kind, humble, and respectful; it's just about avoiding the minority of bad students. For most of my time at CdM, I was shy and never had much of a friend group; yet other kids have always made to effort to be kind to me when they could have stayed comfortable with their own friends. Most students have been quick to forgive me and move on after I changed for the better even if I had done something bad in the past. Most kids won't peer pressure you if you say no to something. Your school experience is what you make it and how you perceive things, and you can make good choices. The problem is that a lot of people get dissatisfied even because of minor things. THIS is the entitlement in CdM people complain about: the ones who can't take any shit and who have no gratitude. It's the ones who care about CdM and try to make it a better place that love CdM because the other students respect and appreciate them. If you come into CdM with an open mind, a kind personality, and a drive to succeed and make friends, the rest will already be taken care of. You know the negative reviews are due to entitlement because it's always the parents that are doing the dirty work for their kids when as students, they should take control of their academic experience. It doesn't make you look good as a parent to be the one bailing out your kid by contacting a teacher. It's the inconsiderate students that want to leave CdM. These people are troublemakers. They are surrounded by their ego and have no idea that they're pissing everyone off, and their parents who only see one side of the story assume that CdM is a horrible school after hearing their kid nonstop complain and they move their kid to another school to cause more trouble. I was once one of these obnoxious kids, but I recognized that my actions were unappreciated by others and have changed since then. Kids who I once annoyed now respect me, a testament to the forgiveness of CdM students. The school has issues with parent cliques, and the administration does have some issues with inefficiency and management, just like any other school, but as a student, the most important thing is to be able to go to school every day and just be yourself and to be surrounded by respectful students and teachers, not whether the school decides how often the bathrooms are cleaned. Your main interactions with the administration will be regarding attendance or course changes, which it's really efficient at. Why wouldn't you give CdM a chance? In the small chance you don't like it, there's little risk in transferring. People move from CdM to other local private schools or vice versa all the time, and they can still keep their friends because they live in the same area; but if you do like it, you'll save a ton on tuition, and that money can be better used on other things to further develop your child's interest and to ensure future success, or even just for enjoyment. I kept this review brief to address the general issues. If you want to know something more specific about CdM, you can email me at wynneyoung555@yahoo.com or text me at (949)375-0086, but don't call me because I don't take calls from unknown numbers.Here's why many of the points made in other reviews are wrong: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DxEqbhM7_oP2kjPJT8EhDTro5y5afy0m9LM7c4KwO-4/edit?usp=sharing

One of the best K-8 schools around. I've had kids attending for 15+ years and they all love the…read moreplace. Teachers, administration and staff are always helpful and interested in a very caring way about how the children are doing. Parents are a huge help always volunteering and trying to make the school better through the PTA or the School Foundation which is different from the district set foundation. This all helps keep the kusic, art, technology and nursing in tact compare to other schools.

Our experience has been differentiated. As with many things in life, the exterior - the facade…read morelooks wonderful. The structure is new, clean, and the school receives so many donations that it can offer many extras such as chrome books and computers in every section of the school. But you do need to be aware of the layer underneath the facade. I am not saying that Vista Verde is a bad school, but I am saying that you need to be aware of the type of parents that are at the school and the atmosphere. Many of the children tend to be rather spoiled. I am not sure if that is the reason why certain staff - including the current Assistant Principal - feel compelled to have zero tolerance for normal age appropriate child behavior, such as rough playing etc. Zero tolerance means that routinely, almost on a daily basis, you will find children - mind you young children ages 6, 7, and 8, sitting in the front office, being punished for normal play which the administration considers inappropriate. (because they are scared of parents? I do not know). Not only are they missing recess, but receive a paper to fill out with many points to write about what good playground behavior would be. Further, sometimes methods of shame are used by giving the child a clipboard to run around during recess and write many - in one case 24! - sentences of what constitutes good playground behavior. These seem methods used many decades ago and they humiliate a child. When asked the recess supervisor said that they want to "scare them just a little bit from early on" so that they don't play rough when they get to middle school. We translate that as meaning that they systematically break a child's spirit and ensure that the child follows their rules like a robot - with zero tolerance as stated by one teacher. I am not sure if this atmosphere has started with the new Assistant Principal and Principal or if this practice has always taken place with many parents simply not knowing what is going on. That being said, I am aware of some parents who have noticed or experienced the above mentioned and are leaving the school - we are also leaving. I suppose the moral we will be taking with us is that not everything that seems glistening is truly as shiny as it looks.

We played soccer here early Sunday morning. There's a nice ocean view from the field and plenty of…read moreparking but it was way overwatered. Everything was soggy and the ball didn't move very well. The field hadn't been striped in a long time. Sidelines were impossible to judge even if you were right on top of them. Someone on the home team should've spent a little time getting this field in order. And the parking area was closed off when some of the earlier parents arrived. They had to wait for someone to open the gate.

