Caravel Academy

2801 Del Laws Road

Bear, DE 19701

21 Reviews

School District
Grade

PK-12
Type

private

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Reviews

Submitted by other on June 29, 2024

This school was a huge disappointment to our family. We were referred by a church member who’d heard they were supposed to be a school that was good for a clean cut, disciplined, respectful young man who lived Christian values and principles. This is a challenge to find in Christian schools.He was bullied by students, ignored when it came to teacher support and found himself to be an outcast because he didn’t compromise his character or disciplines. What we thought was going to be a great experience for him ended up being a nightmare. His grade suffered as a result of the emotional stress and not one faculty member showed any interest. With constant communication with the school, it simply was unimportant. This school does not deserve the reputation they have. They offer a good academic program and that’s where it ends. If your child’s an athlete you may get some extra attention but that’s it. EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTED IN EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS SCHOOL! THERE’S BULLYING, RACISM, LACK OF TEACHER ASSISTANCE AND OVERALL LACK OF SUPPORT FOR THE ENTIRE GROWTH OF YOUR CHILD. KEEP LOOKING PARENTS THIS MIGHT NOT BE THE RIGHT SCHOOL
Submitted by parent on May 01, 2024

Is Caravel perfect? The answer to this is certainly no, but that would be true of every school. For those who cite lack of IEP and special education support, that is why we have public schools. Delaware public schools receive between $16 and $20k per pupil. The average revenue generated per student at Caravel is closer to $10k if you look at publicly available financial statements. This does not allow for the extra resources that children with special needs require. Most of the teachers are caring and do a fantastic job with the students. A small percentage should be replaced, but we are facing a teacher shortage throughout the country. My children attended public school for several years and I find the quality of teaching at Caravel to be superior. Public school teachers are great, but they often experience inadequate support from the administration and complete lack of accountability for students who routinely misbehave. It's laughable when people claim that Caravel is not diverse. Have they even bothered to look at the demographic information? 55% White, 19% Black, 18% Asian/PI. If you look at data available from Census.gov, you will see that 60% of Delaware's population is White (non-Hispanic) and 23% Black. I would argue that's about as diverse as you can get for a private school. Sanford boasts 36% of their student body is "people of color", and good luck finding these data points from Archmere, Tatnall, and other Delaware private schools. If you want your child to be held accountable, actually have homework, tests, and high standards, then this is the school for you. If you want easy grades, limited homework, and no accountability for their actions, stay with your public school option.
Submitted by parent on January 13, 2024

Our experience at Caravel started out strong in kindergarten but when new administration (principal) came and our child started middle school things changed drastically. Our student was bullied pretty relentlessly and the school was made aware and did nothing to help our child. I will always give credit to Caravel for their academics though. No complaints there.
Submitted by parent on January 09, 2024

A wonderful school for families looking for more than just an education.
Submitted by other on September 18, 2023

I’m speaking as a former student of this school. Please do not send you kids here. Although there are good teachers, a lot of them are just incompetent. The school only cares for their athletics, which itself is subpar as a whole. Their academics is a joke, especially now a days. Teachers are definitely a bit biased towards some students. I’ve seen first hand a teacher be a bit biased towards a particular race of students. I’ve asked multiple people about their experience with this particular teacher, and they have all agreed that it was an issue. On top of this, the school fails to offer a diverse portfolio of clubs. They of course offer the standard clubs, science and math Olympiad, theatre, amounts others but nothing more. I have noticed that caravel has no regard for the arts in any sense. Although you pay roughly 10+ grand in tuition per child, they still haven’t been able to create an actual auditorium. All that they have is a stage in the gym. You’d also imagine, with such high tuition, that the kids would have access to good quality food. Well, you were wrong again! The food at the cafeteria is beyond garbage and extremely overpriced. A small thing of fries will set you back about $4. And again, these fries are just not that good. As you can see, the admission does not care about your kids. They only see the dollar signs in your pockets. Although I’ve made amazing connections to some of my peers and some teachers, I genuinely believe that this should not be the school for your children.
Submitted by parent on November 19, 2022

