Robert Semple Elementary School

Mary Farmar Elementary does an excellent job of keeping families informed and involved. Communication is consistent, clear, and supportive, which makes it easy for parents to stay connected to what’s happening at school. The school truly feels like a community. families are welcomed and encouraged to participate in events and activities, which creates a strong sense of belonging.The kids love coming to school every day, and it’s clear why. The teachers are caring, approachable, and really focus on the whole child, not just academics. They pay attention to student development, encourage growth, and support each child’s unique needs. You can tell the staff genuinely want the students to succeed and feel happy at school.

We moved from Concord due the poor schools in the area. Matthew Turner is a 180 in comparison. My daughter absolutely loves the school, teachers, staff and PTA. Everyone goes up and beyond to give kids great experiences on a daily basis. I’ve even known people to drive from Orinda to bring their children here. Highly recommend!

My children enjoy going here. We have only had one teacher out of all the kids’ teachers who we didn’t get along with. Unfortunately, we have found Ms. Buck an abrasive Principal on our dealings with her. I would love to see more diversity on staff. There has been consistent turnover with SPED staff and they increasingly have turned to using computers (Imagine Software) for IEP support and using a videoconferencing speech teacher.

Our family had recent, direct experience with this school, and unfortunately, it was deeply disappointing.This school presents itself as a small Catholic community, but in our experience, the culture did not reflect the values it promotes. We expected kindness, inclusion, fairness, accountability, and strong character development. Instead, we experienced favoritism, exclusion, gossip, and a social environment that felt unhealthy — especially for middle school girls.Bullying was one of our biggest concerns. In our experience, the bullying at this school was extreme, and when concerns were raised, we did not feel the administration took meaningful action. We were left with the impression that families are often told there is little or nothing the school can do, which is incredibly discouraging when children are the ones being affected.There were also ongoing issues with body shaming among girls, and we did not feel the school did enough to address the damage that can cause at such a sensitive age. Middle school girls need an environment that builds confidence, not one that breaks it down.We also felt opportunities were not equally accessible. Awards, lead roles, competitions, and recognition often appeared to go to the same children, which made the school feel less like a fair community and more like a small circle of chosen families.Academically, we were very disappointed. In our experience, the academics were lacking, and our children seemed behind compared with peers in public school. For the cost of tuition, we expected far stronger academic standards and preparation.Prospective families should ask very direct questions about academics, bullying policies, body shaming, how concerns are handled by leadership, how awards and roles are chosen, and whether the school truly prepares students for high school.For us, the school did not deliver on the values, academics, or community it advertised. Sadly, it was not the Catholic school experience we were promised.