We really appreciate the MCS community and would definitely recommend it. Our son has been…read moreattending MCS for 2 years, starting in the Nido room when he was almost 1. He's since moved up through the toddler room and is now in the primary/ preschool community. Our new baby will be starting there this January. Our son is thriving and remains consistently challenged and nurtured. The leads in his classrooms have been wonderful, showing a genuine interest in his development. Our son had a few normal but difficult behavioral challenges in the last few months when our second son arrived and the leads and staff have responded with grace and care, working with us to support our son. The space and setting is also beautiful!

All three of my kids have attended and some still do. They started at their Nido program and have…read moregone through (or still are) Toddler and Primary. The guides and aides are and have been loving and caring towards my children. Furthermore, they have helped provide more than simply a nice place to play and have fun. My kids have learned lots of skills that have translated to home and academics. They have helped support our kids in aspects of life we may have been working on at home (i.e. napping, toileting, and the like). My kids enjoy going and I feel good about sending them there.

We have had an absolutely wonderful experience at Santa Cruz Waldorf School! The nurturing…read moreenvironment and dedicated teachers truly set this school apart. From the moment we stepped on campus, we felt welcomed and inspired. The curriculum is thoughtfully designed to foster creativity and critical thinking, allowing children to explore subjects in a meaningful and hands-on way. Our children have flourished here, academically in math, writing, and languages, as well as more broadly with the arts, music, gardening, outdoor education trips, and more. If you're looking for a school that encourages a deep love of learning, I highly recommend the Santa Cruz Waldorf School.

Santa Cruz Waldorf School has been a good fit for my children. The kinder program is magical! Being…read moreable to play and learn to connect with peers and teachers AND nature is just what my children needed at that age. Over the years, we have learned reverence and rythm and the beauty of slowing down from our time at the school. Their love of festivals and community connection is unmatched. I appreciate the deemphasis on screen time as well. The Waldorf practice of teacher looping was something that was quite new to me and at first I was a little hesitant about. I have grown to see the process of keeping the same teacher from grade 1-8 as a true gift. It has given my children time to be seen and understood to learn most effectively. If you are exploring elementary and middle school alternatives, SCWS is a great option to consider!

I attended this school from 7th through 12th grade. It was a…read morerare thing, it's a difficult to describe culture among the faculty, but I'll do my best- an anecdote: two students steal from the school, they take thousands of dollars worth of video equipment. They get caught- now, in a normal school where students are payroll numbers, the school could have easily justified dismissing both students and even gained face for it. I'm certain they considered it to, but it's not a huge school, even the secretaries knew my name and asked me about my family when I needed to pick up some class registration form or whatnot. These two students had been going there since sixth grade, they weren't bad kids- they just got caught up in the moment and they let the thrill of what they were doing cloud their judgment. They just needed someone to put them back on the straight and narrow- so instead of dropping down like a ton of bricks they gave them the opportunity to come clean to their fellow students! What a concept- because that necessitates that the student body have a conscience and love the school, otherwise they would pat them on the back, and it also necessitates that the student body be forgiving else these two would be ostracized. They did come clean to the student body, returned everything, the school pressed no charges, and the incident was never put on their record. Now they both attend respectable 4-year universities. The capacity for mercy from a large entity is almost nonexistent it seems, a mom and pop steak house can let a guy who left his wallet in a cab come back the next day and pay, a huge lumbering chain never would. This is a school that upholds its values. Also the student-Teacher ratio is awesome and the English teachers have a bit of a Dead Poets society thing going on where they discuss literature freely with students/other teachers during lunch or after school. The math teachers are downright sassy and hilarious individuals. Overall it was an excellent experience and I feel that I was bettered greatly by it.

MVC is very biased with the dress code, for example, girls are always targeted for their bodies…read more Yet guys also sag their pants and show their behinds. The new dean of students has gossiped to other female studnets about another female studnets skirt about it being too short, which is unexceptable. And time after time they use the same excuse, that they "cant catch everyone" but will target females with different bodies types. Also dont even get me started on the political stuff at MVCS, Mrs Campos for example will dress code girls but not students wearing freedom shirts at school. Its very dissapointing because last year they made it a huge deal and it seems like they only care to dress code girls not guys. Also Mrs campos tends to get very close with male students, she's always up on them at the male students lunch tables, and it makes students uncomfortable. I hope MVCS can live up to what they say, very disapointing.

We transferred our child here after her previous daycare had reliability issues, and we're now sad…read moreto be leaving after two wonderful years because it's time for kindergarten. We appreciated the Building Kidz curriculum so much that we opted to keep our child enrolled rather than enrolling in TK when we had the opportunity. The teachers are outstanding -- warm, compassionate, attentive and responsive to every child and parent. My only minor gripe is that I wish there was a parents contact list! Fortunately the school invites parents in regularly for late afternoon parties which are adorable and allow parents to meet. And the plays are so much fun and such an amazing thing to expose these littles to at such a young age. If your kid likes to put on shows at home, they will especially love BK.

Has gone incredibly downhill in the past year. They used to be amazing but significantly ownership…read moreand staff turnover has destroyed it. Every ounce of me regrets sending my child here. They send kids home for no reason with fake illness, have zero classroom management skills, do not understand normal child development, and have the most unreasonable expectations of young children. Literally my biggest regret as a parent.

