Gooden School, The

This is our first year at Gooden and we absolutely love it here. Our daughter is thriving and is excited to learn and go to school everyday. She especially loves the going to art and music classes where she brings home new art work and songs she’s learned throughout the week. What we really enjoy as parents of Gooden is the size of the school and ratio of students to teachers in the classrooms. Also we love how all of the teachers and staff know every student across all grades by name and make them all feel special and important. The parent community is small and involved and have personally felt welcomes from the beginning. We feel blessed to be going to Gooden and feel like this is the best place for our child.

Gooden is a a gem. It is a small and involved community with caring teachers, involved parents and a wonderful campus. The school is continually evolving and adapting to the needs of the students. They have fun and engaging curriculum with lots of hands on learning opportunities. The small class sizes allow every teacher to get to know all the students. I am so surprised when even the middle school teachers know my child's name. You can reach any teacher or the Head of school by email with any concerns. My child is so happy at Gooden, he enjoys all his classmates and has lots of opportunities to play with students in other grades, including his Middle School Buddy. By giving the students connections between the lower and upper school students it removes the perception of "scary older kids", they are all friendly helpful friends. There are a variety of religious backgrounds among the families and they make everyone feel welcome. From our 3 years at Gooden I am certain that my child will be challenged academically, supported when needed, and feel a deep connection to his school.

Our family joined the Gooden community last year, in the middle of my son's 5th grade year, and we could not have had a more seamless or positive experience. My son regularly thanks me for finding Gooden for him, calling it "the perfect school." When he started at Gooden, he was immediately welcomed by all the students in his class. His teachers helped him transition to his new school and supported all his efforts. In no time, he was thriving—socially and in his learning. Now in middle school, he's engaged, he's challenged, and he's maturing in a nurturing, intimate, safe, fair environment. And, to boot, he's becoming more respectful, responsible, and disciplined! He's said himself that Gooden has made him a better person. What more could a parent of a middle schooler ask for? Our entire family was welcomed by the warm and robust Gooden community, and we're grateful every day for finding this school. A friend of mine called Gooden "a gem." I couldn't agree more.

We have two children who attend Gooden. Our oldest started off in 2nd grade while our youngest started with the Kinder program during the first covid year. It has been amazing to see how quickly both children have been embraced by the school and community. The level of attention and personalized instruction is more than we could have hoped for when we started looking at different educational options. Our children have been supported and nurtured in so many ways. During covid the kindergarten teacher showed up to every students’ house with a crate of supplies and activities that she carefully planned out for each day of Zoom school. When our child had a minor surgery and had to miss school, the teacher showed up with a get well gift and lots of hugs. The third grade teacher noticed a knack for poetry writing and submitted our child’s work to several publications and writing contests. This helped develop a passion that continues to this day. When returning from the holiday break, the fourth grade teacher let us know within days that our child was not concentrating in class. We addressed the issue and got back on track quickly. Our children feel so seen at school and every teacher is in tune with their needs. My husband and I consistently note how fortunate we are to have a supportive educational environment that continues to adapt and change in response to our children's needs.

First off all, let me start off- the academics at this school are definitely NOT rigorous. The workload may be much, but the material is definitely not hard. In fact, through 4 - 8, all the material is literally just repeating. The kids don't learn anything knew, and just repeat everything until 8th grade, where we have some variety. - If your child has awkwardness, or have some trouble connecting, DO NOT APPLY. I WARN AGAIN. DO NOT APPLY. There are DEFINITE social dynamics in the classes with popular kids are the kids who are left out, that they pretend are their "friends" but really leave them out on movie nights, text groupchats, and even to picking partners, all the popular kids stay together, and the rest are left to be partners with each other. It's honestly, DEMORALIZING. I should know, because I was a victim of that. - The psychologist is just homework help & test accomodations. That's it.- there are definite favorites in athletic teams, and everything is just so toxic. you have to fit the mold, to be accepted. I HATE IT. please do not send your children to this school, it will damage their emotional wellbeing & also make them feel inferior to their classmates.