Where do I even begin? I truly wanted to love this school, but it didn't take long for my instincts to tell me it wasn't the right fit for my child or our family. The academic approach is heavily based on authoritarian teaching, rote memorization, and repetitive worksheets. There is very little emphasis on critical thinking, observation-based learning, or a true classical education. Instead, students spend their days completing worksheets and then bringing home the same material to review again. The workload is repetitive, overwhelming, and leaves little room for children to simply be children. Students also receive very limited outdoor time. I've witnessed children being punished for minor behaviors, such as talking out of turn, by being required to eat lunch in the director's office or by losing physical activity as a consequence. I have also personally observed instances where both the director and head teachers spoke to children in a disrespectful, intimidating, and demeaning manner. That was extremely concerning to me. Another major issue is the constant fundraising and donation requests. Families are regularly encouraged to donate, yet I saw very few tangible improvements to the school. There is no library, the playground has not been meaningfully updated, and it's difficult to see where those funds are being invested. Even more disappointing is the culture surrounding donations, where families who don't contribute can feel judged or excluded, creating unnecessary cliques within the school community. For nearly $2,000 a month in tuition, I expected a nurturing environment that fostered curiosity, independent thinking, and a love of learning. Instead, I found a school focused on compliance, excessive repetition, and fundraising. This experience simply did not align with the educational values that were promised, and unfortunately, I cannot recommend it. read more

Dear Committee Members and Treasurer, I hope this message reaches the owner of the school as well, as it addresses an important concern regarding the treatment of community vendors by representatives of the committee, Ani and Angie. In March, I was approached by Ani about providing floral arrangements for a Mother's Day lunch at Castaways. After a consultation to discuss details and budget, I provided a proposal, including a sample centerpiece, which the committee and parents enjoyed. We were thrilled to be selected for the event on May 3 and accepted a $1,000 deposit, as outlined in our invoice. Our proposal clearly states that deposits are nonrefundable and nontransferable, with the remaining balance due 15 days before the event. However, as the date approached, my assistant and I made several attempts to finalize details and settle the remaining balance. Ani informed us that we would need to coordinate payment through Angie. Unfortunately, our attempts to communicate with Angie were met with resistance. She questioned our request for payment ahead of the event, despite our clear policy requiring full payment prior to ordering flowers. After negotiations, Angie decided to reduce the order value from $3,800 to $2,700, leaving a balance of $1,700. We continued to reach out for the final payment, but communication was inconsistent and often unproductive. On April 17, I informed Angie that without payment, we could not proceed with the floral arrangements. After weeks of silence, I received a last-minute text from her on May 1, confirming the centerpieces, which left me frustrated. I reached out to Ani for clarification, but was met with vague responses, including claims of a check being mailed, which we never received. Ultimately, on the morning of May 2, I was informed that they were canceling their event due to our inability to order flowers--an outcome that was entirely outside our control given the lack of payment and communication from their side. This situation reflects a troubling disregard for the policies that protect our business and the community relationships we strive to maintain. I urge all vendors to be cautious when engaging with this committee. The management of this event has not only wasted our time but has also impacted our business financially. It is disheartening to see representatives of the school behave in this manner, ultimately tarnishing its reputation. I have been in business for 20 years and have worked with numerous schools, but I have never encountered such disrespect and lack of professionalism. I hope this message prompts a reconsideration of how community vendors are treated and the individuals representing the school. Thank you for your attention to this matter. Please understand that as much as your concern is to remove our review, my complaint. I will rewrite and repost my review. instead of getting my complaint and feedback deleted your concern should be addressed and apologize for the inconvenience and behavior you have caused toward our company. read more

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It was my daughter's 3rd year coming back for summer and it was my son's first... THEY LOVED IT! The teacher's approach is engaging and the kids retain everything they're taught. It is clear that the teachers love what they do and the enthusiasm spreads to the kids. Highly recommend! read more

To follow up my review dated 8/6/20 and school's response after a year, AAA decided the school can no longer use the arbitration agreement in the tuition agreement until the school makes payment and follow rules. See attached letter. Also, the school didn't "win" the small claim. The court ordered the school to make some payment to us. We thought the payment were not enough but were just tired of the dispute and moved on. Amazing the school still wanted to bring this up to Yelp now... read more

Considering I went there over 18 years ago- I'm now 30 years old. I loved LCP and it prepared me for everything after I left: High School, College, Law School, and the real world. read more

