Stratford School

I currently have 2 children enrolled in Stratford, I have been so happy with the program, and the staff! My children have learned so much in the time that they have been there. The teachers make the learning fun, my kids are always coming home singing new songs about their vowels, months of the year and so on. It makes me so sad to see people writing negatively. I think if you are interested in this school you should check it out for yourself.

Posted 09/22/09 | Report Abuse

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This is truly an awful preschool. My child started the preschool in San Francisco and his teacher is very insensitive and rude. She is inflexible to my child's needs and she wants to ask my child to leave after two weeks at the school. Has she heard of an adjustment period?

Posted 02/19/09 | Report Abuse

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My kid goes to pre-K there and went to preschool as well. I wanted to pull him out just two week after I enrolled him( before the school even started,in july schools starts in sep) but they said I still have to pay two month tuition fee plus nonrefundable 375 dollar . I could not withdraw him..he is going there but has not learned anything there whatever he knows its me who taught him. He is little bit distracted kid but teachers say they can not force him to do anything true but they can atleast encourage him to participate.
My son never finish his food he always said teached said time is over..and poor baby stays hungry whole day..dont know why i am paying 1500 a month..

Posted 10/01/08 | Report Abuse

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I just received the Parents' handbook and was going through their withdrawal policy - outrageous. The school will keep 2 months of tuition and a 15 days notice is required. Well good enough a parent will loose 2and a half month tuition. Read further if your notice ends in the month it was given (say the notice was given Sep 7, the notice will end on Sep 15) The parent is responsible for the Full Sep month tuition. Now if the notice is given on Sep17 and the notice will now end on Oct 2, the parents will also be responsible for October month tuition as well. WOW! what a nice way to fleece and make money - so for attending school for 17 days a parent will pay 4 months tuition($4800). PLEASE STAY AWAY from this school - it is nothing great

Posted 09/03/08 | Report Abuse

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This year we were in waiting list for the spot...and they took our advance check $375...They won't give them back until end of the academic year 2008 and 2009. B'coz they will put us in a waiting list year long...If they show a spot in the middle of the year or end of year...and if we won't accept that then they will keep that check...I asked them what if u show a spot in May (that is last month) then she said if i said no then they will happily keep my check $375.

Posted 08/25/08 | Report Abuse

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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Its appalling that they screw people into paying 75$ application fee for a seat that is not guaranteed. I understand there is some labor/time spent by the school in reviewing/reading an application. I cannot fathom its 75$, that too for a 3 year old pre-k student. As it is there fees are pretty steep which is ok, cause the school is great etc. etc. but 75$ for an application is too high by any standards. Even some under/grad school charges only 50$.

Again, I don't have any doubts about there curriculum or performance, its the cheapness of making 75$

Posted 02/26/08 | Report Abuse

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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Stratford is a very nice school. It has a good balance of academics and activities. I have seen a 180 degrees positive change in my son after he started there. I owe it to Stratford!

Posted 06/22/07 | Report Abuse

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You can be sure that they will take in thousands of application for a handful of seats and you can kiss your 75 bucks goodbye. I applied in Nov'06 for a spot in Kindergarten for the 07-08 year and was told that I was one of the first applicants when I submitted the application. I was told that there would be assessment and evaluation after which they would determine if my child was eligible. I was under no impression that a spot was guaranteed, but it was a rude shock when I got a correspondence from Stratford saying they do not have a spot at this time. No explanations and no indication of any evaluations whatsoever. On further enquiries, I was told that they have a queuing system that is quite "complicated" for parents to understand and that their circumstances change year to year! Well, it would've certainly helped to have that info upfront- they advertise and encourage parents to submit applications even when they FULLY know that there is no way they accommodate any more. I had misgivings about this school even before I applied and its been doubly reinforced! Stay away from such hyped up private schools out to get all your money. When asked about the 75 dollar application fee, the program director tells me it is "NON-REFUNDABLE".The very same day one of my colleagues called Stratford and asked about admissions to Kindergarten and she was told that she could fill out an application and pay the required $75 processing fee and they were inviting applications. This sounds like an absolute scam - they are encouraging her to apply for a program for which they do not have seats!

Posted 04/16/07 | Report Abuse

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I'm surprised to read unsatisfactory reviews. We have attended 3 Stratford campuses, and are very pleased with them all. As a matter of fact, we are continuing on to the middle school. For those of you who had bad experiences with preschool, I can only say that as a parent who had kids in the preschool, I was very frustrated with the disrupitve kids, and I felt the school was too tolerant of their behavior. In my experience, it takes a lot for the school to ask a child not to come back. Perhaps these kids just aren't ready for school yet. As for the elementary school, the curriculum is top notch, as is their philosophy. Whenever we have had a concern, it was addressed and dealt with to our satisfaction each time. Compared to other schools, private and public, I find Stratford to be a well balanced school, with high expectations, that deliver a quality education.

PROS: excellent curriculum & teaching philosophy
CONS: small playground/grass area

Posted 06/09/06 | Report Abuse

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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I have heard great reviews about this school. It provides a good mix of academic and extra curricular activities. Any kids going to this place not only learns english and maths but also enjoys musica and art too. It is appreciated by many of my friends an their kids.

Posted 05/30/06 | Report Abuse

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I am surprised at the comments. My daughter goes to preschool there and she is very happy. I didnt know that they make you take out the children. I dont know anyone in her class who started and then had to leave. Which room did your child go to? Who were the teachers? They have a good mix of academics and music and art. I know many disruptive students in my daughters class who are basically being talked to nicely, and given time out sometimes. But I cannot believe that someone would take a child out only after 3 days of school. Most children cry for the first week or so, and they know to tolerate that. Since my child is in this school, and I want to know if there are any problems, can someone please give more information?

PROS: Good mix of academics, art, music etc
CONS: I would like to see more sports

Posted 03/13/06 | Report Abuse

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I cant complain about this school any louder. My 3 year old after going there would get up in the middle of the night weeping that she did not want to go there. After a few days they asked us to take the child out saying she was disrupting class. They did not give us a refund of our money (my daughter was there for just 3 days). To think that they stole almost 2000 dollars for these 3 frightful days makes my heart heavy. They have some fineprint in their paperwork that says if the child is dismissed from school you dont get the money back. What kind of a school would qualify a 3 year old as disruptive.

They claim to be an academic school . Its supposed to be very structured, but they probably stifle creativity by doing that. My daughter who is otherwise a very social child, hates this place to this day. Every time we drive by their school on our way to the Sunnyvale library, she kinda relives her frightful memories. We finally put her in another preschool (the Sunnyvale Parent Preschool) where she seems so happy.

I would highly recommend parents to try other schools where learning is fun. I truly believe that whats learned with pleasure is learned full measure and this school aint fun.

Posted 03/01/06 | Report Abuse

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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Our daughter started preschool here and had avery hard time. Teachers were very rude and insensitive to her and they made us withdraw from this school within 3 weeks of starting.
Later we learnt that the teacher had been expelled for her bahaviour with small children.

PROS: New campus
CONS: Insensitve staff

Posted 03/01/06 | Report Abuse

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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