I am nanny to two children that attend this school and I can honestly say I really like this place!…read more It is nestled at the base of a dead-end street residential street next to a great sports park & playground. The demographic is made up of predominantly white, upper middle class children from the surrounding suburbs and the parents seem to really take pride in getting involved in the classroom and extra-curricular events. The Principal is incredibly energetic and seems to know every kid by name which makes them all feel so important and actually makes them WANT to go to school! Although its not the biggest school, there are acres of fields for the children to play on and plenty of playground equipment. My 10yo loves that there is an actual working football league organized by the principal where the different grades play against each other each day - something i'd never heard of in other schools and in my own education! That's how much the principal cares. They have "spirit days" seemingly every other Friday where they have a DJ at lunch and wear their school pride out loud and proud. Its so cute to see the kids excited about school and I know its credit to the caring teachers and principal! This school was different than our previous elementary in Lake Forest because they focused more on in-classroom learning instead of physical homework sent home. Both kids still have spelling homework/tests every week, the usual math homework and 20 minutes of reading but not nearly the volume that we've had at other schools. However, they are still excelling and I credit this to the teachers and the classwork that is required of them to build understanding - which I think is a definite plus! The teachers & staff care and are very good at what they do! My only gripe is the way the pick-up/drop-off situation works. The school is at the base of a dead end street and so cars that come in have to loop around and tend to pack up 100s of yards. If you intend to walk your child to class, you must parallel park along the residential street because the parking lot of the school is only open to staff. There is a grassy area that the kids gather on to be picked up so I definitely find it more timely to park and walk over to the lawn and pick them up but I could see how this would be annoying for someone with young children already in the car. In that case, most would rather wait through the line. I would try to get there at around 2:30PM if you plan on waiting through the long line of cars to pick up your kids at the grassy area without getting out of your car. Its a little hard to explain - I'll try to add photos for better illustration. All in all, a great school! I just wish it wasn't so crazy to pick up or drop off your kids!

I saw the most amazing thing this morning as I dropped off my niece at this school for the first…read moretime. 6 children, along with an aid flocked to meet my niece at our arrival with smiles, hand holding and hugs. I've never seen such an all inclusive school. I attended Christian Schools growing up and couldn't believe the love that these kids showed. Come to find out the greeting to my niece was not a special occasion this was an every day event. The kids chose to come every day and show love. This school has it figured out from the top to the bottom and could only pray and wish this was every school system!

My daughter graduated from this school in 2015. I later found out that most of her teachers (not…read moreall) were just awful to her and her classmates/friends. Up to this day she and her friends would talk about how awful some of these teachers treated them. The teachers absolutely showed favoritism to students whose parents practically did their job by volunteering everyday and will not let any parents do so. My son was attending at this school but their Special Education is less than satisfactory because they had nothing to offer him. I ended up transferring him to Foothill Ranch Elementary and it was best thing that ever happened to him. When my son strarted attending Foothill Ranch Elementary, they sent me a letter saying that they were opening up a class accommodating my son's needs and that Portola Hills is his home school. I told them that he will never return to this school. I saw my son get bullied by these kids in front of my eyes by purposely not including him to their reading groups during Dr. Seuss birthday celebration in their classroom because he read slow. He read slow because he's autistic. My daughter is forever scarred by this school but fortunately, she overcame it with my constant re-assurance because this school destroyed her confidence. By the way, Cookie the office woman was just awful to my son. She would get upset if he comes in to the office to ask for help. If you are a brown nosing parent you will thrive in this school but if you are working mom who cannot always be there. I wish you the best but keep an eye on your children or you can transfer them to Foothill Ranch Elementary. For what it's worth, Mrs. Shanton, Mrs Morrow, Mrs Lindenhoffen (my daughter's teachers) are wonderful teachers. Mrs Lau and Mrs Franco are wonderful as well, they were my son's teachers. The rest, well...Good-luck along with the principal Mr. Ledaux (if he's still there)

This is a great school with caring teachers. My son has been here only a few months but acclimated…read morewell. The afterschool program is great and the supervisor is amazing as well (I know this should be a separate review but it is on campus). I would love it if they allowed kids to play on the playground before school like the schools in Irvine but that is my only complaint.

