Westmont High School

4805 W.mont Ave.

School District

Campbell Union High
Grade

9-12
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:24
Type

public

School Map for Campbell Union High School District

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 September 22, 2023

My son is a freshman and so far so good.
Submitted by parent on May 10, 2023

Great School with very dedicated teachers. Very Safe & ethinically diversified environment. Variety of competitive clubs, Variety of Sport activities. The principal and the entire staff truly cares for the welfare of the students and the society. My son is going to be a Sophomore this year and he enjoys this school to the fullest. To highlight a few - The PLTW course opens a pathway to the Engineering stream. The Robotics club is very strong and tries to solve the practical world's problems. The Tennis team is amazing , The team is so dedicated and passionate about every practice and competition. School offers variety of AP courses. The English & Spanish departments are very good from the Language and Arts perspective. The Digital Film making department is so great teaching all the aspects of film making. Biology, Math, Computer Science departments are strong and they give challenging and rewarding assignments to the students. Good number of counselors. The College Carrier Advising team is very good in giving great inputs to the kids for their career paths. Love this school.
Submitted by parent on April 08, 2023

Westmont goes above and beyond in so many ways. We are involved in athletics and bio engineering and see Westmont right there with the most competitive private schools.
Submitted by parent on January 22, 2023

My son went to Westmont High School and is now finishing his undergrad degree at UC Berkeley. He is strong academically and I'm glad we kept him there instead of going private because he was allowed to take as many AP classes as he wanted early. This gave him enough academic rigor to get into Berkeley. UC Berkeley has a holistic admissions approach so the essays and appropriate leadership jobs matter a lot. In order to supplement Westmont's math education, which he 'timed out of' at the end of 10th grade after acing AP Statistics and AP Calculus BC, he enrolled in Johns Hopkins CTY courses and attended Stanford Math Circle. I recommend that stronger students take some academic activities outside of Westmont. I give Westmont a 5 rating but because of feedback from my son that some things could be improved, I knocked off a star. Out of respect for his privacy I'm not going to go into detail. Back to rigor. After taking many AP classes at Westmont, he was well prepared for Berkeley's rigor. As an aside, the teachers allowed him to run math club and be an AP Statistics 'teacher's assistant' in 12th grade. They were skilled at dealing with his academic ability which was appreciated. (His 1st grade teacher did not like the super smart kids and 'put them down' often. A skilled teacher needs to challenge the smart kids too. High school handled this better than the earlier schools.) I was also appreciative that his Westmont honors and AP English teachers helped him and other students with their college essays. He brainstormed ideas with these teachers and wrote stunning heartfelt essays. I agree with the other review when it says that your education at a school depends somewhat on chance. You could get a better or worse teacher by chance. One awesome AP teacher practiced serious grade deflation. Maybe in the long run that was a good thing, not sure.
Submitted by parent on November 14, 2021

This school has student admitted to UCLA, UCI, UCSD, Columbia, etc. Also the diversity is very good in this school, among public school, this school should be a 10.
Submitted by student on February 13, 2020

The education that students receive at Westmont is so diversified. I am an upperclassmen and from my years of experience, students' experience depends greatly on the teachers that you get (solely by chance). I am heavily involved in school clubs and AP classes, and from that standpoint, Westmont is great! I've had some amazing teachers (our english department is unparalleled) who've taught me so much and opened up a lot of opportunities for me to go to college. Although, one thing I want to note is that our AP pass rate is not too good in the mathematics and sciences. Also, there is poor financial planning; our bathrooms are absolutely disgusting, and there is usually only one girls bathroom open (with five stalls) during the day (creates chaos). The district doesn't pay our teachers enough, instead wasting the money on stupid things like moving the softball field and buying a new scoreboard in the stadium. The classrooms are somewhat dirty and small and the janitors are overworked. But, DON'T send your child to private school; I have seen it happen to my middle school peers, who are now bratty and have a low class rank and GPA (despite inflation). I am so glad I came to Westmont because you really get exposed to a good degree of student diversity (look at the ethnicity graphs above). There are kids whose parents both work at google, and there are those that qualify for reduced lunches. Student growth is determined by who you choose to hang out with and make friends, as well as reaching out to teachers for help. It is very viable to go to a good college if you work hard. At the same time, on-level classes here are not the best because the curriculums differ from teacher to teacher and don't prepare you for the real world. Overall, I like my experience at Westmont thus far. I like the selection of clubs, sports, and extracurriculars like band. I like the block schedule. My teachers are amazing and are easy to access for help or advice. Getting good grades is manageable, and most students aren't cutthroat academically. Just be aware that students have to be self-motivated to learn; teachers won't hold your hands to get good grades. If you have a self-motivated student, or are a self-motivated student reading this review, you should try coming to Westmont. The experience is what you make of it.
Submitted by parent on December 09, 2016

My daughter is a freshmen and though it's been a huge adjustment from Middle School, she's really thriving. My only complaint is there are a few teachers who don't update grades, don't reply to emails, and don't update school loop, but for all the other very responsive teachers its easy to overlook the other few teachers. As a parent who's very involved with her student, Westmont staff is pretty terrific. I'm very happy my daughter is at this highschool.
Submitted by parent on June 02, 2016

