The Gardner School

Our son is in his first year of preschool this year, and we are crystal clear that we made the right choice in choosing The Gardner School. The teachers and staff are incredible, the outdoor space (with gardens and wetlands to explore) are a young child's dream. We love the families we've met, and are delighted with the growth that our son has had both socially and academically. So happy we found this school! more

This is a wonderful school if you are looking for a hands-on school for an a pre-k or elementary student. The teacehr's are great with the little kids, and there is a lot of space for them to run all of their energy out. But if you are thinking about sending your middle school student there, I would probably re-think your options. Sure, the teacher/student ratio is great (seeing as there are only about seven or eight middle schoolers in all), but a few of those students can become EXTREMELY disruptive to the classroom enviorment. The teachers pay more attention to the kids who have trouble getting along with the other students.\r \r It is normal for middle school students to become close with a few certain people, and they also may want to avoid some of the more disruptive students. But if you are going to be doing this at The Gardner School, you better be prepaired to deal with 'the consequences of being a bully'. One student found herself not being able to go on the class trip to Alabama because she didn't invite a certain student to the mall with her (Lame, right?), and that certain student complained that she was being bullied. \r \r They play a lot of social games at this school, where they expect that all the students will sway to one other studen'ts way of thinking.\r \r Another thing that became extremely disruptive were all of the little kids. During lunch, when the middle schoolers would try to talk about something, like a group Thematics project, they couldn't go five minutes without a little kid jumping on their back screaming 'I WANT A PIGGY BACK RIDE!'. Now, I love little kids, and they can be a lot of fun, but a teenager needs to be able to have fun conversations with their own peers during break. Tahoman's shouldn't have to spend all of their free time giving piggy-back rides to little kids. That is what 'Buddies' day is for every other week.\r \r Well, I hope that this will help you choose what is the right place to send you child~\r \r Former GS tahoman Pros: Low student/teacher ration learn what you are interested in Cons: Teachers focuse more on 'troubled' students Little kids are the higher priority No real english, science, or history classes more

Our daughter loves the small class sizes and personal attention. She comes home singing new songs every day and loves to talk about how much fun she had at school that day. It's Amazing. Pros: Lots of specialties including art, music, pe, and spanish, Very experienced teacher Cons: Somewhat rural, price more