Hi my name is Carolina, I have 2 children at this school, my 10 y/o in 5th grade and my 6 y/o in…read more2nd. I'm so sorry the way you feel Lisa but this principal is the best thing that happened to Olinda in a long long time. Not only she wants to be number 1 but we parents do too. Before you blurt into this review you should get your facts straight before making this ridiculous accusations. The "good teachers'" retired because they've been teaching for more than 30 years, and one of them (which both of my kids were in her classroom) lost her voice. Sadly, she could not continue teaching. We are very grateful to both of them and we will love them and appreciate them Forever! In fact, one of them at least still wants to be involved with the school not as a regular teachers but still wants to be around. About Mr. Ajayi, how could you possible talk about someone you don't even know? He has been nothing but wonderful to our kids. PTA hired him to run an after school program and he did wonderfully! I invite you to see what my son created in his class Last year. http://m.youtube.com/#/user/RenaissanceSean?&desktop_uri=%2Fuser%2FRenaissanceSean If you had a bad experience with the school doesn't mean you can blame the principal for everything. She "inherited" the teachers, the good ones and the "bad" ones. You should blame "tenure" for those "bad" teachers, not the principal. By the way, "that" teacher is gone. About not being able to talk to Ms. Ajayi couldn't be farther from the truth. She is ALWAYS available to talk to parents. She makes a huge effort to accommodate you even after school hours because she knows parents like me have to work too. I invite you to visit our beautiful school, it has changed a lot since you left, FOR THE BETTER. Always remember Olinda will continue to be the little school that could! Sincerely Carolina.

A lot has changes since these reviews were written in 2013.I have no prior knowledge of the…read moreprevious principal, but the current one who has been at the school since the 2015-2016 school year has been wonderful. Ms. Randhawa is approachable, kind and truly cares about the Olinda community and those looking to contribute to it with a collaborative effort. The teachers have been attentive and supportive and I look forward to the beginning of each new school year.

Personally, when I started my daughter in this school district I was very apprehensive. Her kinder…read moreyear was in private school and most of her first year was at a Charter School in the south bay. I wasn't a fan of public schools growing up - even less when doing research for my daughter. I handpicked this district because it's one of the best in California and it hasn't disappointed. I find that everyone I come in contact with at her school, Berkeley Arts Magnet, is oriented to her ultimate success as an individual. I feel very lucky that my daughter goes to this school and I intend to stay here. Also, the process of getting into Berkeley Unified School District isn't easy, there's a lot that has to get done and the ladies at the school district were wonderful. They made navigating a large task reasonably painless and for that I am grateful!

My daughter attends tutoring at Sylvan, she has for a year now. Her regular school teacher has…read moreremarked on the noticable improvement in her essays in teacher parent conferences, a result of her time being tutored at Sylvan. The staff and teachers at Sylvan are professional, kind and competent. At each quarterly conference about my daughter's progress I see that the work they've accomplished is always impressive. The best thing is that my daughter loves coming here. She enjoys being tutored at Sylvan. I'm very happy about her attending here at this location and plan on continuing to do so for the future. Everyone, including district teachers I've talked to about Sylvan have said nothing but great things and I can't help but agree.

I am happy that I am able to go to sylvan I have improved a little but I know that I will improve a…read morelot more and more if I stay longer and all the teachers and Admins are nice.

everything here is great they have fun activities for the kids every good teachers lots of…read moreopportunities and instead of them jut telling you the answers they deeply explain it multiple playtime.

My daughter began going there in 5th grade. Brand new student. Moved to Pinole. The kids are…read morehorrible to her, bunch of bullies. The school does nothing. The parents of those kids can care less as well since nothing has changed. I've complained, I've talk to principal and nothing changes. Do not bring your kids here. The school is also old and dirty. My daughter deserves better and I would not recommend this school to a good kid.

This is a more recent review, since the other reviews are currently from over 5 years ago. Valley…read moreView is not what it used to be. The principal is awful (J. Sundberg) and is very passive aggressive. This school is not safe and the student population is shrinking every year. Don't send your child here if you care about them.

This is my daughters 2nd year here. Started in Kindergarten and now is in the First grade and is…read moreloving it. They have great teachers...they are compassionate, honest, supportive and this school actually cares about the children's education. Kids who fall behind in certain areas are given an opportunity to get one on one time to improve. It's a great school I'm looking forward to many more years here.

It's movie night at Los Perales Elementary School tonight. It's a big night with all the students…read moreof all ages participating. First big event of the school year. Last year was Despicable Me. Tonight, looking forward to what it is this year. It's a wonderful tradition for students annually, the kickoff to many events ahead in the new school year, including field trip to Lawrence Hall of Science, Berkeley Botanical Gardens, and more.