My son attends this school, he told me this year there are 10 students who got admissions from UC Berckley, there are more got accepted by UC LA . There are students got admissions from Columbia university, Cornell, CMU, Brown University , Harvey Mudd ..Last year there were students got accepted by Stanford and top UC schools as well. From above admission statics, I think Westmont is a pretty good school for my son.- a parent
Submitted by parent on March 07, 2015

My son is a student of Westmont, he told me that westmont has a lot of good teachers he like, such as teacher of Computer Science , Math, History. School have several teachers graduated from Stanford, MIT as well. He seems like his school so far.
Submitted by parent on June 08, 2014

Westmont high teachers are great! School did good job on preparing kids for college . Each year there are about 10 kids get accepted by UCLA , UCBerkeley and this year there are several kids got accepted by Yale, Princeton , Cornell those IVY league schools and some top private school like Harvey Mudd college
Submitted by parent on September 10, 2013

My daughter attends Westmont High School and as a public school, she seems to be getting a good education. I would like to see that she is getting prepared for college by proper guidance from the school to learn to be well rounded in social and academic teachings.
Submitted by parent on August 25, 2013

I considered sending my child to private high school and I have to say I am VERY happy I choose Westmont. This school has a nice community feel, an excellent mix of students, and great teachers and faculty. Our child has attended elementary, middle and now high school in the Campbell School District and has excelled. Our child is quite balanced and resilient, enjoys academics and does well socially so the fit is very good. Frankly I would prefer to send my good kid to the our neighborhood school, keep the scores improving, and continue to increase our home value.
Submitted by parent on August 07, 2013

My kids thrive(d) at this school. Diverse student body in all ways. Wide range of teachers, with mostly excellent teachers that prepare kids for college and the real world after graduation. Students are expected to be proactive about their education. If student is struggling, there are plenty of resources to help them if student and parents are proactive about solutions. Teachers do not coddle students that mess around and then try to fix it all at the last minute. That does not fly so stay on top of assignments and grades with the available tools. There is a good PTSA and a lot of parent volunteers in extra curricular activities. If your child does well with academic mainstream will be fine and thrive. If child struggles academically, use the resources and get outside tutors. Classes teach to the mainstream and advanced academics for most part. Plenty of AP classes and the only high school agricultural program in the Silicon Valley area. Quality PTSA, ASB, sports, clubs. The diverse student body is a wonderful thing too. My kids, our family enjoy the school and community.
Submitted by parent on March 04, 2013

The administration at this school is terrible. Completely irrational and unreasonable. When there are issues, they don't want to hear about it. They automatically blame students for issues without doing their due diligence and getting to the root cause of problems. More than once, issues came up that the teachers and administration assigned as issues with my child, only to later discover that the teachers were the problem, proved by data. Status on school work is a chronic problem - teachers not giving students credit for assignments, errors in grading, etc. Keep ALL of your student's work and be prepared to verify EVERYTHING related to grading. The communication is really bad -- don't expect answers to email or returned phone calls. They just don't want to hear from parents. They site a 48-response time to email and other inquiries in the student handbook, that they don't adhere to in the least. When you insist on speaking with them, you can muster up a meeting but, ultimately, they are just humoring you...It's 'their way or the highway'. I'm SO sorry that I placed my child in this school, and am looking into other options.
Submitted by parent on December 20, 2012

It's like pulling teeth to get information from most of the administrators and teachers in this school. My child's grades are not kept up to date, so the information in School Loop is not always accurate. I have to hound the teachers to find out where my child stands. We have seen everything from missed assignments and to data entry errors. Without extreme monitoring to make sure that this all gets cleaned up, my child's grades would have been negatively impacted to an extreme. Most teachers and administrators do not answer email without multiple requests and/or escalation (student handbook states that parents can expect responses in 48-hours). We have even experienced examples of teachers singling out my child openly in class and embarrassing them, because I have asked questions of the teacher via email....It confuses me to no end. Teachers often complain that parents aren't involved enough in their child's education. At Westmont, when you actively participate your child's education, you get ignored and your child gets openly mocked in class. It's ridiculous.
Submitted by parent on October 12, 2012

We are residents in this school district. We think the environments are greater than many other places of silicon valley. The Elementary schools and middle schools are great and getting better and better. However, this high school is so lagged behind in academic side. Why? We think the most important thing is that the school principle and board do things wrong somehow. It seems they are out of date in silicon valley and still lay on the back and enjoy the best view of the valley, and wait for retirement! Come on, man, wake up, every other school districts are making progress these years, you can't stay the same place to do nothing! Look at our neighbours, saratoga, los gatos, cupertino, everyone are keep going, why not you!
Submitted by parent on April 26, 2012

I agree completely..my son is not a trouble maker, however he is failing in 2 subjects and i have not been informed about this issue from anyone from the school. He tells me all the normal reasons a Jr. would use. Its the teachers fault, no homework, no help, its too hard and tacher is out sick..I email teacher and no reply..he didnt put effort in Star Testing because it didnt matter. Tomorrow hes not going to school because he has no class for star testing and the school doesnt take roll call in star testing. what?