Manitou Rd
Santa Barbara, CA

We looked at a lot of schools in the district. We are assigned to Peabody (the best charter in the region). But we requested a move to Harding. We liked how small Harding is less than half the kids of most schools in the district. We like the teachers, many of them have been at Harding for over a decade and have a good relationship with each other. The principal is great, Ms Binkley, she knows the kids, and likes them. Harding worked with a Educational specialist to build a pilot program for the STEAM labs, which then got used in all the schools. The garden classroom at Harding is amazing, kids eat incredible things they would never touch at home. The garden instructor opens the garden at lunch time along with the regular classroom visits. Harding is backed up by UCSB and they send their student teachers to Harding. Often classrooms have many extra adults working with kids. Its just a great school, its full of families who choose to be there. Its low drama high learning. The kids do a reading program where the words they read are counted and accumulated. When they get to a million words read, (there are dozens of kids every year) they are awarded Millionaire status. They go on wacky adventures with the principal around town and carry that badge of honor into junior high. We have loved our time at Harding, it's exactly the kind of school we wanted for our kiddo.

The Core Knowledge program here is unquestionably the best public junior high school experience available in Santa Barbara. Passionate teachers offer an academically challenging, content-rich curriculum. But even better---the school as a whole, in and out of the Core Knowledge program, has a wonderful sense of community. Physically, the cleanest school in all of SB--the floors sparkle!

San Marcos is a comprehensive high school in Santa Barbara, California, that excels in academics, athletics, and performing arts. We have a fantastic staff, excellent teachers, and engaged students. The campus is lovely and sits roughly halfway between downtown Santa Barbara and Goleta.