Colorado International School

I recently graduated from Ricks, I was there k-8 (11 years). While I have made lifelong friendships and have genuinely enjoyed my time there, I would not recommend this school to anyone. The academics have been subpar, setting me behind in my highschool experience. Ricks is a school that claims to be kid oriented and have gifted programs, but it is far from. Many of the administrators have no control over the school, and there are little to no “gifted” programs. I have seen some of the smartest students fail because of the lack of focus on students. I highly recommend asking about the teacher turnover, as there have only been a few teachers there for more than 3 years. Their staff is severely underappreciated and as more teachers quit, they are replaced by worse and worse teachers. If you are considering going here, I highly recommend reaching out to current parents of kids who go there. It is likely you will begin to see the never ending amount of problems at this school. As a person with a learning disability I feel my needs were not met and I was not accommodated to the full extent I should have been. As for mental health, this school had no clue what they were doing. In my time at middle school we would occasionally be called for an ”assembly” which consisted of a presentation on mental health and how to reach out if you needed help. I do not know anyone who used the tools they offered us. The presentations were ineffective, and on top of that, my friends and I had no trust in the school psychologist. In my experience, many of the teachers were amazing, they were our true friends and advocates. I loved each one of my teachers, but since I have left, all of them have either quit or plan to in the next few years. The only thing that kept me at this school was the teachers, who are truly superheroes. If you are looking into this school for your child, ask questions. Ask about what admin controls, why there are such small classes, why teachers keep quitting, what their gifted programs are, and how they plan to create a well rounded student.

We absolutely love SAES! Both of our kids began in kindergarten and for each of them it has been a wonderful experience. One of our favorite parts of the school is that each child is met with respect and encouraged to build their autonomy in a nurturing and supportive environment. The school is academically rigorous while also maintaining focus on social and emotional learning and development. We are so happy with and grateful for such a wonderful school and community environment!