The Best in the West! An amazing start to any students school journey. Amazing faculty and grounds…read more Arts and sports have not been cut since the amazing parents have joined together to keep their kids well rounded. Across from Crystal Cove and the Pacific Ocean!

Our son was attending a large public high school when the COVID-19 pandemic started. This highly…read morerated public high school quickly transitioned to an online learning environment, but only provided one synchronous lecture per week for each class. As our son, and many of his classmates, fell further and further behind in their online classes, we repeatedly reached out to the school administration, including the principal, as did the parents of our son's school friends. However, the school's administration was uniformly unresponsive to our concerns. So, we decided to take our son out of the public school system, and place him in a private school. Our son transferred to Pacific Academy during his junior year of high school. I really can't say enough good things about our experience at Pacific Academy over the past almost two years. Everyone from the principal to the teachers and administrative staff have all been amazing. They are all very passionate about their mission to educate their students, as well as to help their students grow and develop into well-rounded young men and women. The small class sizes allow for a very personalized approach to teaching, and both the teachers and the principal are very interactive and collaborative with parents. The quality of teaching in all of our son's classes has been exceptional, and all of his teachers have welcomed engagement with us. (Unlike at the public high school our son previously attended.) I would especially like to recognize the principal at Pacific Academy, Keith Corpus, and the Director of Student Affairs, Jasmine Hsu. Their dedication, compassion, and empathy towards their students, and their families, has been extraordinary. They have both also been tremendously supportive as students, parents, and teachers have all worked together to manage the enormous (and ever-changing) impact of the pandemic. Honestly, we have come to view Mr. Corpus and Ms. Hsu as if they were part of our family, and we are so grateful to them for their dedication and commitment to their students, including our son. My only regret is that we did not transfer our son to Pacific Academy sooner. We love this school, and its faculty and staff, and we are so grateful that our son has been able to attend Pacific Academy!

This school hired unprofessional teachers like Ms Kuo in 4th grade who wasn't a certificated…read moreteacher and was very mean to kids. It is unacceptable that they allow their teachers to use language abuse on our kids! Principal didn't even care about the issue. Very disappointing.

As a parent I continue to be impressed with the amount of opportunity at Newport Harbor high…read moreschool. From STEM classes, to Culinary, Mentorship programs to every club imaginable, There's something for everyone here. I have to say the bathrooms could use more attention. And make sure your kids lock their bikes properly. All in all the teachers care and it was a positive experience.

Fantastic aquatics center but certainly lacking in toilet facilities. 2 restrooms per 200 people…read moreis not OK.

Good morning/afternoon/evening my good readers, Today we…read moreface the final review of well-known University High-school, which I know you have all been waiting for because of the significance of it. From the pristine art on the walls to the treacherous steep hills, there are many goods and bads to write about. To start, our arrival: "It's a school," one student explained to me, with not many strong feelings. Perhaps they didn't admire the money that went into creating this, what some people might call glorious, school? Or they had no idea of the danger ahead... We blew dandelions for a while, which were luckily in abundance. We hoped for good luck in our marching which we would perform in just an hour. Trees around the parking lot shaded us and added to the beautiful view, which was created with pink and blue contrasting colors and a tiny moon. This was especially cherished during the moment before we stepped onto the field, with a crow flying gracefully through the high sky. The most terrible element of our time at this school was the hill. This hill which brought immense struggle and buckets of sweat. With this addition to our problems the ending amount of stars could in no way be five or even four. Waiting for food was a different struggle, instead of something of the school fighting against us in our venture back to the buses (the hill), we were instead found with the pain of waiting. Signage was minimal and people were forced to yelling at others about where to go. "People aren't picking up their food," a person at a food stand told us. There also definitely should have been a sign towards the restrooms as well. Thank you for taking time out of your day to thoroughly read this review, ultimately making yourself more knowledgeable of the true marching band ways. Dearest, marching band pro performers

