Woodbury Elementary School

125 Great Lawn

School District

Irvine Unified
Grade

K-6
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:25
Type

public

School Map for Irvine Unified 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 April 08, 2024

Our experience was good as part of Woodbury Elementary in 4 years.
Submitted by parent on December 25, 2023

We love Woodbury. My kids have gone there since kindergarten and are now in 4th and 6th. I don’t agree with the negative reviews at all. Teachers are caring and communicate well. We are moving and I’m worried we won’t find a school as good as Woodbury . Mr Battenfield is now retired however he was a fantastic principal. I highly recommend this school. We will miss it!
Submitted by parent on February 01, 2023

Considering that this school is part of IUSD we had much higher expectations. Below are a few points to consider when considering this school for your child: 1- They do NOT have a zero tolerance bully policy. Bullying is rampant and the teachers respond to emails with concerns with "thank you for bringing this to our attention". Physical bullying should be taken more seriously. - Teacher at this school use bullying language "do better next time" "is this the best you can do" - in writing on the children's HW. 2- The student to teacher ratio is ridiculous, teachers continuously express frustration and ask for assistance. The district/ school management should provide more resources for the teacher. 3- Teachers are not understanding of ADHD - they use terminology such as "sit still, he needs to move less". Considering we are in 2023 I think we should be more educated about inclusive classroom management. 4- School functions are always a mess, yes it's difficult to manage lots of kids but even the Principal and AP seem to be unprepared all the time. 5- The teachers speak ill of the principal. While I may not agree with the school management I do not think it is healthy for teachers to speak badly about management to parents or students. We had originally felt investing more money in a home in Irvine would yield a positive educational result. We now realize our mistake and relocated out of IUSD.
Submitted by parent on October 10, 2021

Great teacher with good students It's really good school
Submitted by parent on September 29, 2021

Woodbury Elementary is in the center of the Woodbury "Village," a high-density community. The school has over 1,200 children, and the student-to-teacher ratio is very high. To compensate for this ratio, the school depends heavily on parent volunteers. Many classes will have 3-4 parent volunteers a day who run many of the academic activities like RTI (reading) or the STEAM lab so that the teachers can work with smaller groups or do other activities related to instruction. These parent volunteers are usually not educators, and Woodbury does not provide them with any formal training on how to run these activities or interact with children. You run the risk of having unqualified individuals instructing your children. Most parent volunteer provide extra support to their own children, and the children of more active volunteers usually get preferential treatment.We had children in this school for about 10 years, and while the teachers, in general, are all very good (albeit not seasoned), the school itself is not academically competitive. They have antiquated activities, like math facts. As a whole, IUSD does not appear to be innovative and is a bit behind in the times. It's also pretty much run by IPSF and the PTA. Its saving grace is that parents are really involved in their children's education--it's common for students to have lots of extracurricular activities and tutoring. For families who have only known Irvine schools, Woodbury can be wonderful. Many of the families coming from other places looking for top-notch education, however, are usually pretty underwhelmed. Our children now go to school in another district, and the difference is remarkable. Everything in Irvine looks great on paper, and if you have no point of comparison, it's easy to buy into the hype. However, when you look at what the possible outcomes can be (i.e., poor preparation for college, poor development of character), I'd think twice about any school in IUSD and look for a school district that is more innovative and has even a slightly lower student-teacher ratio. I would attribute the shortcomings of this school on the principal. I've seen him personally handle certain situations and affect the curriculum--I have no faith in his judgment or his character. Like other parents leaving reviews, his poor leadership skills are very apparent on the overall culture of the school, which favors certain, very actively involved families at the expense of the school's integrity and academics.
Submitted by parent on June 04, 2020

Excellent school. My 2 sons currently attend Woodbury. During Distance Learning, teachers were very involved and in contact with my children. They managed to make an unexpected situation a success with my kids looking forward to online class chats and working on engaging creative assignments at home. Teachers across this campus are involved and professional. They hold students accountable and teach responsibility. Even the office staff and school nurse are polite and positive whenever we have interacted with them. Thank you Woodbury Elementary!
Submitted by parent on December 12, 2019

2 of my 3 kids have gone to Woodbury and we have had nothing but wonderful experiences in the last 7 years with all the teachers and staff!
Submitted by parent on September 20, 2019

Woodbury might be high rated school but that only tells you the score of the students and not on the quality and value of the school. The school feels like it 's pretty much run by PTA stay home moms and their kids. Most of teachers are young instagram social media driven. They might be considered fun but lacks when it comes to compassion for all students and unfortunately some definitely have their favoritism! Woodbury itself is an interesting community with privileged and overachieved kids. And that pretty much seems to be their value! And the worst is the principal Mr. Battenfield! They say the environment and culture of a place is triggered down from the top. And it is very true about Woodbury, Mr Battenfield lacks integrity to be a positive role model as a leader.
Submitted by parent on November 21, 2018

Over a twelve-year period, we put four kids through this school starting in 2006. We had an amazing experience the entire time. We routinely volunteered - not to teach, obviously, but to help teachers with routine tasks and to help so that the teachers could spend more time on teaching and less on administrative tasks. The parent volunteer community is one of the strongest benefits of this school. There is a Dad's club that organizes many events throughout the year, the PTA is strong, and the teachers are enthusiastic and kind.
Submitted by parent on November 20, 2018

