1908 Via Appia
Walnut Creek, CA 94598

I am a teacher who knows the school systems inside and out and observing this school from my son's perspective, I know it is an excellent institution for wellness, academia, and creativity. They have one of the greatest art and STEM programs I have ever seen. What they do is incredible and the time allotted is much appreciated. My son who has been going there for 3 years now is excited every day he comes home. He loves it. The parent outreach and activities they have on campus from the art shows to Halloween events stand above the rest. Truly amazing stuff happening in this wonderful community. Thank you Bancroft.

I have had four children attend Foothill Middle School and they all really liked it. We love several of the teachers there, feel like there is adequate information, and my kids really liked the extra curricular and rotation classes offered. For four kids to all really like middle school is quite a testament to the staff and teachers at this friendly school.

I won't be able to describe everything that's wrong with this school in just 2500 characters.The administration is beyond garbage. Even between the Principal and 2 VPs, there is an extreme amount of favoritism (and quite frankly, nepotism). There's a running joke (that has been going for several years) that as long as you're friends with one of Admin's children, you're set for the next 4 years.Outside of their own children, VPs and the Principal ONLY favor the extremely lazy, rule-breaking children (a large percentage of them being their children's friends), the athletic students (who actually break records/win trophies), and *maybe* the top 5 academic students (if they're lucky). Do you fall outside any of those categories? Good luck, you will be practically invisible for your 4 years here at Northgate.Counselors are useless. They can't give you any real answers because they have to double check everything with the Principal (who then proceeds to give the Counselors wrong information).This leads me to my next point: 90% of all staff members (particularly counselors) hate Admin. If you're in a room with a staff member during lunch/passing period, and they get an email from Admin during that time, they will literally roll their eyes and tell students about how annoyed they are by Admin. I found this incredibly funny, but kind of sad because no one really has the courage to stick up to Admin.Now, let's talk about teachers. Some are incredible, most are mediocre, and ~25% are complete (uneducated) trash. I will say, the English department seemed to have the best teachers (excluding one particular teacher who retired this year- congrats to future grades who will be spared). The social studies department was a hit or miss- some teachers actually prepare you for AP exams (making it easy for students to earn a 5), meanwhile others, like my senior year Government/Econ teacher wasted class time NEARLY EVERYDAY- NO JOKE- by talking about his deceased spouse (as well his dating life with his current partner), while also making inappropriate jokes. Despite a plethora of complaints to Admin (just from my grade- and I know for a fact that he's gotten complaints for the last few years as well- he has tenure and will be retiring soon, and will never face any consequences.I will be attending a highly ranked university in the fall. I attribute my success to my parents who ensured that I had outside-of-school tutoring/exam prep/support during all 4 years.