45 Marjorie Ter
Englewood Cliffs, NJ 07632

My daughter is currently enrolled at North Cliff and my son attended a few years ago before moving up to Upper School. I only have great things to say about this school. It provides a safe, nurturing and caring environment for students, and the teachers, administrators and staff are all excellent and extremely dedicated. Class sizes are small (12 in my daughter's class) and it truly feels like an upscale private school in terms of the individualized attention and quality of the education provided. There is a concerted effort to actively engage parents and caretakers, who are invited to visit and do interactive activities with the students. Last winter I made ginger-bread houses with my daughter's Frist Grade class and earlier this year I met with the class to share our experience and pictures from a family trip to Africa. The teachers were so kind and the children were very well behaved and filled with endless curiosity. I will also note that it is not a high-pressure environment and students are allowed to learn at their own pace, while maintaining the highest academic standards. This is truly one of the best public schools in the county (and perhaps also in the State) and I feel blessed that my children have had the privilege to attend. Keep up the good work!

Under the administration of Jennifer Brower, Upper School is deteriorating in terms of the curriculum, teachers, etc. They focus too much on encouraging good character and behavior while their academic curriculum is extremely terrible and way behind other middle schools in the region. Without self-study, an "education" at this school will leave your child far behind other peers in high school. Furthermore, the website is poorly maintained and extracurricular clubs and electives are basically nonexistent. For a middle school that was founded decades ago, this primitive state is unacceptable. In addition, this school does nothing to acknowledge its most capable, hardworking, and intelligent students but focuses more on catering toward the kids who are academically and intellectually slow and behind. Thus, the actually smart and studious students are cruelly being forced to participate in the same classroom as those kids who do not even consider school a priority, and teachers will have to dumb down the material. Most importantly, this school does not believe in dividing up classes based on skill level. Everyone in each grade takes the same math class, the same english class. There are absolutely no honors classes. Their philosophy is that this system is "discouraging" to those incapable or inexperienced. What a joke. What kind of middle school forces everyone in the grade to learn algebra in eighth grade? As mentioned, their curriculum is ridiculous and I truly regret going to this failure of a middle school. Parents, if you are considering having your child attend this school, I sincerely plead you to find another option, because Upper School is the worst of the worst.