Chadwick School

I have had a horrible experience at Chadwick. It is a school that talks about Core Values and then fails to live up to them. The disfunction starts at the Board level. They have just hired their sixth Head of School in nine years. There are serious governance issues and lies that are perpetuated throughout the school.

There is little to love at this school. Nothing has changed from previous reviews going back almost six years ago. Chadwick continues to live off a long lost reputation. Administration is out of touch with the real world. Teachers rule the campus and are not evaluated by principals who live in fear of backlash. The cost of tuition keeps going up and parents questions go unanswered about how money is spent. Even though the numbers indicate budget surpluses over the past ten years, the school claims to need "donations" to meet their financial obligations. Parents are afraid to ask questions and are ignored/threatened when they do. Save yourself the grief and go elsewhere.

So I went to Chadwick for 9-12th grade and can say it definitely was not the right choice for me. The culture of Chadwick is very sheltered and does not represent the real world at all. The teachers are all outdated in terms of their teaching styles and Mr. Weidenman is way to conservative and old school for the progressive school that they say they are. Anyways when I went to college I had to figure out how to socialize and be a normal person in the real world. Something I never learned at Chadwick. Also, being 100% , kids from other schools like Mira Costa, Peninsula high school etc... all think Chadwick kids are wierd. And I'm not saying that to put Chadwick in a bad light, it's just the sheltered community could be the determinant of this.

Wow, what an amazing place Chadwick is! As an alumnus of the school, as well as a current Chadwick parent I can speak to both experiences. My closest friends to this day are still my friends from my own years at Chadwick and I'm happy to say that I'm so impressed seeing the friends my daughter is making at the school. They are such nice, sweet, poised, intelligent, hard working, respectful kids.Academically, the small class sizes allow the teachers time to adapt to the needs of the kids. In my own experience at the school I was amazed when I went to college and found classes almost universally to be a breeze thanks to Chadwick.The school entirely subscribes to a whole child philosophy, where you can load up your schedule with as many challenging classes as you like with a group of students who earn the highest average SAT/ACT scores in the area, but they strongly encourage going beyond traditional academics:Outdoor ed – Each year your child will embark upon an outdoor education trip as a class where they form friendships and lifelong bonds and challenging themselves mentally and physically in ways you just can’t in the classroom. The program culminates in a 3 week Senior trip, backpacking in the Sierras, where your child will plan, navigate, make decisions, cook, and manage the interpersonal and physical challenges of a significant outdoor expedition. That trip was an amazing experience I still look back upon fondly and look forward to having my child experience in the future.Global programs – During my time at the school I had the good fortune to be able to visit Communist China. What an amazing experience. Since then the international and global programs have grown even stronger. Performing and visual arts – Your child will be strongly encouraged to get outside of their comfort zone and participate in a rigorous, well-developed arts curriculum. My daughter comes home from school many days dancing and singing and telling stories of the arts classes she’s taking.Athletics – The majority of my friends at Chadwick participated in multiple sports. Students are encouraged everybody to participate, even if your child isn’t a traditional jock. If they are passionate about a sport they’ll get a rigorous program too.No school is perfect, but from my own experience as an alumnus and parent I can confidently say Chadwick is a very special place.

If you have a bright child who loves to learn, than this school is not for you! In elementary school, teachers give privileges to those "special needs" students and ignore students who are ready and able too be challenged. For the most part, their curriculum in lower school was sub-par at best but we stayed for three more years hoping that each year would get better...wrong!! This year was probably the worst year for our child....horrible English and math teachers! I would have to say that the geometry honors teacher was by far the "worst teacher" ever!She was not only lazy but did not command the subject being taught. I can't understand how someone like her can even be a teacher, let alone an honors geometry teacher...I think she's an alumni.Also, our child had the same English teacher two years in a roll and basically learned nothing. Very minimal writing, just a lot of annotations. So, we finally pulled our child out of this school and enrolled in a public high school and we are so glad that we did!