Tarbut V'torah Community Day School

5 Federation Way

Irvine, CA 92603

14 Reviews

School District
Grade

K-12
Type

private

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Reviews

Submitted by parent on March 13, 2024

We are blessed to have found this school for our gifted child. She is able to be taught at her higher level while also being supported emotionally. The teachers are caring and always available. The only thing that the school lacks is JEWS! The school should be all Jewish.
Submitted by parent on February 22, 2024

At first, my kid really liked TVT, but then more and more problems emerged. Teachers dared not manage and lacked discipline, even resorting to verbally bullying children. Until one day, my child developed depression. The school made an appointment for kid with a cooperating psychologist, but this psychologist was just a businessman who didn't really care about the child's situation. Instead, she repeatedly emphasized her previous work in hospitals and charged exorbitant fees. She made kid very bad. What she said was really mean. Based on her feedback, the school didn’t allow my child to return. Although I didn't want my child to continue there either, the school's official attitude and indifference made me no longer cling to it. My child has been much happier since leaving. Goodbye to the outwardly attractive TVT.
Submitted by parent on July 04, 2023

If you are looking for a Jewish school--don't bother. This school has sold out and is now catering to full-pay Chinese families. The language arts have been watered down to accommodate them, and my child's standardized text scores in reading and writing dropped year after year (even from the beginning of the year to the end as they test twice a year.) The Chinese families have been duped by the school's claim they are the "#1" K-12 school in the OC. This rating is from niche.com and can totally be gamed. It is a profoundly un-inclusive place for strongly-Jewish identified families, which is why you will find so few committed Jewish families there. You will find lots of assimilated Jews who don't care about being Jewish and rent-a-rabbi for their Bar/Bat Mitzvah (if they have a Jewish ceremony at all), lots of Chinese families, and random rich, misfit kids of a variety of faith and cultural backgrounds. But families who are seeking an environment that will nurture their child's connection to the Jewish community have left because it is not to be found there. The school even mistranslates "Klal Yisrael"--which means Jewish peoplehood, a core Jewish value--as "community," which honestly tells you all you need to know.
Submitted by parent on June 27, 2023

Avoid the middle school at all costs. Academically it's great - the advanced math is lovely and there are a few teachers were are truly excellent. The rest are not - they play favorites and they cannot manage their classrooms. Socially it is a disaster. The small size did not, in our experience, create a healthy environment. Middle schoolers are on their phones / computers all the time which is a recipe for disaster. I honestly did not realize how messed up certain aspects of the school were until our family was back in public school and I saw how public school fairly and uniformly enforces rules.
Submitted by parent on December 29, 2022

If you are looking for a Jewish school, don’t bother going here. Over the years they have lowered the Jewish education and cater towards the full paying Chinese students.The English standard is low, especially in the middle school. Math was ok, so was science. Lower school principal needs to be replaced. She is terrible with communication and puts the kids down. The classes are small and the sport is limited.
Submitted by parent on August 30, 2022

Absolutely incredible school! We love not only the academics, but also how children are taught to be well-rounded and kind.
Submitted by parent on March 19, 2022

Extremely caring faculty and leadership team. Small class sizes, excellent innovation/science/engineering program.
Submitted by parent on November 08, 2021

this school is full of snotty rich kids and a bunch of white people and they brag how much money the kids have and they brag about there school
Submitted by parent on October 25, 2020

The school is maybe good for very rich families. Please do not send your child to this school if you are a middle-class family. He will always feel down and different. Children going there are very snobbish and will mostly talk about designers' clothing, their luxury houses, and cars and not very Jewish-oriented spiritually. My child's confidence went so much down in one year that we needed to take him out of school.
Submitted by parent on August 02, 2017

TVT is an amazing school for many reasons! Most students in the high school are able to be active participants in the classroom and in extracurriculars. Each student is able learn to their abilities. My oldest child who attended K-12 is thriving as a leader on the Stanford University campus. Because of the small class size and quality of teaching, he was able to take 14 AP classes in grades 10-12, with not often more then an hour TOTAL of homework a night, be a leader in two clubs, be a 4 year varsity athlete and participate in two international service trips. I don't think he would have had ANY of these experiences in public schools locally and perhaps only a couple at local private schools. My middle son is graduating this year. He had a full time aid in 1st grade, stopped out from 5th-7th grade for some learning and reading issues and has returned thriving since 8th grade. The learning center is really an amazing support service offered by the school. Dr Dicamillo is a jewel! We know many students who are thriving with support. After early obstacles, our middle son has recently tested in top 1% in math nationally on the SAT and scored a 5 on his calculus AP!!! Thanks to great instruction! He has been a 4 year varsity athlete in 2 sports and has been a leader in a club. Our youngest is a middle school student. There is a one-of-a-kind enrichment program after school included in tuition with multiple activities. This year he is looking forward to drone racing, academic decathalon and The Art of Problem Solving- a world renown math program led by Richard Rucszyk who coached most of the international math award winning Olympic math team .
Submitted by parent on May 25, 2017

We started off in public school but were quickly dissatisfied. We found TVT and immediately felt at home. The teachers and faculty cater to the students and parents, in a way they just cannot do in public schools. The teachers give each child so much love and attention and the class sizes make it easy for the children to learn. Their academics are cutting edge, we are astounded at all she has learned in one year. They also instill the importance of good character into the children. We feel our daughter is getting the best education available in a nurturing environment.
Submitted by other on September 08, 2015

I went here from k-8th grade then transferred to another private school. I liked it and the teachers were caring. Most of the kids are really nice, but the social life is really different. If you're looking for a class of more than 45, and a normal social life you won't find it. They don't mix much with other schools and are really set apart from others in the community. Hebrew was so much fun to learn and I'll forever be grateful for it. Sports teams aren't great. It's just so small that there's a really good chance your kid is going to be underwhelmed and bored over time. I left because I wanted more diversity and more opportunities. All in all, a great private school, but it won't be a traditional high school experience for your kid. That's definitely something to consider in my opinion. I realize this was more about school culture than the academics, but it's something to think about!
Submitted by parent on May 19, 2014

For $21,350 - $24,675 per year not including additional costs, I would like faculty to be more customer service oriented and kinder to parents and children. I would like academics to be as strong if not stronger than local public schools - which they are not at this time. I would like Jewish studies to be more substantive and meaningful.
Submitted by parent on August 08, 2013

This school really helped my son to develop and succeed in Middle School with small class size and teachers who care. We left public school after 5th grade when my son asked for a jewish experience and the people that my son has befriended and the families that we have met are so nice, that this alone makes the school worth every penny. Regardless of the level of observance of the child - this is the place for jewish kids to finally "belong."