I have to start with the disclaimer that my children attended SLE for a few month, during a…read moretransitional period for our family. The school secretary is very sweet and caring. The teachers that we were assigned were wonderful. They inspired both children by being wonderful role models and making learning fun. There were practical applications of lessons such as playing town and learning to write checks (4th grade). Parents were very involved and were wonderful. We attended the science fair which was both engaging and a lot of fun for the whole family. Both kids always looked forward to going to school each day and when their time here was up, they were really sad to leave. This school has similar logistical problems as other schools such as student pick up and drop off. There are parents who should have left 5 minutes earlier than they did, so they take it out on others by acting impatient or not waiting for people in crosswalks... which is especially bad if you drop off and pick up by the entrance to the Jr. High. Speaking of parking, if you do use the entrance near the Jr. High, please use the church parking lot and do not violate the 'No parking' signs in the residential neighborhood. surrounding the school. They are there because those are narrow streets and when too may people park there, emergency vehicles couldn't get through. It's happened and someone almost died. The neighborhood surrounding the school does have people with health conditions, are aging, etc, so please have respect for your fellow community members that are the most vulnerable. Your perceived (illegal) convenience is not worth someone losing their life because an ambulance or fire truck couldn't get through. Please also don't park IN people's yards. Not cool. And hey, if you don't want to do it out of respect, do it because you will get stuck if in their muddy yards if you do and you may have to pay for a tow truck. It's not worth it and you didn't save any time doing it. To add to the list of things that people shouldn't be doing but they do it anyway... Stop your car when you see people crossing the road. It's a school zone and it take the 3-10 seconds to wait while you are stopped. That's it. Not minutes. Seconds. That's all. You aren't making up any time by rolling at pedestrians and you are willfully putting someone's family at risk. Don't be a nincompoop, just stop. Again, leave a little early and you won't have a problem finding parking. If you can't leave early, just arrange a late pick up meeting area. I did this with my kids and I promise you that it works out just fine. There is also a school bus (check if you are on their route) and there are after school programs that will pick up your kids and hold them until you can get there. You have options. Take a deep breath and do the right thing. Thank you to SLE for the memories before we start the next chapter in our life.

I go to San Lorenzo Valley Elementary. I am in first grade. This school deserves 5 stars. Zoë Haffread more

My kids, age 6 (alumni) and age 3 (Classroom 1), absolutely love CCP, and my husband and I feel…read moregreat about sending our kids to CCP. Here are my honest assessments. - Small kid-to-teacher ratios: Each room has two main teachers. Classroom 1 currently has 5-6 kids. This ratio gets bigger for Classroom 2 and 3, but children still get plenty of attentions from teachers. - Positive discipline: Caring and dedicated teachers practice positive discipline. When our kids get frustrated, they often use phrases like "I want to talk about it (my feeling)", "use words", and "checking in". - Age-appropriate progression: Well-thought out transition from Classroom1 (2-3years old) to Classroom2 (3-4 years old) and to Classroom 3 (4-5 years old). Classroom1 has cozy, free-play based, sweet and caring environments. Classroom3 offers structured programs, learning opportunities for numbers and letters, and mentally stimulating projects like "disassemble electric devices", "make my own planet", and "science projects". - Kinder prep: Shout-out for Classroom3 teachers for well preparing my kid for kinder! - I used to feel Classroom3 being too academic (children count numbers from 1 to 100 and learn all alphabets), but little I know how fast-pace and intense the Kinder is. I cannot image sending kids to Kinder without preparation from Classsroom3! - Communication: Nice reporting systems and updates from teachers, especially through Dojo app. Everyday parents get information on naptime, snacks, and any fun photos on projects. Also, CCP provides multiple teacher-parent conferences: 2 small conferences to check in, and the final conference at the end which comes with 8-page written report on kid's yearly progress and developmental assessment! - Sense of community: lots of fun events throughout years to make personal connection with school, teachers, and other parents. Lots of volunteer opportunities. - Special programs: Shout out to Teacher E for coming up with creative projects and making difference in our kids' life. She uses cooking (making snacks with kids) as learning tools to facilitate fine-motor skills, to learn about nutrition, and to introduce various types of fruits and vegies. Also, my kid learned a lot about gardening, composed bins, and bugs! Other activities include kid yoga, meditation, music and drums, gymnastics, "mud play", and of course lots of arts and crafts. - Facility: It is well-maintained and clean, but they do have smaller outdoor spaces. Teachers really try to maximize the spaces that they have, and they do lots of fields trips to nearby parks and fields. - Cost: it may be expensive side, but for us it is totally worth it. There are many fund-raising events throughout year, and we try to support as much as we can because we love and believe in the programs and teachers at CCP.

We loved the experience for our daughter at ccp. Thanks to all for a great 3 years!read more

If your child is fairly average, it can be a great experience if they get one of the better…read moreteachers. Our child started here in kindergarten, and had 2 very good to excellent teachers, 1 okay teacher, 2 poor teachers who used old fashioned methods, seemed burned out, and lacked patience, and 1 young teacher who appeared to want to win a popularity contest with the students. If your child has any sort of disability related to a learning problem or difference, RUN. The school receives very little money for special education, and views those students as a liability. They will go to extreme lengths to avoid providing any specialized instruction or related services. Most people either move or find another school district in the area.

Brook Knoll is a great school that is made up of wonderful teachers, support staff, administration…read morestaff, parents and kids. My son has been attending for a number of years and we have had a lot of great experiences.

Great school with awesome teachers.read more

This is a public school that I would pay to send my child to. I can't say enough about it. Both the…read moreteachers and the administration are among the best I've ever come across. And this is after having first hand experience at a high dollar private school in town. And bonus, you get a view of the Monterey Bay!