This is one of the best highschools you could ever attend! I attended here from 1994-1997 and I can…read morehonestly say it was four of the BEST years of my life! The faculty and staff are absolutely amazing and still to this day are! Best teachers I've ever had. Even better than the college professors I had in the years that followed highschool! The school is huge- made up of three floors (technically four floors but the top floor isn't used for classes- back when I attended it was used for religious events the school would have.) The school has a huge library, cafeteria, gymnasium, and even has a nicely sized chapel inside! Also- the building is immaculate. Always freshly painted looking, bathrooms are always kept clean, hallways and property out front are always clear of debris and garbage. The school also has a parking lot for students- which when you live in Astoria is just always rare to find a parking spot - so a parking lot is a blessing lol SJP always has events going on- from school concerts, plays, faculty and student games/events, religious getaways, ski trips, and trips to other countries even! The students are constantly interacting with each other. I made some of the best friends while at this school- some of which to this day- 20 years later- are still the best of my friends! As far as the classes go- you never get bored with choices- from band class, home economics, forensic science, creative writing, and many more! Also- the after school activities are endless! Sports, music, academic, culture clubs, you name it. Now- the tuition is pricey- but you get what you pay for, and you cannot top the education you'll get here! Don't be discouraged- it's worth the money. Every dime. I just recently had my 20 year reunion here - and it was a blast! Just as the 10 year one was! I'll keep coming back every time we are due for one! Well- I have endless stories and so many more awesome things I can talk about when it comes to this school, but I have to end my review already lol Next time there is an open house for this school- please go check it out for yourself or your kids. You won't be sorry! To this day- I still go back and visit some of my old teachers- who are now people I call- my friends.

In 1984, when I started SJP, I was so excited. I had a great 4 years and I met some wonderful…read morepeople. When my son started SJP in 2017, I was so thrilled for him. He was a legacy after all. My mother-in-law was in the first graduating class. My husband, my sister-in-law, my son's godmother, my cousins, and some of my best friends went there. Alumni wasn't just a word to me. My son is a 16 year old boy. No excuses, but they make mistakes. In early October, I reached out to the school to ask for help with my son, my growing teen. The advice I was given was get outside help. That was it. So I followed the advice. SJP didn't follow up us. SJP didn't help my son in his time of need. SJP didn't touch base with him regularly. SJP didn't reach out to me to be a team, as a school and a family should be. Now they've turned their back on him. I'm so disgusted. I'm so upset. My family would do anything for anyone. We are members of the community that try to always do what's best. Instead of working with us, alumni of the school, instead of trying to work with my son, a child that had two and a half years in their school, their answer was we won't help you. Their answer was we don't have the resources to help. If you chose to lead teenagers in today's society, then you need the resources to do just that. My son isn't a bad kid. My son needed help and instead of helping they made things worse. I can't tell you the loss I feel in my heart for SJP.

It's first rate education I can not tell a lie. Because I'm a spoiled little bitch I wasn't allowed…read moreto go to public school and I ended up here at Highland. This school goes from K-Grade 8 and is really small and focused on giving each student individual attention and maximizing their potential. When I graduated there were only 135 kids in the entire school and my class was made up of 15 kids. It has a synagogue on the main floor because the school rents the upper floor and basement which is where they have a gym. This is a private school without the uniforms and has lots of field trip activities and even puts on annual plays at Queens Theater in the Park. If you're in the neighborhood then this is a great place to bring your children to. The relationships you create here are extra strong and I am still friends with almost half my graduating class. P.S. It's expensive as hell though

From what I understand, this school was one of the best private schools around. But now I think…read morethe school, though still good as far as education is concerned, but the worse when it comes to the attitude of the teachers and the principal herself. First of all, with the amount of money you pay for tuition, the school has no nurse or a counselor on staff. If anything happens to your child they just send him or her to the principal where they give him or her a band aid and cold compress. They even made a 4-year old hold an ice-pack on her fore-head all day without a teacher's help. And may God help you if your child is a little strong-willed, they will not only treat the child as a plague, but you the parent also. I have never seen a school so intolerant as this school. Their attitude to the parent who complains is unbelievably rude. I think the worse mistake I ever made was bringing my child to this school. My child has since gone to Catholic school and is doing very well.

Hunter College High School is a public academic magnet secondary school located in the Carnegie…read moreHill Upper East Side of Manhattan. That's my neighborhood. It is administered and funded by Hunter College of the City University of New York (CUNY) and no tuition is charged. According to Hunter, its 1,200 "students represent the top one-quarter of 1% of students in New York City, based on test scores. I know that's true because I've got a lot of friends that have children that applied for entrance and were overlooked. The school history is interesting. Originally Hunter was established in 1869 as "The Female Normal and High School", a private school to prepare young women to become teachers. The original school was composed of an elementary and a high school. There's a long list of notable graduates if you want to look them up. I love the building because it is a historic Armory. I recommend you visit the photogenic structure. If you are fortunate enough to have your family member attend I recommend you take advantage of every activity and opportunity you have to visit this school. I particularly recommend participating in their extracurricular activities in any form offered. I've enjoyed a few activities throughout the years.