My kids have attended Caravel since age 3, and while the school strives to have a rigorous curriculum, this year has been absolutely ridiculous. They are trying to make up for the last 3 years of Covid and being lax on certain requirements and studies, to now expecting kids to handle more work than that can handle. Every Friday, work is given in every class that is due on Monday so my student ends up spending every weekend (after spending 8 hours in classes daily) working on the boatload of homework or projects they are given. They are required to participate in a sport or club, do the amount of homework or projects given daily in almost every class, and try to fit in service hours in that time frame, which can be almost impossible, if parents work late. Then, there are tests given almost every other day. The math programs they use for daily reinforcement in middle and high school is horrendous. If you can’t get stuck on a problem, it won’t let you go past until you get that right. So inevitably, you student can be sitting there hours on one problem. As far as the teachers, there are many caring and helpful teachers that want the students to do well, especially in the lower and middle schools. But in high school, many don’t care or even want to help your student if they are having a problem in a class. Several teachers act like you’re a burden or stupid for not understand a concept, say in math or berates you in front of the class. It’s not just my student, other students have mentioned the same situation. While other teachers do not teach but throw documents or you tube videos at students and expect them to understand with vague directions given. The fact parents are paying this kind of money for this type of education is inexcusable. I believe if parents are paying this kid if money, and a teacher doesn’t want to help your student if they do not understand something or give the student a rude response, then maybe they shouldn’t be teaching. If I could find a different alternative, my kids would be out. Unfortunately, the public school system stinks, but I am definitely looking for an alternative.
Submitted by parent on November 05, 2022

Absolutely terrible extremely racist and expects to much from there students.There’s no reason why students should be given tests every other day , the food is revolting for a private school I expect more. The kids are rude and racist like I stated before you need to do a better job at picking kids for your school not off of smarts but off of personality to.
Submitted by teacher on October 23, 2020

This would have been my first teaching job without a license & they were aware of this. I was hired at the beginning of September with no training or formal orientation. I had a meeting with my mentor but she was dealing with her own workload and grad school so I never got the chance to evaluate her class as I requested or been evaluated myself. She gave me a substantial amount of art materials but I ultimately was left to develop my own curriculum/lesson plans since there are none for Art here. Because of COVID we were operating in a flip-floppy hybrid instruction (both in person and virtual students) which I also never received training for. At the follow up meeting that *I* requested the Asst. Principal saw me looking overwhelmed & asked if this job was "the right fit for me", which made me feel very insecure about my employment even after I reassured her and promised that can keep it together. A lot of the staff, including my mentor, appeared to be judgmental and remained within their "cliques", none of which I felt welcome in. Not a month went by, I had a panic attack in front of the class and once she heard she emailed to check in, then set up to meet with her & the headmaster during our in service day. During that time they went over what happened in the class and what the students said. They deemed that I was not acting professionally and told me to turn in my keys and clear out my things that day. I showed them the projects & grading rubric I was working on with the students to which the headmaster responded "We appreciate you trying, we really do... But teaching is hard & it's not for everyone ". This response hit me hard as someone with no formal classroom management training.Two weeks later I stopped by Caravel to turn in a docuviewer I forgotten to return. My then-mentor and other art teacher were chatting in the parking lot but after they had seen me pull in they immediately got in their cars and left. No one had greeted me inside or out as I turned in the equipment. It was all very uncomfortable and spoke volumes to me about their professionalism at that time-- not mine.I will certainly miss my those students whom I helped make that first step into the Fundamentals of Art and 3D Design. Keep creating.
Submitted by parent on October 15, 2020

Five star great education for our daughter
Submitted by other on July 31, 2020

My experience at Caravel was mediocre at best. Caravel has a longstanding reputation of putting its athletic image at the forefront. This has caused a lag in its academic game, which severely lacks the rigor that I have seen at other high schools. In addition, there is a lack of diversity, particularly among the staff. There are very few teachers of color, and inclusivity and representation seems to be a major issue at this school.
Submitted by student on May 23, 2019

Teachers don't care about students and don't motivate students. Some teachers barely teach and when it comes to test time, they don't know half of what's on the test. There are many cliques and if you aren't in a clique, you are weird and get talked about behind your back or made fun of. Administration doesn't care about what happens. If you aren't doing sports, don't go to Caravel because you wont get accepted into any cliques and also be forced to do more service hours in high school for not doing one (even if you sign up for the sport, but don't make the cut at tryouts).
Submitted by other on October 04, 2017

interview scheduled for my 3 year old toddler and the way interviewer asked the child was literally the question to office going guy. Interviewer came back after the interview with all negative points and strongly disagree the way they took the interview for 3 year kid
Submitted by parent on September 05, 2017

