Laurelwood Elementary School

955 Teal Drive

School District

Santa Clara Unified
Grade

K-5
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:19
Type

public

School Map for Santa Clara 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 September 08, 2024

My kid went to this school from K-5th grade and loved it. The teachers are very communicative. The principal is excellent and runs the school extremely well! The assembly is a testament to this. The officice staff, health assistant and district nurse all are extremely supportive! I highly recommend this school!
Submitted by parent on August 08, 2024

I’ve been quite disappointed with the implementation of science at Laurelwood. If you take a look at the NGSS science standards compared with units that are actually taught there is a HUGE discrepancy in skills, knowledge, and critical thinking between what the standards call for versus the instruction that is actually happening.
Submitted by parent on July 14, 2023

The teachers for my child consistently sends weekly reports regarding my child's education, and cares a lot about my their education. The teacher's there get creative with assignments, and makes sure that the knowledge isn't just known, but remembered.
Submitted by other on June 07, 2023

Active PTA: Events are hosted throughout the year and there are plenty of opportunities to volunteer and connect with families/community.
Submitted by parent on April 08, 2023

I am a parent of 3 and I love this school. My youngest child used to go to this school about 3 years ago. Everything was great but one of his teachers were horrible. She kept saying he was autistic because of simple things like not holding his items in a stack, having sensitive ears, etc. Anything she didn’t like equals autism to her. I didn’t believe my kid at first, I thought he was just being dramatic. But, when I had a meeting with her, I knew she was crazy. If you are planning to go to this school for 4th grade, go somewhere else because it’s too much of a risk that you may get this teacher.
Submitted by parent on October 02, 2022

My kid is a current student at Laurelwood. In general, most teachers there are nice, especially the lower grades ones. And there are also these cold and dont seem to care enough. When he was in 3rd grade, he made a few complaints to his teacher about a couple kids in class who were annoying him, teacher just listened and then dismissed it. My boy always came home and said it was so annoying in class that he couldn’t focus. I talked to other parents and a couple of them also agreed that our teacher didnt seem to care much. Also, they have 2 PE teachers and PE is a joke. The teachers never moved with them. Either they were just sitting under shade enjoying their cold drinks or the lady PE teacher was just yelling at kids. My kid told me the lady PE teacher was so mean that he wouldn’t ask her anything if he had any request during PE class. The office staff, the lady sitting directly facing the entrance, is a bit mean sometimes too, but the rest of the staff is very friendly. In terms of study, this school doesn’t have too much homework and only requires 20 minutes of reading each day. We sent our kid to math tutoring class outside to help keeping him challenged. Besides, my kid also enjoys music and art classes there, though basic music class only starts at 3rd grade and art class is an after-school class that parents need to pay for it.
Submitted by parent on September 11, 2021

I can truly say the teachers at school so far (K and 1st grade) have been wonderful. They are truly invested in all around development of students. My kid loves going to school.
Submitted by other on August 24, 2021

I am currently in high school as a sophomore in a different school district and attended Laurelwood from 2011-2017. I can say the best part of my life was in Laurelwood elementary school. The teachers were very kind, we went on a good number of field trips each year, and had access to art and music programs. I could understand that not all parents are happy with the school due to issues such as air conditioning and some issues with some teachers, but these problems are bound with all public schools. The environment that Laurelwood provides is like no other. Even after 4 years I still find myself thinking about the happy memories I made there, and I believe that every child deserves to go a school like this one. I am sad to see some negative reviews from parents, but I would encourage parents who are thinking to enroll their kids in Laurelwood talk with students who attend the school. I am fairly confident there would be a positive opinion.
Submitted by parent on December 08, 2020

Before moving to the area, my daughter was an A+ student, in gifted and talented classes & accelerated reading in a top public elementary school in Florida. Based on ratings and metrics put out by California, we believed that this school would be a good fit - despite no access to gifted and talented in California at 4th grade level. The school days are shorter, plus they have a scheduled short day every week. Although new topics were covered in History, all other aspects were below grade level and expectations for students was low. Art in only offered 4 times over the entire school year. Attending music meant missing another class. Homework requirements were given to the students at the beginning of every week to be completed by start of class on Friday and included 20 min for reading time/day. Often the work seemed to be more "busy work" than constructive reinforcement. The primary teacher for the class was awesome. Communicated regularly with families and did her best to accommodate students despite being in an over crowded classroom.
Submitted by teacher on August 17, 2019

Excellent. The students were always the many concern: décisions were made with the students needs always at the forefront.
Submitted by parent on July 31, 2019

My son was in Gifted and Talented Class in Maryland/DC area. For four straight years he received almost straight As. We moved here at the end of his 5th grade and in two months he became a straight B student. The teaching has no structure and almost no assigned homework. Plus parents are not kept update as to what their children are doing. When I emailed his teacher to ask what problems were my son having that caused such drop in his grades, his teacher never responded to my email. Very disappointing and does not know why the school received a 9/10 grading on this website.
Submitted by parent on August 15, 2017

While some of the teachers in the school are great, it’s ultimately a mixed bag. Several of the teachers are not very good. In addition to this mixed bag of teachers, the school does not have formal music, art, or PE programs. Each of these areas are taught at the discretion (and ability) of the grade level teacher.
Submitted by parent on February 29, 2016

