85 University Ave #1400
Westwood, MA 02090

The school provides solid academics in all core subjects. However teachers struggle to keep students engaged in learning and some of them don’t seem to care if students are participating in class. As for my experience with other students, I found that most of them were pleasant to be around but it is more than likely that your child will meet other students who seek to distract the class or make the experience of other students unpleasant. I was also forced to participate in a musical subject, I chose general music which was advertised as a class where we would study musical notes and how music was constructed. However we were forced to learn ukulele. For any students who will be attending in the future I would recommend choosing chorus for your musical subject because you will not be forced to learn a musical instrument which can be quite a hassle. For my thoughts pertaining to the campus, I didn’t like the fact that some of my classes weren’t in the same general areas as others. It was certainly a pain traversing the tight hallways of the school; especially because of the fact that grades 7 and 6 are often in the hallway at the same time.In addition to this I have my qualms with the study hall period known as WIN block. I was rarely allowed to complete homework even though that was supposed to be the primary purpose of WIN. On top of this many kids in WIN block were unruly and it was hard to concentrate on the math work we were assigned in WIN.

This school looks great on paper, but that is one of the issues with US News & World Report, isn't it? While the students are test prep ready, hence their high rankings and test scores, they are inundated with busy work and a "keep your head down" mentality. Students' differences are not celebrated, and neither are teachers' differences; if a teacher does not fit the mold of the school, they are fired. (My nephew lost 3 teachers that he loved over the course of this past year.) Students find themselves to be quiet and isolated if they are not high-achieving or do not come from well-to-do families. Moreover, the facilities are lacking, despite the high taxes: the building has temperamental heating and cooling, as well as mice issues. While some of the teachers are great and truly care about the students, others put too much pressure on the students without caring about the whole child. Overall, if you are looking to move to a suburb with "great schools," I would not consider Westwood.