I think it's sad to see such negative ratings about a school. I almost feel like a few of the…read morereviews were written by students, and aren't actual experiences written by parents. Anyway, I wanted to say that my daughter has had a great experience attending RSM. Sure every school has it's positives and negatives, but Yelp is not the spot to rant and rave about a bad teacher they may have had or an incident where a student got in trouble with the Principal. It is about the overall experience and RSM overall left us with many positive experiences. One thing that I really like is that the school has a great communication system. I like their weekly Roadrunner express emails letting me know all of the school information of what's to be expected that is coming up, currently happening, contact information and just general information. They also send out phone calls and email reminders on early dismissal reminders, holiday schedules, state testing and large school events, so that parents can be extra prepared. It's nice that they almost "over remind" you, just in case you forget as life gets quite busy for many parents with things pulling you in many directions, which seems to be the case these days. I also like the fact that she has made many friends from different schools since I believe that RSM is a culmination of students from Robinson, Trabuco, Cielo Vista, Melinda Heights, Foothill Ranch, and Trabuco Mesa. She will hopefully carry many of these new friendships she has made over onto her four years of high school and onward. It's always good to increase your elementary school circle of friends with new faces. Yes, not every school is for everyone and RSM is definitely not perfect by any means, but I say don't knock it until you try it. Mr. Bjorek, Ms. Gibson, and Mr. Morgan are great Principals and work hard to try and make RSM Intermediate a great place for the students.

Honestly this school sucks. Let me start by saying the faculty suck. The assistant principal has…read morewalked into the girls bathroom multiple times while the bathroom in use. And this is just isn't right and the principal had some weird behavior, now I love this school but the school has some questionable behavior. My science teacher has had some questionable behavior and was almost fired but they didn't fire him and still let him teach and let me tell you he doesn't teach, he sits behind the desk not teaching and I come home with Fs in the class and when I come up to him asking about school home work and assignments I am greeted by a trash pick up or the office. Needless to say the school pride is great, half the faculty is great and the principle makes the school feel amazing, I'm honestly glad that Mr Rubio is not going to be there anymore because his behavior is very questionable. The drama teacher has some weird behavior too, he showed are class some inappropriate things and was also suspended. Honestly this school is very meh. It's common for teachers to get suspended and come back because of the poor performance of the school. I would wish to see action taken and more accountability to the school

the school is very dirty and the boys bathroom is full of poo poo and pee pee there is a lot of…read morekids saying naughty words you guys shoukd make your school better

Upon my daughter's sixth grade, my daughter's teacher Mx. Sullivan expressed to her and other…read morestudents how she was not a man or a woman, and then expressed to her and other students how she is still married to a man. Also later on in the school year, she expressed to my daughter and the other students how she got divorced. In addition to all of this, she had caused some kind of drama amongst the students with correcting them or letting them know that they need to call her "them". This had my daughter, a little uncomfortable and a lot confused. When I attempted to talk to the principal several times, I was not able to get a hold of her she never returned my phone calls and when I would ask in person she was never available. At this point I just want to get further help with this so that way this could be fixed and the teacher should be accountable for her actions not telling her students her personal business. To clarify, I have nothing against anybody sexual preferences. I have many friends with the sexual preferences, but my problem is is that my 12-year-old daughter in sixth grade at school has no business knowing any of this information from her teacher it should not be a conversation they should be having.

My kids had the best experience at country village! As a school teacher, I was very particular…read moreabout what I wanted for my kids' first school experience, and Country Village checked every box for our family. The staff is incredibly caring, patient, and nurturing, and Marisa, the director, is wonderful as well. I especially appreciated the small class sizes, which were very important to me, along with the amazing playground where the kids could play and explore. Another huge highlight was the classroom pets -- my children absolutely loved them! Both my son and daughter truly thrived at Country Village, and I'm so grateful for the positive, loving environment they experienced there.

We love Country Village! All 3 of our kids have attended the school, the teachers are amazing & the…read moreDirector, Marisa is so caring, organized and runs a great program! We highly recommend Country Village RSM!

The teaching staff here seems to have a great interest in teaching our kids…read more Their ideas and concepts about getting our kids ready for each upper grade and always striving them forward, are great.

