Great school for the kids. Teachers are super sweet and good to the kids. I'm happy to bring my kids here. Thanks staff!! read more

Sycamore Academy - Does not look like a school but it's the best! - Elementary Schools Near Me - Murrieta, California

The school has lost their true essence. Some of the teachers are amazing but because of the lack of support from the administration for discipline problems and having to wear so many hats the teachers get burned out or they leave. They try out too many things at once to the point that they are spread too thin. They also don't put enough resources or attention into a particular program for it to succeed. The middle school curriculum is a joke if you have a child that is advanced math good luck because they are now teaching themselves. The director should stop trying to open up more schools when she has yet to resolve problems or workout the kinks in the Wildomar campus. Sycamore has the potential to be an awesome school however the staff is spread too thin, good families leave because it lacks in discipline, teacher burnout and the school is more reactive than proactive. Look elsewhere for your children. I gave a two star review because they still have some staff that is pretty awesome but the school should be careful because without the support they're bound to lose them. We are a current family that will be leaving soon because each year we lose a little more hope. read more

As a former student at this school it is terrible. The academic skills are way behind grade level. The students here are being taught the grade below the one they are actually in. The grades are on a scale from 1-4 and aren't shown correctly. The director Barbra Hale is rude and bullies the students if they bring a problem to her. She threatens students with ridiculously uncalled for disciplines. If you take a serious issue to her, she will act like it is the child's fault. She runs the school the way she wants to, not how it should be run. When it comes to bullying (physically or mentally), nothing is done about it. Bullying can be done in front of staff and nothing is said about it. The teachers are underpaid and try their best to teach the students things they are supposed to be, yet get in trouble or yelled at for not using the curriculum they are advised to. Most teachers quit within months to a year of attending this school. This is really bad for your child because of the constant sub switches and trying to find new teachers to take their place. I once had 3 different teachers in one year of being here, all quitting within months. During this time barley anything was being taught because the subs had no clue what they were doing. Some teachers scream at students and almost get physical with them for little things or things they apparently "saw". One teacher yells at students to go outside of the classroom and will scream at them, if the student makes reasonable remarks, the teacher gets even more mad and will send them to the office where they get yelled at more. Many students have cried because of this, but yet nothing gets done about the teacher or gets told anything. Some teachers also yell at students for not getting an assignment done on time with no help at all. Teachers also keep students in during lunch or break time to do the assignment, if the student tries to get help the teachers will give poor help. The teacher will keep the student in for however many days it takes them to finish, which is unacceptable especially when the student asks for serious help. Some teachers do not extend the due date of an assignment if you need them to, for personal reasons. The food being served in the cafeteria is barely edible and sometimes is moldy. The staff members are mean to the students and yell at them for reasons they shouldn't. Staff members make rude comments to students and can cuss at them without getting in any trouble. The staff does not protect your child whatsoever and just walk around in areas that are unimportant. They now allow only one student in the bathroom at a time (for girls only) when there are two stalls and a sink, so there should be allowed more girls using it at a time. For the boys restroom they allow 2 or more in at a time without saying anything to them. If they do say something it consists of banging on the door and screaming at them to get out. They also hold the door open when girls are trying to use the restroom. The office members take days or weeks to respond to emails as well. If a child gets injured at school they simply give them an ice pack and send them back to class with no parent/guardian informed. If a student needs to keep their phone on them for something and a staff member sees it in their pocket, the child's phone gets taken to the office and has to go on a phone contact which means the student will have to turn in their phone to the office for however long they want. The dress code at this school is a whole other situation. One thing about it that is ridiculous is how students aren't allowed to wear pajama pants, when that is what a lot of middle school students are most comfortable in. Another thing that is terrible is the fact the school starts at 8:00 am, where every school in the area starts at 8:30 or later. The "5 star" reviews I am assuming are from staff or teachers pretending to be parents to make their school look better than it actually is. I personally had to teach myself how to write or read better because this school does not teach your child that correctly. This school mainly cares about how it looks versus how it really is. Which also includes the constant construction they do. Overall this school poorly ran and is horrible. I advise you to not send your child here unless you want them to not be successful in high school and mess up their mental health. This school will put your child way behind and will ruin their health mentally. Sending your child to this school will be a terrible mistake you could ever make. Please do not send them here!!! read more

Sending my daughter to this school for 2 years was the worst mistake I could have ever made. She is now at Murrieta school district and I couldn't be happier. I just received my daughters test scores for CA Assessment testing in the mail last week. In both Math and ELA my daughter went from standard nearly met (6th grade after transferring from Sycamore) to standard exceeded (after finishing her 8th grade year). She has grown tremendously after leaving Sycamore Academy. Ms. Hale, the principal, is very unapproachable and will try to belittle you if you approach her about your concerns (The school has lost a few great staff members and teachers due to the principal). Don't send your kids here!! read more

This is the best school by far. It has the feel of a private school, it has been a blessing for us! The teachers are great!

