Sunnyside

Kindergarten: We started at Sunnyside in 2020 when my child was in kindergarten. It's been amazing to see how the community has rebounded since the COVID days. Our kindergarten experience was as good as you could expect for a Zoom kindergarten year -- I was so impressed at how well our kinder teacher was able to engage the kids over video, and I've seen first-hand how amazing they are in person. They take the time to help the new kinders adjust to not only Sunnyside, but the school environment. The kinder students enter the yard through a different entrance for the first 6 weeks of the year to help them adjust to the school, which seems like it really helps make the transition less overwhelming for our youngest students.Educators: We've been very happy with our teachers between K and 4th grade (currently in 4th). The staff has an average tenure of ~8 years, so when new teachers come in, there's already a strong foundation with the other educators in the grade-level team, which I think really helps with a smooth transition into the staff.IEP process: My child had an IEP for our first three years at Sunnyside. We had a good experience with the IEP process, and felt goals and progress were reported on as expected.Learning: Being one of the youngest in the class, and adding Zoom kindergarten on top of that, our child was very behind in reading in kinder and first grade. We were really happy with the support of the teachers and staff -- we obviously helped out at home too, but I really attribute the complete turnaround to Sunnyside's educators. My child is now reading above grade level thanks to the support they received.Community: The community was adjusting to post-COVID for our first few years at Sunnyside, but it really feels like each year the PTA is able to do more, and hold on to what is important to the Sunnyside community of today. You do tend to see the same 20-30 parents volunteering, but I think families who want to be involved are always welcomed in whatever capacity they can contribute.

St. Finn Barr has been an amazing choice for my family. The school staff work hard to provide a safe, supportive, rigorous learning environment. My kids are happy to come to school every day.