Bowditch Middle School

1450 Tarpon Street

School District

San Mateo-Foster City
Grade

6-8
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:21
Type

public

School Map for San Mateo-Foster City 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 13, 2023

Most teachers are excellent, but the school administrators are a joke. There are safety concerns like bullying in this school where administrators don't seem to care. No emotional support or certified psychological counseling is provided to students. This is just an average school. Well, kids thrive if parents invest in external resources or activities. Don't expect Bowditch to offer learning or exciting opportunities to give an edge to the students for high school prep, more like a flaw in the school administration.
Submitted by parent on February 19, 2023

This is not a great school. There are a few teachers that are really good and a lot of highly motivated students (it's the bay area after all), who's parents have them enrolled in Kumon, Mathnasium, Russian School of Math, etc. so that they can get the learning they need. However, outside of those external resources, which are not cheap, navigating within the school itself is difficult. There is very little communication with the parents - for instance, sport tryouts, activities and extracurriculars, and even daily class schedule changes in advance of vacations, are not generally communicated to parents and, when they are, the communications predominantly come from fellow parents that happen upon the information or sporadically from the PTA on a Facebook page. The most troubling aspect of this school is that parents are highly discouraged from contacting teachers to check on their children's performance or to raise questions about missed assignments, poor grades, etc. This communication is expected to come directly from the students. Although I see the potential benefit of encouraging increasing communication skills of the students, when a student is struggling, or reluctant to reach out to a teacher, they quickly fall behind. My child, for context, came into this school scoring in the 99th percentile in each category of standardized tests, but now is a C/D student in an increasing number of classes. In addition, several behavioral disruptions are ignored and mischaracterized in communications to the parents. For example, a recent threat of violence in a classroom was communicated to parents as an outburst that upset some students. If you have an option to attend a different school, I suggest taking it.
Submitted by parent on July 07, 2022

Bowditch really helped get our kids ready for High school. The teachers are wonderful and they follow up when you or your student has questions.
Submitted by student on April 17, 2022

I am a current student at this school. The school is excellent! All the education programs are good, and the school offers "pathways" for extra advancement. In math the school uses math nation, and it's such a great resource! There is a website for students called clever which offers the Math Nation online version. The online version has tutorials on how to solve the problems, and resources for parents. The language arts teachers offer an educational, but fun class. PE is good. The electives are great, and teach students many things, there is even electives that can help your student learn more about YouTube and online blogging. One thing I don't like about the school is the new principal (ex-vice principal) Mr. Caleb Bowers. Nobody in the school likes him because he is rude to students. One time I got into trouble, and the way he treated me and my friends was awful. Overall the school is excellent, and the Principal will hardly get into your child's way, so I recommend going to Bowditch Middle School.
Submitted by student on October 26, 2021

This school is GREAT, I am a seventh grader currently and I feel welcomed by my peers. The sports program is also pretty good. The school is a bit run down, but I think it's going to be remodeled in a few years. If you are moving to this area I highly recommend this school for your children. :D
Submitted by parent on April 28, 2021

When my oldest child went to this school we didn’t have any great experience but it wasn’t bad plus the principal back then was retiring so we were very hopeful with the new principal and sent our second child here again ( biggest mistake). We felt that the principal is not involved and there was no proper open connection between school and families. There were so many miscommunication or no communications from school. This year being DL most part the teachers weren’t as supportive as we hoped. My child started hating school because of some teachers who were unnecessarily tough on children. When we approach principal or vice principal or even counselor for some of issues our child is facing, they either ignore our emails or give us vague answers. We couldn’t move our child out of the school in the middle of school year due to the pandemic but we definitely can’t wait for a change and we have to reconsider sending our youngest one to this middle school. We really hope the district gets involved and does something to bring some drastic changes in this school.
Submitted by parent on February 04, 2020

I love how there are many many ways that kids can get involved at school, outside of school hours. Clubs for 2019/20 that are open to all students include Interact, Recording Club, Chess, Eco Club, Anime, Games Club, Operation Smile, Speech/ Debate, Bridge, Science Olympiad, Robotics, Pride Club, Doodle Club, Drama Club, Color Gaurd, Christian Club (not PTSA sponsored), Book Club. Math Olympiad (medium competitive) and Math Counts (highly competitive team) in where kids have to test in. Cross-county is all inclusive, but sports are based on try-outs (many teams are highly competitive). Same with leadership/ student council- anyone can join, but key roles are selected via election. Spelling B and Reflections (Art based event) start out for everyone, but then are judged to have finalists move on to the next level. The music program during school hours is awesome with very inspiring teachers (band, orchestra, choir)- even the basic classes go to judged events . Additionally, there are auditions for the more skilled student musicians to join Jazz band and Jazz Orchestra (and I believe Concert Choir). There is one (sometimes 2, since in the past they used to have one geared to 8th graders only) musicals in the year. They put together a fantastic show. Most students who auditioned got a part this year and those that didn't were encouraged to be a part of the production team as crew, props team, costume team, hair and makeup, lighting etc. Many kids don't want to be on stage, but LOVE the team feeling of putting on a great show. While there are a number of things to audition and compete for, there is also a ton of things for all students.
Submitted by other on February 02, 2020

Not good. The clubs are discriminatory, and the teachers are influencing their students with politics.
Submitted by other on October 02, 2014

This is the perfect school where all of the teachers actually care for their students' education. Over the 3 years that the students spend here their relationship with not only other students but with teachers strengthens beyond anything else. I graduated from Bowditch last year and miss it very much.
Submitted by other on August 22, 2013

GREAT TEACHERS AND SUPPORTIVE STAFF. MY SON HAS CHALLENGES AND THE SUPPORT HAS ALWAYS BEEN THERE WHENN YOU ASK.
Submitted by other on March 20, 2013

So far, bowditch has been my favorite middle school. The teachers are great and supportive, they offer many different courses, and provide an excellent environment for the students. I really hope they don't cut any more courses though. Some of my favorite classes have been cut such as wood shop. Bullying is definitely not a problem at this school, and i definitely recommend Bowditch if you want your child to have a safe academic and social experience.