St. Gabriel Elementary School

I attended this school from kindergarten to fourth grade a few years back, I am now entering senior year in high school. While my anecdote may be considered outdated or unhelpful since it was this long ago, I still want to make my experience known, as I did not have the chance to voice any of these experiences as a child. The school offered absolutely no support for me as a neurodivergent child, and incidents with bullying were happening on a daily basis which were never properly addressed at all. I was undergoing constant harassment from peers which was never addressed and was constantly swept under the rug. On top of that, I was targeted and reprimanded constantly by teachers for “behavioral issues” that were either non-issues that stemmed from autism and adhd symptoms (fidgeting, stimming, misunderstanding instructions because of auditory processing issues), or were genuine incidents of me acting out in response to the bullying and harassment. Instead of trying to work with me and my mother as a child to address my issues, it would instead be sidelined in favor of simply being labeled as a “bad child” and treated like that as a result. While this is due to a combination of both elementary school experiences and home experiences, the extent of the neglect that I went through in this school was bad enough that it has resulted in me being medically diagnosed with complex trauma disorders stemming partly from my experiences here. On top of that, the curriculum was very clearly not catered to certain types of children, and I suffered academically as a result by being chronically behind in core subjects such as math, which was made evident by the disparity between the scope of my knowledge and the scope of the knowledge of other kids at the school i had transferred to for fifth grade. While I cannot confirm or deny if the school has truly gotten better, I feel it is important to know the history that this school has when it comes to these issues.

I loveeeee this school sooo much. The parent coordinator is amazing. Not only does this school support the students, they also support the families in all aspect.

Kinneret is a very warm and welcoming atmosphere. It is a place for learning and also a place for students to grow into responsible community members. There is consistent communication between teachers and parents in order to fully support the children as students and as people. I highly recommend Kinneret Day School to any parent or family looking for a wholesome private school for their child with good values, a strong sense of community and teachers who care about their students learning and well being.