Laurelwood is my neighborhood school and my child attends there. Given the high API scores and desirability of this school, I was hoping for a positive experience. Unfortunately, I have been disappointed in almost all aspects by this school. The school is very crowded with 30+ children in small classrooms. My child's teacher always seems stressed out, is poor at communicating to the parents what's going on in the classroom, and generally seems to have no interest in having any sort of positive relationship with parents. The school is lukewarm at best regarding parent volunteering, even though they drastically need this help. Office staff seems generally befuddled by simple requests. Registration was a nightmare, with contradictory, incomplete, and often changing requirements. School website stayed woefully out-of-date for months after school started. PTA cancelled many popular events this year and PTA leaders seem distant and tired. Although this school is a short and easy walk from my house, my spouse and I are actively working on moving my child to a different school next year.
Submitted by parent on January 26, 2016

This is our first year at Laurelwood. We love the new principal- Dr. Rogers. She is very involved and knows kids by their name. Unfortunately, the school and specially the kindergarten is overcrowded. They are 5 kindergarten classroom and each have 30 kids with only one teacher. For some reason they are not very interested to involve parents to help out in the classrooms. I know that my friend is helping out her daughter's teacher with only 24 kids in the class almost everyday in another school. Also, our kindergarten teacher is remorse and very tired and not so interested in her job. We definitely will think about the alternative school for next year mainly based on the crowded classroom. Lets face it is not easy to handle 30 kids and do a good job in teaching. But we love the administration and principal in particular. Cafeteria is big and the food that they serve is good. classrooms are clean and playgrounds are ok too. PTA is very active.
Submitted by parent on January 14, 2015

I couldn't agree more with the parent who posted the review on June 23, 2014. My child has been attending this school for 2 1/2 years and I think it's terrible. My older child attended another public elementary school so I am comparing apples to apples (though not in the SCUSD). The principal here I've heard has ruined the school, but putting that aside as I'm sure she didn't do all this damage in the 2-3 years that she's been there....., there's too many kids attending, tired teachers (not all but more than there should be in this venue), inadequate equipment/technology/computers for both the students and teachers. It's unbelievable to me that for being in the "heart of silicon valley," it lacks something such as technology, laptops and interactive learning for the children. With respect to playground, sturdy plastic playground material is a much more up to date and kid friendly structure. Lastly, God forbid you have a child with any sort of learning disability. This school appears to tend more to the teaching of kids who need to learn a "second" language than to those who need some extra attention on their basic education. Very disappointing.
Submitted by parent on January 14, 2015

Laurelwood has great potential, but has gotten too big. Our small neighborhood school has grown to 700 students. When I my first child was here we were around 550, and we had smaller class sizes. But I disagree with the comments about the principal. She was adored by the students. She was visible and worked hard to bring Laurelwood in to the 21st century. The school finally has new technology. When you are in a meeting with her, there is no doubt she knows your child and wants whats best for them. There are some great teachers, but there are also some that are not willing to do what's best for our kids. They yell, and they don't seem to be at all flexible. My children have had the great, and the notsogreat. I can't complain. Our community, while generous, wants to remain status quo (as stated previous about the PTA). However, we aren't what we were when my children first started here. The PTA is very involved. It's a great way to become a part of the school community. Nothing is perfect, but Laurelwood ain't so bad.
Submitted by parent on June 23, 2014

While Laurelwood may have high API Scores (for whatever they are worth these days), it lacks alot in terms of the quality of education. The school itself and classrooms are overcrowded with 30 students to 1 teacher. The school was designed for 350 children. There are 700+ on campus now without adequate play ground equipment or supervision. There are some wonderful teacher's, and there are more ineffective teacher's. Too many teacher's use yelling or shaming to try and control the students. There is very little professional development for the teacher's; and many seemed burned out and disengaged from the children. There is almost no emotional/social training taking place in class or on the play ground. The Principal is much more interested in "following the letter of the law" and gaining technology, than in creating a positive, safe, innovative learning environment. Parents are moderately welcome on campus and on PTA but, really, only if they are willing to work to maintain the status quo. Sadly, the qualitative measures of education are not a priority and the school isn't interested in becoming innovative or creative. It's been a very sad experience for our student.
Submitted by parent on April 21, 2014

My daughter goes to laurel wood from last two years. Amazing school and teachers are great. All I want to say 'Go laurelwood'.
Submitted by parent on November 08, 2012

I agree with the other reviewer that the playground and structures need a lot of improvement. The comment about A/C is also appropriate. Having seen a few other school in this area, though, this one looks on the better side. May be because of funding issues or whatever, many schools look like dump-yards now a days. Poor public infrastructure and maintenance seems common in a lot of cities in south bay. Still I have given the school 4 stars, why? Because my son goes there and loves it. His teacher is nice. API scores are good. Kids are well behaved and there is no bullying that I know of. There are quite a few extra-curricular programs. I wish it were better but given other schools in the area, I am quite happy with what we have.
Submitted by parent on June 15, 2012

The school was remodeled only a few years ago, the classrooms are clean and not dilapidated. Our Cafeteria is for all Kinder through 5th, and holds all our assemblies nicely! The Teachers and staff are caring and wonderful instructors. All you have to do is look at the schools API to see how well the school is instructing our children. I believe the bad rating is from someone who has never been to our school. Not sure where they are getting their information for all their wrong information!