I went to this school for elementary and middle school. It was great for academics and prepared me for advanced classes in high school but wow, the trauma. I had so many terrible experiences at that school whether it was bullying or racism and very little was done about it - teachers would simply label bullying as a misunderstanding and brush it off as if it were unimportant. One thing to think about if you're looking at this school is that it is predominantly Armenian - as someone who is not part of that ethnic group, it was very easy to be singled out. Students would freely make racist jokes about classmates, exchange students, or children who went to the Mandarin school on the upper level of the school. Years of hearing constant micro aggressions and feeling a need to prove myself because I was a minority was something that really affected my well-being. This school teaches you to put up with discrimination rather than take actions against it. The principal is a very stern woman. She will yell at your children for small things (I know many kids including myself who were screamed at for things they did not do) and teach them to accept verbal abuse. At this school, you are taught to be very independent in your studies and to be quiet. Collaboration is not encouraged and any type of talking is strongly reprimanded. It was not uncommon for children to start crying in class because of the lengths teachers would go to make students feel humiliated about their mistakes. The vice principal, Mr. Justin (the principal's son), was especially liable. He seemed to get high off of feeling more powerful than his young students by making them do push-ups when misbehaving or slamming his cane on desks or suddenly barging into classrooms to scare students. At TLC you are not allowed to run on the playground and if you do, you are "benched." It's the closest you can get to an army elementary school. You learn to deal with little freedom and full accept rules from mean adults. The way this school deals with regular middle school drama is horrible. As a girl who went through this experience, I will say it was absolutely TERRIBLE. I was often brought into the office and yelled at until I cried and was told to stop crying. Mean girl culture is very much prevalent at this school and teachers intervening tends to make the situation a whole lot worse. When I went to high school, I experienced a major culture shock as I was genuinely baffled at how nice people could be. Normal things like teachers allowing students to talk in class and not yelling at kids were so foreign to me. ***If you would like your child to learn how to work with others, learn to have a kind heart, become a leader, or be able to express their individuality, this is not the school for you. *** With all that said, I am, however, very grateful to have had a few great teachers (like Ms. Eunice, Ms. Alex, Mr. Michael, and Ms. Shannon) who made my experience at TLC and LCP a little more bearable. In my case, the bad most definitely outweighed the good. read more

If you want a school that only cares about money and has no regard for safety or health of their students, Learning Castle is your place. Our child was exposed to a family member who tested positive for covid and it was recommended by their physician that he quarantine for 14 days. We contacted the school before the start of the 3 week summer session to inform them of this news and kindly asked for a a refund since he would miss most of the session. But it was RENIED! When all other business were being compassionate and empathetic during a worldwide pandemic, Learning Castle stole $2400 without providing the services that we paid for. read more

The last of our three children recently graduated from LCP. Two of these started at The Learning Castle, the oldest was a fourth grade transfer. There is almost no way to state how valuable LCP is, both for the education as well as the foundation that is established. This foundation - in both critical thinking and methods of learning - has allowed our children to thrive in high school and now, for two of them, in college. Not just highly recommended but enthusiastically. The Learning Castle & La Cañada Prep are truly the best! read more

LCP is the best school my son ever went to and he has attended several good schools, like the Clairbourn School in Pasadena, the Viewpoint School in Calabasas and an international boarding school in Sweden. Our only regret is that he went to LCP for only two years, 7th and 8th grade, he wishes he had gone to LCP for his entire elementary school. They have some amazing teachers (Ms Elaine, Mr Steve and others, including a great tennis coach). Nice office staff that makes you feel welcome. The school is very inclusive which was impressive, no kid gets excluded, everyone gets invited to parties, etc. A very family oriented school. read more

Amazing school! I was so afraid of sending my son to this school after reading the Yelp reviews but trusted the person who spoke so highly of this school. I have not regretted it at all. This is one of the best environments I could place my child into, and I feel stress free knowing he is getting too notch, high quality education! read more

Terrible school. They don't care much for education as they do for money. I am glad I took my child out of this place. Where teacher yell at kindergarteners and make them hate school. Where principals shame parents when they send kids to school with the white shirt uniform instead of blue for picture day. I had Jackie telling me "it is a shame that you sent her with the blue shirt instead of white shirt" really is ishameful?? What is really shameful is When they lie to you and promise you false promises. Their principe told me your daughter who is in first grade is not advanced academically. I moved my daughter to another school, they gave her AR assessment she scored 3.6 which is equivalent to third grade level when she is in 1st grade.. that is shameful. A school that has no system whatsoever. That is shameful. It's obvious that him and his staff don't know how to evaluate their students and see the gifted ones. Or perhaps donations would have helped them see that !!! What is shameful is when one of the teacher tell me I found new material that you will like... really? Are we shopping?? You don't have a source for material ? You don't have a system? Do your kids a favor and don't continue in this mess of a school read more

