115 Heron Ln #51
Sudbury, MA 01776

This was a wonderful school for my child (9th grader at LSRHS now). The administration is great. The principal and my child’s counselor was fabulous and made a huge difference during those very difficult pandemic years. Principal makes a clear effort to know who each kid is immediately upon them starting 6th grade. Teachers were all very nice for all the core subjects. My kid made a strong connection with at least one teacher every year. Fabulous music and drama programs. Can’t comment on sports as my kid did not participate. They are all very invested in the kids overall health and well-being as well as their academic progress. My child had one bad experience with a newly hired non core course teacher. This person did not remain at the school for more than a couple months and the word was they were fired. Middle school years are always a bit rough on kids. The staff seems acutely aware of this and provides all sorts of support and show genuine caring for all the kids.

This school has excellent programs and resources for children with special needs and spends a large amount of money on every student (comparatively). It also has a very safe campus with good pick up and drop off protocols. However, as with most schools, your experience depends on the teachers and peers. Many of the children here are very privileged (obviously, it is Sudbury) but not in a good way. It seems that many of the households have parents working a lot and children being left to be raised by nannies and video games. When my children entered this school they were very sweet and empathetic. My kids are not overly impressionable, but they are young kids who look up to their peers and, since they have been attending here, they come home repeating things they hear and many of it is troubling. The references range from violent movies and video games to mocking the way girls look (mind you these are elementary aged children on the younger end). I have personally witnessed children laughing at kids when they are left out at lunch and recess and purposely hurting other kids and walking off as they cry. I have also personally witnessed staff do nothing about it. The mascot of the school is a “Haynes Hawk” and the children get rewarded if they do good things (like include others or help out in class), but in practice there doesn’t seem to be a lot of respect amongst the kids. It has been sad to see my innocent sweet kids be surrounded by “teenager” like behavior so young. As mentioned, the school itself does have some benefits: small, safe, large resources, location is suburban and beautiful. But when you get a bunch of privileged kids that are (IMO) spoiled, left to their screens, and likely bored with the smaller class sizes and lack of diversity it’s not always the best recipe for learning tolerance, respect, and kindness. All in all the education is good but the atmosphere is your standard, white, wealthy town experience with children that lean toward passive bullying and exclusion for fun.

Both of my children attended LS and received a first-rate education. They learned how to be self-sufficient students, team players and good citizens. The school offers many opportunities beyond the classroom - both of my children well very well prepared for college and for adulthood.