Vanderhoof Elementary School

5875 Routt Court

School District

Jeffco Public Schools
Grade

K-5
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:16
Type

public

GreatSchools Rating

The school rating calculation is based on four ratings: the Student Progress Rating or Academic Progress Rating, College Readiness Rating, Equity Rating, and Test Score Rating each designed to show different facets of school success. Learn more about GreatSchools Ratings

Reviews

Submitted by parent on March 07, 2024

Soy inmigrante y quiero agradecerles a todos los docentes de la escuela vanderhoofPor darle una buena enseñanza a mi hija y q desde el primer día q fui a matricular a mi hija se vio la disponibilidad y la amabilidad y el cariño q te dan te hacen ser parte de ellos mil gracias
Submitted by parent on July 21, 2023

Our first year at Vanderhoof was really great. After a rough kindergarten year for my son at a different school in Denver, we move to Arvada and were so grateful to have the communication and support we received at Vanderhoof for his first-grade year. I was able to communicate with his teacher easily. She took the time to really get to know him and figure out what makes him thrive. The social-emotional support teacher was communicative and the resources were great too. By mid-year, my son's attitude had completely changed and he was happy to go to school again. His reading skills took off and during math (his favorite subject) his teacher found ways to give him more challenging problems and keep in interested and engaged. Special shout out to the music teacher as well. She went above and beyond to engage my son who "hated music class" to not only participate but love it. He had a few lines in the 1st-grade musical and was SO proud of himself. And we were too!The PTA is super engaged and does a lot of extracurricular activities and events for the school, plus generates much-needed funding. All in all, I have been so happy with Vanderhoof and the welcoming community that the school creates.
Submitted by parent on November 27, 2022

My kids thrive at Vanderhoof! The staff at every grade level has been wonderful. The teachers are some of the best I have seen. They communicate well, challenge my kids, and make them feel successful. My kids have great friends and there are great families that attend. Yes, there are few kids who struggle and are a distraction to the learning environment, but you won't find a school that doesn't have that. I think the school does as much as they can with the support that they have. It's also a good life skill to see different people with different emotions/problems. Any problem I have had, the teacher has taken care of right away. There was one (small) recess problem where I was contacted before my child even came home. It was appreciated. Not everyone will be happy with administration all the time, but I do highly recommend Vanderhoof!
Submitted by parent on September 27, 2022

Very bad experience with this school's administration. My child had numerous falls in school and on one of those occasions had a severe cut on her forehead and a bad scrape on her face during recess, and yet NO school staff even noticed or cared to check, or send her to the nurse's room. we only discovered it at pickup. When we took off her mask, the inside of the mask was covered with blood. When we confronted the administration in person with such a serious injury that occurred in school, they blamed my child for "choosing to wear the mask outside even though we told her she didn't have to" so they couldn't see the scrape on her face. As for the massive cut on her forehead, the administration blamed her HAIR for "blocking the cut from being seen". Unbelievable. Because of their repeated promise that they would definitely check in the future in such a situation and communicate with the parents, we continued to trust the school. Yet my child still came home a few more times with minor cuts or scrapes on her knees with no treatment or any notice issued from school on what happened. Then after school year ended, we received written report from anonymous school personnel that they witnessed our child having multiple vomiting incidents in school throughout the school year, yet NO notice was EVER sent to us as parents informing us of these vomiting incidents or that she was properly seen and treated by a nurse. When we confronted the principal on this, she completely ignored our inquiry and refused to give any explanation. We pulled our child out of this school immediately. It has become evident at this point that they don't care about your child's most basic needs such as safety and health despite their constant claims that they do the utmost to protect the students. Action speaks louder than words and the administration of this school's actions have been more than disappointing.
Submitted by parent on May 18, 2022

Going on 7 years with this school as a parent. It was wonderful under prior administration but the current administration is running a clique that you're either in or out of. For those in, it means there are no rules you cannot bend your way. For those out of, you may not step out of line, you're very aware you're unliked and your child gets the very basic. Have an IEP or 504, ha, forget getting anything required. Spelling? "That's not important they have spell check," was literally told to me in a parent/teacher/SPED meeting. Need support getting registered, figure it out they're too busy leaving in droves in the office to help and the new recruit cant even be bothered to say hi to a child oassing through the office. The turn over rate here has skyrocketed since the new administration took over and they've let go some amazing professionals as of late while retaining bully teachers who bend the rules to their gain. Like bringing a non-trained house pet and calling it a "therapy dog" that cries the entire time it's in the school and doesn't seem like kids that much, cowering from them and hiding. Its all just a cluster-fudge at this point and we're leaving. Our children deserve better. Shame on the principal for allowing this, or should we say instigating it. This is not YT where we are after followers, Mrs Principal, it's an elementary school who's rating has only dropped consistently for the time you've been creating your clique.
Submitted by parent on October 29, 2019

4/10 - we have been lucky to have had some great teachers, but overall, out experience has been troubling.
Submitted by parent on April 20, 2018