My son has attended 2 summer sessions. He learned so much in that short amount of time. He is attending full time in the fall and I am excited for him to be engaged and challenged. The teachers are excellent and encouraging and they don't give up on the students. Their system works. The staff have been fabulous and I am so happy to see my son attend this wonderful school. I highly recommend it! read more

If I had the option to award zero stars, I certainly would opt for that. I have sent my children to the school for the last four years for their summer program. I was happy with the program, until this year. I originally signed up my children to attend the summer program in the midst of this pandemic, however just days prior to the commencement of the session, I informed the school that my children had been in the care of an individual who had tested positive for Covid although my children did not get exposed, I believed that in the interest of safety of other children & the staff at the school I had decided to place my children in a voluntary quarantine, and therefore opted to not attend. So, prior to ever attending the summer program, I sent a written request to withdraw. I also inquired about a refund for the thousands of dollars I had paid, $2,344.60 to be exact, for a 15 day session. In response to my request for a refund I was told that the only thing the school would consider is giving me a credit towards a future session and that I had missed the refund period. Notwithstanding the fact that there was no deadline to withdraw mentioned in any of their documentation, considering the status quo with the pandemic, I found this response to be unreasonable. First I was unsure what tomorrow would look like, and second, $2344 was a lot of money to be placing on hold for a potential possible enrollment at school that may or may not be open next year. So, I responded to the school indicating that since my children were not ill, and that my suggestion to keep them home was merely an overprotective one, I would simply be dropping them off since I had already paid for the service. Moments after my email I received the rudest communication from the school indicating that not only would my refund not be applied, but the offer for a future credit was also revoked, accusing me of "threatening to endanger the lives of the other children and staff", and the school would never work with me again. Had the school told me that a fee would be collected for thousands of pages of materials that they had to prepare for the 15 days that my children were going to be attending, I would've been happily paid for the materials. However I was not even given that option. The school simply wanted a 100% windfall for services never rendered! I had heard from many others prior to my enrollment that Learning Castle's focus was primarily financial and secondarily academic, but not withstanding that advice, I had chosen to send my children there. Sadly, all of what I deemed "rumors" were proven absolutely true. To attempt to take financial advantage in the midst of a pandemic is reprehensible and entirely inequitable. No doubt the only thing this school cares about is money. Even when weighted against health and safety, money issues prevailed for them. Even if given the option to return, I would never recommend this school to anyone. read more

I think this school is great. My daughter is PreK and can do addition, subtraction and read simple books and this is all before kindergarten. the teachers take a special interest in each child. Well worth the tuition. read more

I can only assume that the extremely negative comments are rooted in parent malalignment with the nature and curriculum of this school. We started with our oldest (a rising 12th grade high school and National Merit Scholar Commended) participating in summer school. We continued and regret not enrolling him in LCP full-time, as we did with our middle child and will do so with our youngest. Two of our three children are highly gifted with learning differences. LCP is not just able to accommodate and accelerate them, the learning environments for all classrooms are extremely well organized, free of disregulating distractions, and standardized to eliminate further unnecessary distractions. LCP excels with developing and nurturing executive functioning skills, something that separates college-ready students from non-college ready. LCP challenges students to go outside of their comfort zone, encouraging to stretch their mental muscle, and investigate the curriculum and world around them. Think of this school as comprised of GATE students who need the appropriate environment to let their 'inner brainiac flag' fly high and proudly. LCP also appropriately makes use of ELD by removing students from addictive technological devices (yes, it is in the DSM-V). Make no mistake - this is an educationally focused environment. Students are expected to work hard. Students are expected to play hard, too, and get their wiggles out frequently. Students are expected to be satisfied with their intellectual development and personal growth. LCP integrated many aspects of CCSS and NGSS standards when other schools were struggling with simply finding qualified teachers to incorporate changes. LCP is ahead of the pack academically. LCP also implemented their 'no smart phone' policy when electronic addiction became protocol in the DSM-V. It is time that policy caught up with science/medicine. That LCP is willing to be a leader with protecting developing vulnerable minds when the rest of society is too busy bickering over whether or not they 'agree' with scientists and physicians is refreshing. I would not recommend this school for any under-achieving student or for families who do not truly embrace academia and lifelong learning. We all know every student is smart. However, as responsible parents it is up to us to model how our family values truly intersect with our academic philosophies and our children's abilities. To do anything less is to be not just irresponsible, but be possibly destructive to our next generation. read more