Traffic staffs and amazing teachers. Our kids love Woodbury!
Submitted by parent on June 19, 2018

Woodbury Elementary is simply a wonderful school all around.
Submitted by other on May 25, 2018

Terrible unsufficient reception service, waste my time
Submitted by parent on April 24, 2018

Terrible experience. The principle battenfield is a disgrace to the IUSD standard of education.
Submitted by other on September 11, 2015

Alan Battenfield is an unqualified Principal. His behavior is against his school's integrity and respect.His school slogan, “Everybody is Somebody." is according to his own behavior. " is truly the basis for all actions taken and decisions made." is confusing.
Submitted by other on June 14, 2015

Woodbury elementary has been a loving home to me ever since it changed from El Camino. I graduated Woodbury in 2014 and I am currently in 7th grade at Jeffery Trail Middle School. I have gone to Woodbury Elementary for 7 years and I have experienced what it feels like to be a student there. The staff was amazing, kind, loving, and helpful. If you had a bad day you always new you could walk up to a teacher and talk to them about it. Educational speaking I felt that it could always could use work but the teachers always got us ready for the year ahead. The teaching staff taught information from the textbook and through fun activities. Everyday teachers would come in with a smile on the their face, ready to teach and the students ready to learn. The social aspect of Woodbury were good. All of the students learned how to handle social situations correctly and efficiently. Although there were and still are some bullies the Woodbury staff are working diligently to stamp it out. When I was in school I had two principals. Our first principal set a high standard and was always helpful to the students and parents. The new principal was kind and knew how to have fun. Even though he knew how to have fun, he handled situations that needed to be dealt with seriously. The after school clubs although not many were very fun. The musical happened every year and was always fantastic and our science teacher had an after school program every trimester. Overall Woodbury is a fantastic school and I recommend it to any parents looking for an all round school social and educationally.
Submitted by parent on June 10, 2015

Woodbury Elementary School has a very incompetent principal who said he has over 30 years of experience dealing with children's education. In my opinion, his 30 years experience has no practical applications whatsoever. The principal is incompetent, ineffective, incapacitated and incapable of carrying out his duties as an adminstrator. The previous principal, who got fired IN 2013 because the many different parent cliques had jerked her around and made her ineffective and incompetent to L.E.A.D. on. The Irvine School District has a zero tolerance policy on bullying. And Woodbury Elementary School is the reverse of that zero tolerance policy. The teachers and administrators would look the other way while the kids that get bullied are frustrated and felt betrayed. You can see in the kids' eyes the simmering emotions that bullies can get away with it while the principal and teachers said "let the kids learn how to resolve it themselves". Seriously? Unreal!!! Another fact is teachers don't teach. Most of the grading and teaching come from the volunteer school moms and the kids' classmates. SO YOUR CHILDREN ARE BEING TAUGHT THE MAJORITY OF THE TIME BY VOLUNTEER SCHOOL MOMS.
Submitted by parent on June 20, 2014

Woodbury is an amazing school. They teach you everything you need to. The teachers are awesome. This school is very talented they have musicals, talents shows, and many more things. No one ever gets bullied at this school. Like I said before this school is amazing.
Submitted by parent on April 09, 2014

Been with Woodbury for more than 4 years.... Teachers are extreme... there are GREAT and there are teachers who just don't give their all and it results to a year of waste for our precious children. I registered with greatschools just to post this: WOODBURY needs to control the PARENTS... Too much parents in the school grounds. There needs to be a boundary for parents. Encourage drive-up, pick-up and drop-off.. DISCOURAGE walk-to-the-room drop off. It's just TOO MUCH! Our children needs to be independent. We left Woodbury. We miss our special teachers and a few true friends. That's it.
Submitted by parent on March 06, 2014

THE SCHOOL NEEDS REFORM NOW! You have teachers that don't motivate kids to think. The school has mediocre teachers that the district couldn't get rid of. The academic faculty culture needs to change and the only way to break that culture is to change the staff. The previous principal couldn't manage to change the school so she left. My kid went to school there for 2 years. I've complained to the principal but she didn't do anything.
Submitted by parent on December 15, 2013

We moved across town -- from a highly-ranked school with higher API scores - because we felt that Woodbury's value system, energy, adoption of Common Core standards and academic focus were the right blend for our child. My husband and I both attended IUSD. One of the main upsides of this district is that children emerge with the ability to think critically about information, exercise judgment, and collaborate with others. As senior managers in both our professions, we know that THESE are the skills that kids need -- not the ability to memorize and take standardized tests. Woodbury seems to develop the whole child, academically and socially, and the teachers that I've seen are happy to part of such an engaged community. For the parents that are unhappy with their child's experience...volunteer, speak your mind, get involved. The staff seem open to ideas and feedback -- including the new teachers that seem to be getting a lot of criticism on this board. All great teachers were at one time new...there's not a single teacher I've encountered at Woodbury that isn't doing their best to educate our kids.