A long time ago, on a subway far, far away*, I attended HCHS. Most of the great teachers I had…read morehave either retired or passed away. Last time I looked, my 9th grade math teacher was still soldiering on slinging the equations and one of my classmates is now continuing the tradition as a social studies teacher, following in the footsteps of Mr. Marienhoff (a great teacher and influence on many of us). Here are some facts about the school not often known outside the Hunter community. Every year, if you take the top 10% of 6th Grade kids in NYC (~2200-2500) that scored well on the 5th grade NYS ELA & math exams (what used to be called the city-wides), gave them the entrance exam and took the top 10% of those, you'd end up with the top 1%, which is roughly, a typical Hunter 7th grade class. Remember that this happens a full 2 years before they would take the Specialized High Schools exam (SHSAT). This gives Hunter the advantage of reaping the cream of the crop long before Stuyvesant, Bronx Science or Brooklyn Tech can get a crack at them. Over the first couple of years, some students will have personal, disciplinary or academic problems and will leave or be asked to leave, but their places are not filled by new students because they can only enter at the beginning of 7th grade. Those asked to leave go back and excel at their neighborhood schools. Like the other NYC specialized high schools, the education is tuition free and the best that the city can offer. Unlike those schools, you'll be staying for 6 years from grades 7-12. The Hunter College Campus Schools (including the Elementary School) is administered by Hunter College (CUNY) and not the NYC Dept of Education. This raises a whole load of other issues because Hunter is not subject to the Chancellor of the DOE nor receives funding like other NYC schools. Starting in 7th grade also gives students at Hunter the opportunity to finish their NYS Regents requirements by 10th or 11th grade and allows them to take more AP courses and to do an internship in their senior year. Completing both programs, the graduate receives both the Hunter and Regents diplomas. There has been a lot of press and allegations lately about the lack of diversity at Hunter and other Specialized schools that are groundless. If you can pass the test, you get in, end of story. Whether you received outside test prep or not, the bottom line is you were either prepared or not, no matter what your ethnic background. You better believe that if you attend Hunter, you will be going to college. With the Hunter name on your diploma, you stand a better than average chance to get into a top tier college or university. Hunter is known as the top feeder to the Ivy League and that is not a hollow statistic, but is proven every year. Among my class of 200, 10 students went to Cornell alone, with 4 to Harvard and others to Columbia, Princeton, UPenn, Yale, Brown and Dartmouth. We even had 3 going to MIT. Those are big percentages that is repeated year after year and that you will not find in any other school. I have very fond memories of my alma mater and appreciation for the place grows as you get older. So what I say to all the recent students and graduates that gripe about their experience at Hunter is that you'll be thankful for it in 10-20 years when all the bad experiences are in the past and you remember all the good things such as your life-long friends and the stellar education that you carry with you for the rest of your life. Here's an example of the work of some current students and a tour of the school. http://vimeo.com/62474345 And to make this a true Yelp review, what little cafeteria food we had was absolutely horrendous. You were better off going to any of the local delis (except the one we used to call the smelly deli). *Star Wars did come out about that time in ancient history and the records of us cutting class to go see it are lost in the mists of time. Han shot first!

Great school compared to others, have a lot of extra curricular activities for the students, and…read moreeveryone is extra nice. The staff go out of there way to help out and to make you happy with the outcome of things. The Principal and Vice Principal are extremely helpful with students and parents, they always encourage a safety and student-parent friendly place, there building in new And always clean, the cleaning stuff is super easy going and they are extremely helpful and happy all the time. My experience as a student here was great and my mother agrees with me on how everyone helped me out though my 4 years of school here.

It's an okay school I guess but the students shitting in the urinals and sinks is not okayread more

I've had 3 children graduate from St. Demetrios and am so thankful to the entire staff and…read moreadministration for going above and beyond for my children. My youngest will be graduating this year and can say that my family will miss everyone.

A small but terrific school with a strong social conscience. It is spiritual but welcomes all…read morereligions. Academics are top-notch. For instance, last year the 5th grade performed an abridged version of "Macbeth." There is no "dumbing down" here.

We heard good comments about the school but we found it snob, the kids talk about their clothes…read morebrands and skiing vacations. Not very welcoming for ethnic groups different than white american. Focused in planet conservation which is nice but too expensive for what you get in general

Administration is Very unorganized and Unprofessional…read more More concerned with filling seats to get funding than the actual students that they are accepting Only plus is that the Teachers are great they actually care about their students and they are very hardworking.

I have 6 years dealing with this school and every year is different but this has been our best yet…read more I truly love the staff. Everyone has their days but that's life. I am greatly grateful to the support and understanding we get from the school. Thank you Mr.Abbott and his team for great work put into this year for a successful school year. Love each and every teacher I have encountered with......

The administration is great…read more The kids are great. They have a mentoring program with St John's University. The kids even get to learn Spanish.