Lisa B. The Moraga…read moreSchool District is proud of its schools, staff, parents and especially of our students. The District strives to create a positive learning environment for its students - and we've had great success over the years - especially with our Character Education program. We also recognize the importance of feedback and constructive criticism. I invite you to contact me so that I may understand your concerns in our on-going efforts to improve our schools. I can be reached at 376-5943. Please ask for Bruce.

This review is for their online program. We were very optimistic about this program. We homeschool…read moreour 2e son to avoid inevitable teasing (our son is autistic and very earnest). We paid $1,400 for a two week trial (classes offered 4 days a week). On the second day, a classmate couldn't stop talking about how there were now "stupid people" at Big Minds. The teacher worked very hard to get this student to switch gears but he was locked into convincing the class how stupid our son is. I received an ostensively neutral email apology saying this was rare and they also explained why they never stopped the boy. They said they never publicly reprimand students for anything. While the other student continued to verbally attack my son after every comment he made, no one stopped him as is there policy. While this surely helped that student save face, my son wasn't similarly protected. They asked if we'd reconsider their school. We said no. We were interested in their school because it seemed like a safe space for 2e kids. For my son, it was not. They didn't offer to refund any of the money we paid for the trial and we didn't ask for it either. We just wanted it to be over. After all of this I was still willing to accept that sometimes these things happen: no hard feelings. We had also paid $800 (total is now $2200 for 2 weeks) for our 6 yr old daughter to trial part time. She did one day from her 2 week trial and it was obvious she was too young. Admissions kindly offered the following: "Since you have already paid for the shadow weeks, however, how about we switch over to the HSSP program and I get some 1:1 coaching lined up for her!" This was BEFORE (10/4) my son was bullied. The next day, AFTER my son was bullied, we made it clear we would not be enrolling. Three weeks have now passed, after giving them our final 'No Thank you', and we never heard from them again. The tutoring offered "since we had already paid fees" disappeared. They knew we weren't potential 30k/year tuition payers so we weren't worth the effort or resources. That's when I realized we were just potential revenue and nothing more

Having our son enroll at Big Minds 2 years ago was one of the best things that has ever happened in…read moreour family! The school's unique structure allows the students to embrace learning and unleash their creativity and growth. All of the teachers are trained in how to support and guide the students in this very caring environment. Our son looks forward to school everyday and we look forward to his continued growth and development at this positive and supportive school. It truly is impossible to say just how wonderful Big Minds is. I am forever thankful that we heard about it. Our initial tour and meeting at the school lead to successful shadow days and we knew this would be a wonderful place for our son.

Looks like I am the first review of El Sobrante Kindercare in 2019 and it's mid-September! I'm…read moreusing the same review I put on Google and just re-posting... ================================ I sent my son here because the daycare center near my house closed down right before I went back to work from maternity leave, and I had to scramble to find a new one. I saw the reviews online about the center and I was definitely a little uncertain. But I told myself that we'll start him at Kindercare El Sobrante and see how it goes... and we have been pleasantly surprised. 1) I didn't realize that with their Kindercare app I get photos (and sometimes videos) of my baby throughout the day! It's sooo nice! I prefer it to having full-day video access because I would be too busy to log on to see the video stream on a regular basis, but getting a few photos throughout the day is just enough to know how my son is doing 2) In addition to me getting photos and videos, I can add members of my family and friend circle to get the photos and videos too -- and everytime I talk to family they comment on how happy my son looks, and how he is doing something new that he hadn't before (like standing on his own). If I didn't have the Kindercare app I'd have to manually send photos to my countless family members across the world 3) My son truly is happy at the center. I know people question me and ask me how I really know, but I see how he interacts with the staff, and how they interact with him, and he gives them these great big smiles. He doesn't do that unless he really likes someone. And the staff all love to play with him! 4) The center managers (Wanda and assistant manager Sara) know my name when I walk in the door, and they say "Hi Krupa." The staff all know which baby I am the mom to and they will tell me something about where he is (if he is in a different room than normal) or how he was that day. It tells me that they are paying attention 5) When I first started him at daycare I was so worried about the amount of time I would have to take off from my son getting sick from daycare. 3.5 months in he finally got his first sickness! Everyone else I spoke to (who sends their kid to other daycare centers) said their kid was getting sick at least once per month. I could add more but these are definitely the highlights of why this is a good daycare center

Love the daily updates I receive throughout the day of my kids ... everyone is very friendlyread more