- i attended trabuco mesa elementary school from kindergarten all the way to 6th grade, excluding…read more5th grade. i absolutely loved this school!! the teachers, students, volunteers, lunch activities, and all the many other things this school had to offer was absolutely incredible. this school has given me unforgettable memories and experiences. just one thing,,, i had an incident that had happened my 6th grade year that's had to do with bullying and let's just say when i was offered help, the principal was no help AT ALL. if anything, she made matters worse. when i has reached for help, no help was given by staff nor the principal, all i got was a very, very loud yelling from her and questioned by the police after demanding i have a parent present before further questioning. i never knew a principle could talk to an 11 year old student in such a offensive and demeaning way. not to mention, she told my parents lies about my behavior at school and that i was a bad student even though i never was. - overall this school is truly great. one of the best and if you're thinking about enrolling your child into trabuco mesa elementary school, your child is going to have the time of their lives. you will not regret it. :)

My son has been going to school here for about 4 months now and he absolutely loves it…read more He actually goes to bed early on his own when he knows he has school the next day and wakes up super excited for class with Mrs. Wilson. The first week at this school, my almost 4 year old would cry when I picked him up because he didn't want to go home yet. He'd say, " I just want to stay and learn more!" The teachers are as loving as can be and I am surprised by the things he tells me when he comes home. They are easy to talk to -- and they always keep me in the loop on what's going on with him in class. Just love love love this school! I only wish we had learned about St. John's when he was younger! Such a wonderful school

We have three kids at St. John's and could not be happier with the school. Yes, every school has…read moreits challenges, but overall, it is a nurturing environment where everyone is treated equally. It has a strong community, and feels like one big family! It is academically challenging and the teachers are extremely passionate about making sure your kids thrive and do well! We highly recommend the school!

So the word on the street is that Irvine schools are the best. Then my friend, you have not been to…read morethis school! Clean, up to date, well organized and professionally run. Mr. Morrow, the Vice Principal is always available and is beyond active in the school. He is a constant and reassuring presence on the playground in the morning, which is a definite comfort in this day and age. Mrs. Harp, a second grade teacher will take your breath away in how she teaches. It's obvious that there is a strong passion for teaching in her, and it shows daily. The curriculum is first rate, Apple computers in all the classrooms, well maintained property, highly motivated and dedicated staff. What more can one ask for in a school?

Look elsewhere. There's a reason the tuition is one of the lowest in the area, and it reflects!…read more Catholic schools are meant to be not only places of academic excellence but also environments where faith, compassion, and moral integrity are prioritized. Regrettably, under Mr. Tolzda's leadership, these core values seem to take a backseat.

If I could leave zero stars I would. I was charged 250 for a play that never happened. They said…read moreCovid. A govt created virus/lie. No refund. I had all 3 of my kids go there and 5 nieces and nephews. Go public. Serra does not conduct themselves to the standard they require.

It seems to me that if you aren't the same shade as this Karen then be mindful of how she operates…read more Kids will be kids but she's having a hard time understanding that. She's taking her little volunteer job too seriously if you ask me for a weekend. The security guard was dope though he understood the assignment. This lady is watching black people like a hawk.

Save your money! This school promises college counseling but fails to deliver. My daughter was a…read morestraight A Gate student when Covid hit. SM promised they would be better equipped to handle off campus teaching yet they failed to follow California Dept of Education and County of Orange's recommended guidelines of "Do No Harm". My daughter started 9th grade when the schools shut down and it was the first time in her life she received B's and C's. Like most teenagers, she was suffering from suicidal ideation and isolation. Her teachers decided to punish her with harsh grades. As if that weren't bad enough, she received an A and B for Spanish 1 and 2, however had not learned a word of Spanish and was not able to do Spanish 3. We were told that was fine because she could still apply to plenty of colleges. Her GPA went back to a 4.0 after Covid and when the school reopened. Unfortunately, her overall GPA has been affected by the poor grades she received during Covid despite the state recommending that teachers not issue grades less than what the child had received pre Covid. To think that I paid such enormous sums of money for this school to obliterate my daughter's GPA during Covid is unconscionable. We have been told that she won't be able to apply to UC schools because her GPA is not high enough because of the grades she received during Covid. I'd bet this school didn't judge their footballers with the severity my daughter was judged during Covid. A total waste of money!!