Stratford School

1196 Lime Drive

Sunnyvale, CA 94087

15 Reviews

School District
Grade

K-5
Type

private

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Reviews

Submitted by parent on August 12, 2024

Attended from TK - 1st grade, and each year the teachers got progressively worse with less and less experience. They can't seem to keep the good ones we liked. While math and science were good, my child's English suffered learning when teachers who could not speak clear English themselves without heavy accents. One year, the teacher complained my child was hyperactive, but sat my child alllll the way in the back of the class. The art and music programs were great with winter and spring performances, but that's not enough to justify over $22k / year. Ultimately, I felt I was paying a college tuition for inexperienced teachers and got stuck the majority of the time with teachers who did not have native proficiency in English. If your child doesn't fit their cookie-cutter mold, it's like they don't know how to deal with a simple thing such as hyperactivity. Bullying was also annoying at times by a few spoiled entitled boys. Lastly, the school is sorely lacking in diversity being predominantly Southeast Asian, and I say this as an Asian person myself.
Submitted by parent on November 29, 2022

My experience is as a parent of a 5th grader. The school expects teachers to have tight control of the students, even how they might arrange their own desk storage space. I guess they subscribe to the old adage 'a messy desk (storage area) reflects a messy mind." This is nonsense. The students need the ability to be individualistic in at least a few respects. Doing something in the class that the students might think of as 'fun' is discouraged. Using online video resources to enrich the student experience - whether it be a song they are learning to sing, a book they are reading, or a critical thinking discussion the teacher is willing to allow the students - is totally discouraged. I believe that they think using video is too passive. There seems to be little room for discussion/debate/sharing beliefs. Rigid and inflexible in my opinion. I just discovered that they even REQUIRE me to submit my email address to post this review - allowing for them to track ME! And I worry about how a negative review may be used against my student! I'll need to create a different email address...
Submitted by parent on August 31, 2022

I sent my son to Stratford De Anza for Pre-K and it was a horrible experience. My son went to a Montessori school prior to that where he was well cared and nurtured and never cried to go to school. Coming to stratford, my son used to complain and cry every single day. Initially i thought he needs time to adjust to the new environment with structured leaning, but very soon i realized that it was the teachers who were extremely strict and yelling on the kids all the time that made him cry to go to school. The campus is great and they had a balanced curriculum, but the teachers never cared to even take him close when he was crying. Also the teachers are least approachable for any talk with the parents. I do not encourage anyone to put this little ones through this horrible experience.
Submitted by parent on August 04, 2022

My child attended Stratford for 3 years from preK - grade 1, before I decided to pull her out and put her in public school instead. The good - secure, gated campus, involved parents - your child's social life will probably thrive and they'll get invited to birthday parties, playdates etc. Your kid will get several pages of homework in K and grade 1, so if they transition to public, public school will seem like a breeze. The bad - lack of diversity, almost 95% Asian (I am Asian myself,) small campus, kids have little to no playground space, sometimes incompetent teachers - my child was taught incorrect grammar and I contemplated pulling her out mid year but the penalty to do so was high, so I let her finish the year. Curriculum isn't age appropriate - my child was taught about the Incas and Mayas in grade 1, it is at least 1.5 grades advanced, if not more. Also, they do not encourage kids to express themselves, the expectation is for them to listen and absorb information, commit everything to memory and then put it down on paper. Their idea of art class is to have kids copy a famous Monet painting - kids aren't encouraged to create. I remember sitting through school performances that were cute at first and then excruciating because your 5 year old is out of breath, on song 9, with 4 more left to go. They really know how to take the fun out of small, simple things. They encourage blending in, and uniformity, there's a complete lack of originality and letting kid's personalities shine, which is especially important at that young age.In short, I feel I pulled my kid out of Stratford at the right time. It depends on what you're looking for and Stratford was certainly not what our family wanted in the long run.
Submitted by other on July 27, 2022

I was a student at Stratford. I started there in first grade and was there all the way to eighth grade. Firstly, it has way too much homework. Teachers hardly teach. I was supposedly taught Spanish and Computers all the years I was at Stratford. When I went to another school for 9th grade they put me in the lowest level for both subjects. Did I forget to tell you my report card for all the years say I have excellent grades in both subjects.Basically, Stratford does not prepare you for High School. My peers from other schools were much better prepared.I was also bullied when I was in middle school at Stratford. My mom complained to the principal multiple times but nothing was ever done about this. Even today I have anxiety due to this. I do not recommend this school at all.
Submitted by student on May 29, 2022

I go to a middle school campus. I am mostly disappointed in Stratford. The campus doesn't even have a library!!! Most of the teachers are really nice and funny. However, some of them are really bad. I had a computer science teacher who just made us copy off the board!! We didn't even learn anything as he droned on and on through a really boring lecture. Students at this school don't express excitement about what they are learning. There is also too much homework and most students stay up until 11 PM trying to finish all their homework. However, the administration lies a lot. They say that we have 'often safety drills' when we have them like twice a year! That is not 'often'. But mostly the school is safe. In Stratford there is not much diversity :(.
Submitted by parent on June 27, 2019