We have a had a very good experience with Vanderhoof. My daughter is thriving.
Submitted by parent on December 28, 2017

My children and I love this school. Its small class size allows teachers to provide more personal attention to each of its students. It also has a variety of extracurricular activities such as choir, coding, art club, running club, and more.
Submitted by parent on December 06, 2017

We love this school. My son is eager to continue at Vanderhoof and I would certainly recommend it to other families.
Submitted by parent on November 20, 2017

You know what happened when I asked my kids if they wanted to change schools when we moved? They cried. We continue to choice into Vanderhoof because we couldn’t ask for a warmer and happier educational experience for our kids. This is our fourth year of being there. The caring fabulous teachers, the low class sizes, the parent involvement, the special attention from the paras is just part of the reason my kids are thriving there. I love how when you walk into the school it feels like home.
Submitted by parent on November 17, 2017

We have been at the school for 6 years with 2 kids and 1 more next year. The principal and staff are fantastic and provide excellent leadership and direction for the teachers, students and parents. The school has a feeling that the parents, students and staff are working together as a team to enrich all of the students academically and with positive character building. Its an amazing pace for my kids.
Submitted by parent on April 29, 2016

After communicating with the school at the beginning of the year regarding my child, who has had a traumatic experience with a predator, I was patronized while the teacher compared my child with other cases "she had to deal with, with some of her previous students". I had told her to be on the lookout for possible traumatic behavior issues. I was assured that they had an onsite counselor that was very good. After meeting with him privately in January after some of those issues came up, he assured us that he would meet with her and was surprised that she had not " been on his radar " yet. To date, he has not made time to meet with my daughter, even though the teacher, myself and her actual therapist thought she would benefit from it. Later, I thought things were better and was blindsided at a parent teacher conference. I have other children, that go to other Jeffco schools. The schools have been supportive, the teachers CARE, they are INVOLVED, and the experience....night and day. Shame on you Vanderhoof!!!! I have already moved my child to another school due to your outrageous behavior!
Submitted by parent on February 08, 2016

This is our 4th year at Vanderhoof, and we could not be happier! The teachers are great, the principal (Mr Martin) is fantastic, and a lot of parents are very active and involved with the school, which we love! The school and PTA offer a lot of extracurricular activities that are great for students with a variety of interests (art, science, reading/writing, student council, running, etc). The teachers are enthusiastic and responsive... I just can't say enough about how much we love this school!
Submitted by parent on November 17, 2015

This school has been exceptional. In the 8 years I have been involved with the school, we have had great teachers, and parent involvement. Staff and leadership have been supportive and partnered with us to work through and resolve any issues that our children have faced. Since Mr. Martin has taken over the principal role, he has put a strong focus on reducing class sizes, and he is really listening to staff and parents to make positive changes for the school. Mr. Martin has also drastically improved communications. He and his staff have implemented several different methods to ensure parents are informed of upcoming events. I cannot say enough about the great teachers, parents, and leadership at Vanderhoof Elementary. GREAT SCHOOL!!!
Submitted by parent on June 18, 2014

The leadership at this school is horrible. I've recently removed my kids from this school, it's a shame because they have many friends that attend. The communications is awful, my child never knew what was expected, I didn't know how to help because the teacher didn't communicate, EVER. My issues were raised to the principal more than once and were never addressed. I tried to volunteer and was told "no, I don't need your help". It's a shame....
Submitted by parent on April 02, 2014

My school has been great for my three kids. The programs adapt to level and the teachers are amazing. I would like to see more advanced programs they have been very good for my kids.
Submitted by other on August 02, 2013

My school is excellent . The teachers are fantastic, and the principal is exceptional. All of the teachers try their hardest to help there students achieve their personal goals. The students are all at grade leval or above. Everyone at this school is so kind. This school wants their students to feel so special that they do S.T.A.R.S awards. The teachers will hand out stars awards every Friday. The principal will give the students their stars awards. These are all reasons why my school should win the money.
Submitted by parent on May 28, 2013

I love this school! Great learning environment and friendly teachers. I would like to see the outdoor equipment updated.
Submitted by parent on May 19, 2013

My son has been in Vanderhoof elementary for 3 years. When he was in Kindergarten he had a good teacher, who really care about children, but the school let her go. In first grade my son had a two teachers who were supposed to change every couple of days, they did not do there job. In October one of the teachers left for personal needs, and school hired a substitute, so my son had every other day a different teacher. They could not hire a long term sub, so the children's education went from worse to worse , and why in a first place with two teachers they need a substitute. In second grade my son's teacher is Mrs. Martin, who is a horrible teacher, at the start of the year my son had a reading score of 118 words per minute by the end of the year it's 95 whats wrong, why instead of improving are the kids going backwards, I have to always remind the teacher, remind her to give my son homework, and when my son starts doing his homework he has no idea what he needs to do, when I'll ask him did you learn that at school his answer is "NO". The communication is horrible we never now whats going on at school, all our complaints to the principal are ignored she doesn't seem to care.