I would not recommend attending this school, especially if you come from a difficult or emotionally…read moreunstable home environment. In my experience, it was not an easy place to survive. Looking back, I believe I would have been happier at Woodbridge or Irvine High, where I likely could have earned higher grades and reduced the extreme stress of constantly studying until 3:00 AM while still feeling unable to keep up. Without tutoring or outside academic support, I often felt like I was on my own. There was very little individualized help available to bridge the gap between what students were expected to do and what was actually taught. When students needed concepts explained from the beginning, it sometimes felt like their questions were treated as frustrating rather than as a normal part of learning. If your main goal is maximizing your GPA and chances at highly selective colleges, I would carefully consider whether this environment is the right fit. Many students assume that attending a highly competitive school automatically provides an advantage in admissions, but a rigorous environment does not always lead to better outcomes if strict grading makes maintaining a strong GPA significantly harder. Students who might have earned mostly A's elsewhere may receive lower grades here. Another challenge was that students were often expected to perform advanced analysis without enough instruction. In English classes, we were sometimes expected to analyze entire literary works and identify themes, symbolism, and deeper meanings after limited explanation of the concepts. For students who had never been taught literary analysis before, it could feel like being asked to produce advanced work without first being given the foundation to succeed. While independent thinking is valuable, students still need guidance, examples, and support before being expected to analyze complex material at a high level. The expectation to "figure it out" with limited instruction made learning especially difficult for students adjusting to advanced academic English. This was also challenging for students from different educational backgrounds. Some students grew up in households where English was not the primary language, where parents could not help with English reading and writing, or where they had less exposure to English books and academic support growing up. Even bilingual students can struggle with advanced academic English because speaking a language does not always mean having the same comfort with complex writing and analysis. The combination of difficult coursework and the bell curve grading system sometimes made it feel like success depended heavily on prior exposure, outside support, or the ability to independently figure out advanced concepts. The environment could feel less like students were supported individually and more like they were competing against each other. Many teachers were very strict and unforgiving, with little understanding of challenges students faced outside of school. It often felt like the focus was on maintaining the bell curve and creating difficult exams, sometimes covering material beyond what was explicitly taught. Some students could feel overlooked or discouraged, while the highest-performing students received the most recognition. In my experience, some AP and Honors teachers were also unsupportive, and there were moments when students were embarrassed or called out in front of the class rather than being guided privately. There was very little patience for students who did not understand something the first time, and the pace often felt too fast for students who needed more explanation. There were also situations that felt unnecessarily humiliating. For example, there was a time when a teacher believed they had caught students cheating and angrily accused them in front of the entire class before fully confirming what happened. Even if there had been cheating, I believe it should have been handled privately and professionally rather than through public humiliation. In a high-pressure environment where students compete for grades, public accusations can have lasting effects because classmates may form judgments without knowing the full story. For students dealing with difficult situations at home, asking for help was not always simple. It can be hard to open up when you are unsure whether others will understand or whether sharing personal struggles will actually lead to meaningful support. Some students may feel like they have to silently manage their challenges while still meeting the same academic expectations. The one positive I took away was that the school pushed me to develop strong critical-thinking skills. It taught me to analyze concepts from different perspectives, question assumptions, & think more deeply about ideas, which helped shape the way I view the world and approach complex topics later in life. However, the emotional cost and stress were not worth the practical benefits.

I can't say enough good things about this church. Everyone is very welcoming and there are tons of…read moregroups to join. The church is beautiful and they have adoration in the chapel from 3:00-5:00.

This would be a five star rating if not for the horrible problem of bullying at this school. OLQA…read morehas a strong academic program but the allowed bullying is truly horrific. Especially in the 4th, 5th, and 6th grades, the massive bullying has caused many smart kids to simply leave. The school's policy on bullying is that the school staff has to actually witness the bully attacking the student before anything can begin to be addressed. And of course the kids aren't stupid - they never bully in front of the staff. There are no anti-bullying programs and the bullies run the school. It particularly sad as it is antithetical to everything a Catholic school should be.

very very good school and nice and clean and teachers were super nice and caring! super much…read morerecommend

I switched here for my last year and it is such a amazing school. Actually a 10/10. The people are…read moreall so nice andwelcoming and the teachers acctualy seem to care. I wish i coukd have gone here for all 4 years.

Review is solely for the field during a high school marching band competition…read more Parking was avail across the street from the school at a local college. The filed is in excellent condition, plenty of seating and if you are about working ion your tan, sitting in the bleachers here is the perfect place to bet the job done.

THE NURSE STAFF NEEDS TO IMPROVE!! KRISTY Craig and her…read moreassistant ARE SO UNPROFESSIONAL Always MAKING COMMENTS ABOUT Students PARENTS. Saying comments like "like mother, like daughter" "parents needs to learn a hard lesson" and making parents feel bad for not being able to pick up their child on time.. they denied permission for my eldest daughter to pick up my youngest. Kristy and her assistant then continued to talk bad about the parent TO THE STUDENT leaving the student feeling Very uncomfortable and upset. Kristy and her assistant kept laughing about the situation and continued to make jokes with the student present. The student no longer feels comfortable or safe to talk to the nurses when needed. Please help them improve on their behavior and attitudes. Or get new sympathetic nurses who actually care for the students and parents. THANK YOU