After learning about their teaching methods and what the owners of the school are like, I am truly shocked and appalled. Parents need to be aware that there is absolutely no teaching happening at this place. There are no classroom activities, no group discussions, no lecturing. Teachers are paid to baby sit while students work on worksheets alone all day. Furthermore the school tricks parents into thinking this is a normal learning environment. Parents cannot sit in on classrooms to see the teaching process (because there isn't one!). Instead they are brought around the school for a few minutes and are only allowed a peak into a class for a few seconds. This is truly appalling, there are great public and private schools out there, why pay so much for such an embarrassingly bad one? read more

The Learning Castle has been a great school for our daughter. Both my husband and I appreciate the very caring administrative staff, especially the Directors, and of course the teachers. The entire school is invested in the progress of each individual student. The curriculum is both diverse and yet focused; they have a good balance between academia, athletics, language and arts. We believe the school is giving our daughter the foundation and opportunity for her to excel in her education for years to come. We highly recommend the Learning Castle La Canada Preparatory. --Karine Kudaverdian read more

This is a terrible place! I sent my son and my daughter here for K1 to 7th grade until we moved, and they were always coming home crying because Terry would yell at pick fights with them. The way my children were grieving was so upsetting.... they had no friends for they were always in DETENTION or had to be sent to the principal's office. My daughter, Emma was sent to Terry many times for being tardy, even though it was my fault. Terry has yelled at my son Adam before just for his lunch that included peanuts. I hate this school! read more

I'm very happy with the overall education level of this school for my daughter. She has learned so much and is way above friends of hers who attend other schools. So much so that their parents even comment on it. She also loves going to the school and loves her teachers. We talk all the time and she pretty much tells me everything. She has never had any issues or run ins with any of the teachers (as mentioned in other reviews here). Every teacher has been so nice and caring and seem to really love helping children. They are focused on academics but this is what I wanted, I don't see any issue with this. And they way they teach is working with rave results. I would definitely recommend this school. read more

Before you even think about sending your kid to this school, think about humanity and understand that this school does not listen to it. I won't bore you with the details, but unless you want your kid to be screamed at everyday, save your time and money and go somewhere else! read more

I am honored to be a parent at The Learning Castle/ La Canada Preparatory. I am grateful for the phenomenal education my daughter and son are receiving at TLC/LCP. It is unlike any other school I have seen. Truly top notch! I appreciate all the hard work and care of the teachers, faculty and Director. They truly care about the students. The teachers really care about the kids and the principal is very hands on and always walks around campus making sure all is well. The Learning Castle is a wonderful school, has unparalleled academics, well rounded in the arts and technology, great athletic programs, and student centered atmosphere. There is a wonderful family / community atmosphere (amazingly friendly parents and teachers) and a student centered focus. Each grade builds upon the one before it. My daughter began in Pre-Kindergarten and we were so happy, we never left. She has now moved on to the LCP campus and absolutely loves going to school every day! We are grateful every day to have our kids at The Learning Castle!! We highly recommend The Learning Castle/ La Canada Preparatory! read more

I am not sure about the where the other reviewer is coming from but I have to say that I completely disagree. There is more teaching and interactive learning here than I have seen anywhere else.This a top of the line elementary school!! I have now had my 2 children in 4 elementary schools over the course of the last 6 years. Coming from a private school education myself I have high expectations of what private elementary education should look like. After the first 3 schools I truly believed that quality private education no longer existed, until now! Wow what a truly amazing school! All of my children's teachers truly want them to succeed and help them get there! The teachers here a professional, educated and work to make sure that every child doesn't just pass their class but learns the material. Homework is quality and minimal. Previously my children were spending 5+ hours on homework and not getting anything out of it. Currently they spend less than an hour and are truly learning from it. This school also has an amazing art and drama program. They also offer tennis and dance taught by professionals in their field. Spanish is also part of their curriculum. This is a well rounded school. Not only are the teachers involved but the director is very hands on. If you want your child to succeed, and have a childhood, this is the place. read more

This is the second year for my son at the learning castle. I really admire this school and its team. they all strive to help their students be the best they can be. I have definitely seen my son growing more responsible, caring and passionate about learning. He is in 3rd grade and I am so happy with the education he is getting from thIs school. read more