Overall, this is a good school. My satisfaction with fourth grade was slightly less than previous grades, and fifth grade even less still; but it's possible that there is just more to evaluate in these grades as later grades have more complex curriculum that it is easier to find fault with. I do not like the direction that the leadership of this school has been taking in the past few years and I wish that the campus had more facilities (there is no library, no gymnasium, there are no sports teams, and really it's a pretty impoverished campus overall from a facilities perspective). However, I cannot argue with results: both of my kids had great experiences at Stratford De Anza, have a positive attitude towards school, are great students, and my daughter who has moved to public school for the 6th grade has been prepared so far ahead of the curve there that it's been a cake walk for her. So there is no doubt that despite the few issues with Stratford De Anza, the results are great and I am very happy that my kids both attended Kindergarten through 5th grade at Stratford De Anza.
Submitted by parent on October 25, 2017

Overall I am very disappointed. It used to be a good school, my first son started preschool here years ago and we had good experience overall. We enrolled my second one in preschool this year, tuition has gone up but the quality is a lot lower than before. New principle is rude with authoritarian approach, She dismisses you when you ask her a question or have a concern. There are too many kids in the classroom, I don't know how teachers can do it, and I feel my child is neglected most of the time because teachers are too busy.Classroom and bathrooms looks dirty and untidy even in the morning when we get there and for the money we are paying I was expecting a lot more than that.
Submitted by other on July 13, 2017

I would rather to go to public school. Tuition is a waste of money and curriculum is mediocre. An example of a terrible school.
Submitted by parent on July 09, 2015

It is a great school with caring teachers who are effective at motivating even their most toughest customers to want to learn. My son was getting into "trouble" in his preschool. It seems to happen a bit at the tail end of each year and the pre-school would bump him to the next class months before he hit the age to move on, but it seemed to work. We tried Stratford for transitional K, as we were concerned to keep him at the other school, as he was showing signs of being bored again. Our son not only thrived, but would come home everyday to share about his what he learned. The teachers are friendly providing a caring, yet firm approach with the kids. By the end of the school year for TK, he proactively and with interest was reading books at the 2nd grade level and preferred science books. Our son loved his teachers as well as the principal, we plan to keep him through elementary.
Submitted by parent on February 13, 2015

This school might be an "academic school" but the burden is really on the parents. Essentially, their philosophy is to teach children a grade or two above a public school and if they struggle, shift the burden to the parents or ...get ready for it..nudge them to pay additional money for private tutoring. Our child is really bright and has scored consistently 90-100% in her weekly tests (yes weekly tests for kindergartners). This would not good enough for her teacher, although it was good enough for us, as parents. My kid is in Kindergarten and youngest in her class and we are very involved parents. We would make sure she revises her homework and practices for her test. However, we get constantly get reminded by her teachers about this additional Stratford express program that might benefit our child. I am not sure why I am paying more than $1750 a month if I need to get her in private tutoring program.
Submitted by parent on August 06, 2013

My son has been with this school ever since preschool. This was his first exposure to the world of formal education and I must say he is as happy as we are. It's been over 2 years now and it was absolutely a wonderful experience interacting with the teachers, the principal, the admins in the office room. I like the good mix of academics,music and art ensuring a good balance is maintained. The best thing for me was to see my kid perform so wonderfully along with other kids during the spring/winter programs. Also,the fact that they encouraged parent participation left me with such wonderful memories,that I can share with my son,years later.All in all, we love being a part of this wonderful school.
Submitted by parent on May 19, 2013

My kid goes to this school. It's an ok school, but not great. We think the school has some issues, if they fix it - it will be great. The teachers in Stratford have kids enrolled in the same school. Those kids get favorable. One of the teachers uses kids in her class to check on her kid in another class(like sending special lunch box every day). The teachers do not provide more challenging stuff for kids. The public schools in Cupertino do more for the kids than this school. We are not coming back next year.
Submitted by parent on April 25, 2013

I have two children attending Stratford this year, one in K and one in Pre-K. I am extremely happy with the quality of education and care that my children receive at Stratford. Each child has two teachers in class and all four of the teachers that my children have this year are fantastic. My children are learning at a rate that I did not anticipate - they are so far ahead of where I was at their age. They love their teachers and their school. All of the other students and parents I have met have been happy as well. We had intended to only send our children to Stratford until they were both elementary school age but now we are torn because we like the school so much, we may keep them in Stratford for longer. I wish every school in the country were as good as Stratford so that all students could have a supportive and challenging environment to learn in. And I love all of the cute little Stratford themed songs they learn at school and are found singing to themselves while playing (Stratford dinos, roarr roarr!).
Submitted by parent on September 02, 2012

Terrific elementary school. The curriculum is easily one grade ahead of comparable grades at local public schools. A very attractive and compelling alternative to schools such as Challenger. Very approachable and professional principal. Among teachers, Mrs Chadha is especially well organized and kind to kids. Highly recommended for a well rounded 21st century education.