Skinner North Elementary School

My daughter had a great education and was able to integrate one of the top selective enrollment high school in Chicago. Great teachers and excellent leadersip

This school has such a horrible care for their students and only has a care for profit and fame. The students at icsj are treated horribly by peers and the bullies are never taken accountable for their actions. If you are one of the kind ones, which is extremely rare, you are taken advantage of by the faculty and forced to be held to another standard and are forced to take care of the classmates more than the guidance counselor has done in their entire career. this inevitably recks friendships by not allowing communication with REAL friends. The spanish in this school is a complete joke. The phony teachers they hire have only taught me four words in my entire 11 years of learning spanish at ICSJ. If you are of special needs, I heavily recommend you don’t come to icsj. The teachers are one of the very few kind and understanding teachers, however the curriculum is extremely horrible for the students. The school makes you undergo mass amounts of racism, homophobia, and ableism. Students that are white yell racial slurs and are never taken to accountability. the bullying at this school is horrible, while at this school, i was called many slurs just for being a special ed kid. The middle school pe teacher is a complete joke, end of story. I would never recommend ICSJ in a million years.

Our experience at Chicago Grammar School has been excellent. After a rough Kinder experience at a large school, we started looking for a smaller school for our son. He joined CGS at Grade 1. CGS’s close-knit environment did wonders for him. He came out of his shell, went from being overly shy and timid to a confident 2nd grader (soon to be 5th grader in Fall 2020). It has been so cool to see him grow and flourish and we are thankful to have found CGS, via word of mouth in our case. It is Chicago's hidden gem. Our favorite part of the school is how effectively they support students who need differentiated learning. The teachers are amazing when it comes to working with me whenever differentiation is needed. I love that all teachers (regardless of grade) are on the school app, so I can quickly find the teacher and send them a text via the app. Speaking of the app, I personally am a big fan of the school being app-based. The entire school is on the app - teachers, parents and admin – everyone is reachable. Homework, grades, one-on-one teacher/student/parent feedback, school announcements...all in one place. It has been the most productive way to communicate that I've seen to date. It brings a neighborhood feel to the school, which private, city-wide schools usually lack in my opinion. We visited 3 small-medium sized private schools, applied to 2, got accepted to both, but it was the visit portion to CGS that cemented the decision for us. If you’re looking for a warm and nurturing, but smaller elementary school environment for your child, CGS is a school a parent must visit before making a final decision because your child will be spending a very big portion of their life’s hours in this elementary school environment.

Ours has been a CCS family for 13+ years and has been able to see firsthand how successful the CCS community is at engaging 4-5 years old and helping them grow into confident, capable, and empathetic young adults. In early childhood, the children are nurtured and made to feel safe as they begin their educational journey. In lower school, they are encouraged to be independent, advocate for themselves, and learn how they fit in the community and in the world. In middle school, they are given the tools to think critically, challenged academically, and are guided in the high school selection process, so that they are able to choose a school that is a good fit for them. My oldest is off to college in the fall, my middle child is a freshman in high school, and my youngest is in 3rd grade. They are all thriving. My kids are all very different people and somehow CCS was the perfect fit for each of them. Each of my kids benefited from the challenging academic curriculum but also had the space and support that allowed them to explore their interests and find their unique voices. The entire community at CCS is caring and focuses on bringing out the best in each child academically and emotionally and I am so grateful that our family landed in such a wonderful place.