Glad to be getting my child out of this school!! They have absolutely no structure or organization and the poor office staff are expected to work miracles where the actual administration lacks poorly on every aspect of education. The homework policy is a joke, so much so, they DO NOT CARE if your child does it or not. The teachers don't even check it, the kids do!!! Communication is terrible, they send home learning apps to use without login credentials and will never return emails or calls. How exactly is my child expected to learn? But don't worry, they will email you thirty times a day to remind you to take their survey or to sign up for a fundraiser. Not one communication regarding science projects though. Priorities? Oh and the grading is on a 4 point scale, but your child will "rarely ever receive a 4". So good luck if your child competes or needs their grades comparable to normal systems. Sycamore doesn't give out the equivalent of an A. Don't be fooled by good reviews below, take a trip through the campus, you will see they all work there!! Oh, did I mention they let over 50 students do an unsafe sport for a full season without insurance!!! My child included. If there was an accident, our children would not have been protected. This is the most unprofessional school I have ever seen. Do your child a favor and save yourself frustration. Stay away! There are plenty of great schools in the area. read more

This is a great charter school in Riverside County. I searched and researched the local elementary schools and charter schools in the area. Aspects I love about the school and curriculum include the level of interaction between the school, student and parent. If you are an involved parent and care about investing in your child AND working with your child, this school is for you. If you want the teachers to teach your child and not require anything additionally from you, find another school. Because it is a charter and falls under the public education branch, they do have to adhere to California Common Core, they get around some of the BS by teaching the overlapping concepts. The children have access to awesome computer programs both in the classroom and at home that allow the children to work up past their grade level. While the school does not require mandatory volunteer service hours, most of the parents and extended family volunteer where they can and assist the teachers in various ways. The class sizes are definitely smaller than your traditional public school class size. There are numerous other positives to the school, I suggest you contact the school and talk to existing parents. There is a reason parents start one child at Sycamore only to place their remaining children there. The two main negatives that I see, and really shouldn't be a deciding factor, are the fact the school only goes up to 8th grade (meaning you will have to find another option for high school) and the private road also hold a few houses. This is only a negative because of the single road in and out onto Palomar road. Many parents are either too timid to make that turn in a timely manner or simply do not pay attention and thereby create traffic jams. You may ask why my opinion matters, I am a wife and mother with a background in Early Childhood Education and a nurse for over a decade. I come from a family of educators and work with each of my children before they even enter school age. I hope this helps some who are on the fence make a decision one way or another. read more

I moved my two kids from cottonwood canyon elementary to this school and I love it here!!! Everyone is very friendly and extremely helpfull with anything you need. I would recommend this school to anyone that is tired of dealing with wthe public schools. This school has been a blessing to my family and friends that also moved there kids to sycamore canyon! read more

DO NOT SEND YOUR CHILD TO THIS SCHOOL! They are verbally abusive to the kids, totally unorganized (unless you like searching for your childs things across the entire school) they are based out of a office front, no play ground ect. if all you want your child to learn is to sing and dance this isnt the school, Also my child's love for school was ended at sycamore. I later found out it was due to the excessive verbal abuse, and name calling by staff, They also encourage the class to belittle the child as a form of 'life skills' are you kidding me?? stay away from here. read more

Our kids are here for the second year, only because of the teachers, they really care about the kids and get to know them. The rest is abhorrent. They loose our HIPAA documents (4 times and counting), they loose our absent homework (3 times and counting), they have no cafeteria, parking lot or lunch program. The grading website doesn't work most of the time and they force you to use it, but cannot even access it. The attitude of the principal is so disappointing, we started school 2 weeks late this year while they got permits and have had our school times adjusted to allow the traffic flow to die down from the 90 min drop offs. I have engaged with her to discuss the lack of competence in the front office, she had a lot of excuses (took 2 weeks to meet with her as she was always unavailable) and offered no solution. The other three times I've seen her this year she has been screaming (no not kidding) at a child, yelling at a boy in her office and condesending to another child. She is the leader and the attitude declines from there. There is no reason for the kids to go to her office except negative and my kids don't even know who she is, she is that disconnected from her students, teachers and parents. We will be moving as we cannot take the chaotic, unorganized and ineffective leadership any longer. Again if you are considering this school and are looking for great teachers, they rise above Ms. Hales negative influence but the rest of it is such a mess it's not worth it. read more