Alamitos

We really appreciate the small class sizes at Apostles. The kindergarten curriculum really provides an amazing base for my student to grow from, academically as well as at home. My student loves the work they do in Kindergarten and has already learned so much! Every day he comes home excited about his day and can't wait to show me the lessons he's been working on in class. The school also has a great Parent Teacher association that works hard to involve parents in the school events. Something that got my attention when we first talked with the principal was the involvement of higher grades in certain activities. High school students run games for carnivals, the middle school students have a reading time with the kinder kids, they also have "buddies" for chapel days. My student loves his chapel buddy and looks forward to chapel days. Overall we have had a such a wonderful experience with Apostles. We highly recommend!

Challenger provides a strong academic foundation, but the educational approach can feel overly rigid and robotic. There is a heavy emphasis on maintaining the school’s prescribed pace and method, with limited room for creativity, individuality, or different ways of learning.The school also provides very little built in academic support. When a student needs additional explanation, reinforcement, or a different teaching approach, parents are largely expected to recognize the need and arrange the support themselves. This is not about a child’s academic ability. It is about whether the school takes responsibility for meeting the varied needs of the students it teaches.Considering the significant tuition families pay and the amount of time children spend at school, there should be more meaningful guidance, individualized instruction, and teacher led support. Academic rigor is valuable, but rigor should involve helping students deepen their understanding, not simply expecting every child to keep the same pace in the same way.Families seeking strong academics now have other options that also prioritize creativity, confidence, social and emotional development, and the whole child. Challenger would benefit from creating a better balance between high expectations and genuinely responsive teaching. Consider Stratford.

We had a very disappointing experience with the middle school program. In my experience, the environment was particularly difficult for families seeking a supportive and inclusive approach, for example for students with learning and attentional differences. If your child is energetic, social, and learns best through encouragement, engagement, and positive reinforcement, I would encourage you to ask detailed questions of administrators and parents about the middle school’s approach to these students before enrolling. I was particularly concerned by what I experienced as an excessively punitive and anxiety-producing approach to discipline and academic expectations. At times, the way students were treated appeared to undermine their confidence and enthusiasm for learning rather than support their development. I was also disappointed by the gap between the school’s stated mission and what our family experienced in practice. There appeared to be limited attention to students’ social-emotional needs, and I found the administration insufficiently receptive to families seeking additional support or collaboration with outside resources. Overall, the middle school experience had a lasting negative effect on my child’s confidence and relationship with learning. Families considering the school may want to ask specifically about learning support, counseling and social-emotional resources, disciplinary practices, and how the administration works with families whose children learn differently.