My daughter started at Caravel in 4th grade. She was accepted immediately and made friends very quickly. She did have an adjustment period adapting to the work load. Her 4th grade teacher sent home a survey for my daughter to take to discover what her learning style was. Once it was determined, she sent home a bunch of information and tips on how to optimize her learning and study skills. She's in 6th grade now. The teachers we've had are amazing. Truly have gone above and beyond for the students. I've had no problem communicating with any of her teachers. They put grades in to the online portal very quickly so it is easy to stay on top of any potential problems. The classrooms are a bit outdated but the equipment and technology used is very current and appeals to today's kids. Band and chorus programs are top notch. We are just getting involved in sports now and so far so good. The grounds of the school are beautiful. We are an extremely proud Caravel Buccaneer family!
Submitted by other on September 23, 2016

We are new to Caravel this year. Living in PA with high taxes and a good reputation for public schools we still decided to enroll in Caravel. My daughter came from a small Catholic school before entering Caravel. Let me tell you that we are so impressed with the organization, teachers, students, sports, amount of clubs, I could go on. My daughter loves this school and each day I pick her up, she tells me how happy she is to go there. I would recommend this school to any family who is seriously about educating their child and getting them ready for college.
Submitted by other on June 17, 2015

I've gone to this school for a total of 9 years now, and I honestly never enjoyed it. Many things are outdated, class sizes are far too large, and they don't have a auditorium. The athletic standards and performances are very high, but they are far too political and the coaches are very biased in what they do. There are a couple of cliques, and if you're not in them, people bully you to no end. It took 8 years for me to finally get accepted and noticed as a person. If all the new people hadn't of come for the most recent year's eighth grade, I would still be bulled much more. Some people there are very arrogant and their goal in life is to annoy people. I never liked the school to begin with, and the only other good schools in the area are either vocational-technical schools or much more expensive. In base, I'm stuck here. The teachers aren't motivated, and not to mention very biased in grading. Generally the better behaved students get the higher grades. Personally, I would not recommend this school for the years of Kindergarten-8th grade. I have yet to experience high school, but I will update for that when the time comes. Do not send your child to this school.
Submitted by other on August 21, 2014

My brother and I used to go to Caravel. It just didn't end well. In my third year there, I ended up getting bullied pretty badly, and my brother had similar issues in his second year. My parents put us in a different, slightly more expensive (but well worth it) private school as soon as they could. We flourished at the new school. I've been to a couple private schools in the area since Caravel (Caravel is the only one I left on bad terms) so I've had a lot to compare it to. At Caravel, a lot of the teachers didn't seem to be very motivated, and the class sizes were always way too large for a private school. (30+ kids in a private school class?) Athletics are top notch, but there's a lot of politics involved with them. There are other schools with great athletics and athletic facilities, too - ones without the politics. The campus is not attractive at all, and the buildings and classrooms were outdated. Sense of community? Never really felt one. There were a lot of cliques, too. The education is cheap for sure, but my parents would rather spend a little more money for us to be happy and enjoy school than for cheap "private school" education that we both dislike.
Submitted by other on July 10, 2014

When I went here, I, as well, didn't make friends very well either. It seemed like you had to go to this school since kindergarten to be accepted in. The students seemed to be very judge mental. Some teachers I'd say were great while others just simply lacked in teaching skills. The school it's self is very secured, however, sometimes doors wouldn't work going through transition and you needed a key card every time to get through or simply find a different way to get through. I would give the school itself 3 stars, as the students are very rude and uncaring for others that haven't gone to the school long, I give this school 1 star.
Submitted by other on May 29, 2014

I went to Caravel for a half a year. I was very disappointed with the school. I did not make many friends and was left out. The classrooms weren't very nice as my last school. The teaches were ok, but i thought they could have been better. I felt like i was bullied and could not take it anymore that is why i left.
Submitted by parent on June 10, 2013

My daughter has gone to Caravel for the past 4 years and has been thriving ever since. She started out in K at a local private school that I graduated from that costs 3x as much and didn't even focus on reading skills at that age. She's since become an outstanding student and was even recently selected into a gifted student program at John's Hopkins based on her outstanding English test scores for her age group. I would highly recommend Caravel as one of the top schools in the area and a great value at that.
Submitted by parent on March 25, 2013

We sent our son to Caravel Academy to get away from Elkton HS where he was getting bad grades. We felt like he was in a bad environment that was detrimental to learning. Within three months of going to Caravel we noticed a big change in him. The teachers really care. He was reading many books for all the different subjects.He played baseball there for coach Nick who had a great influence on his life .His grades dramatically improved mostly As.He got a large scholorship to Towson University where he recently gradulated with an accounting degree and landed a nice job with a prestigious firm.This was all a result of his attending this great school.