River Oaks Elementary School

14800 Darbydale Avenue

School District

Prince William County Public Schools
Grade

PK, K-5
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:13
Type

public

School Map for Prince William County Public Schools

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 04, 2024

My kids are happy from this school
Submitted by parent on January 05, 2023

Great things to say about this school!!
Submitted by parent on August 22, 2022

Teachers are very helpful, and staff is a little helpful but overall nice school
Submitted by parent on May 20, 2022

Every single day my son comes home from this school he is in tears. Before he went from being the most behaved to feeling like it didn’t even matter how he acted he got blamed for things. He use to love school and now says he’s sick on a daily basis. The amount of difficult children in just his class is crazy. He has new stories every day about how one kid was physical with another. He’s had his property stolen and broken. I don’t feel comfortable taking him to school everyday.
Submitted by parent on April 28, 2021

I had to write a review about this school. I noticed that the reviews from parents were out of date and our experience has been nothing short of amazing. To start, our child began his first year (kindergarten) during a pandemic. The school was on top of the parents a month before school was even in session and kept reminding us of any zoom meetings to help understand how to use the meeting website and hosted multiple tutorials. They constantly called us to pick up our free laptops well before school started and prepared the students with free materials from the students. This included headphones, whiteboards and packets the school printed of class work for the month.We did a drive by meeting where the teachers stayed at a distance from the curb and introduced themselves. This year could not have been any better for my son. He loves his teacher Mrs. Cooke and his interim teacher Ms. McCoy was just as amazing while Mrs. Cooke was on maternity leave. Each day we get a daily notification of what is expected and due. At the beginning of each week we get a weekly syllabus with all the hyperlinks sending us to each assignment. These teachers are well prepared and clearly love what they do. My kid loves his PE teacher Mr. Doyle, his art teacher Mr. Matthews and we as parents like that they are stern but only because they expect class participation and if the kids aren’t doing what is needed, they hold them accountable and actually know who each student is. The Spanish teacher Mrs. Lucas and the reading teacher Mrs. vice are so kind and inclusive as well as his music teacher Ms. Cunningham. What gems.If the parents need to talk with the teachers via e mail or phone, they respond immediately. They are inclusive, innovative and have helped us to navigate and adapt to a difficult year as students and parents. I can not thank them enough for making the parents involved and understanding that this year was unprecedented. This school has done a wonderful job for our student and I can praise them enough.
Submitted by other on January 25, 2018

When I went to this school, I was always blamed for things that never happened or were never looked into properly. The teachers are horrible and do no teaching. I was constantly blamed for things that I never did, even when I wasnt even there at the time.
Submitted by parent on August 18, 2016

We have had Children attend this school since 2004, starting with grade 1, when we moved here. Most have graduated and live on their own now. 2 of our children still attend (we have 6 in total), youngest going into the 1st Grade and 2nd youngest the 4th grade this 16/17 School Year.The Staff and Teachers are great! They love working with the student bodies Parents on everything. In order for Student's to excel, the Parent's need to be involved. I am a bit flabbergasted on the negative and low reviews. You cannot blame the School for Children's behavioral problems, that is a fault of the Parent of the child(ren) that are causing the issues, school can only do so much and parents need to be willing to help.My review maybe biased as I have been involved with this school so long, but that is also the key, I have been involved. (- The Miller's)
Submitted by other on December 10, 2015

The behavior problems at this school are abominable. The children have very bad discipline problems. I was shocked to see that the principal had placed so many problem students in one class with a first year teacher. Why would you do that instead of separating them between the classes??? The five children who were trying to learn, listen, and be good could barely concentrate because the other children were acting out and yelling constantly. There was no peace in the classrooms. The well-behaved children are suffering because of the poorly-behaved children and it is very sad to see. It is almost impossible to teach with the way that these children are acting. This school needs drill sergeants for teachers. The kids act like animals and do not respect the teachers.
Submitted by parent on May 06, 2015

My daughter has been going to River Oaks Elementary since kindergarten, she is now in second grade and I have NO issues with this school. It is nice and clean inside, they just got a new playground and an addition onto the school for more classrooms and a new auditorium. She's had good teachers, some more amazing than others, but they all work hard. The front office staff is always friendly and personable. We had one issue with another kid when my daughter was in kindergarten and the principal handled it very well. I cannot find anything negative to say about this school, other than maybe having more homework. My daughter may disagree with that, lol.
Submitted by parent on April 11, 2012

My child has attended River Oaks for several years. The school has declined in the last few years with low parent participation to an increase in discipline problems. The tone of the atmosphere/climate is set from the top down (leadership/administration). Instead of them being PROACTIVE, the administration is mostly reactive, but mostly INACTIVE. Unruly, undisciplined/mal-behaved kids & their parents run this school, NOT the leadership/administration. Students are allowed to blatantly disrespect teachers & staff with little to no consequences & they know it, so it just continues with minimal discipline action issued, i.e., time-out, no recess, warning, etc. As a parent, I emphasize the importance of education, how to act accordingly & the consequences of chosen actions, so I don't have to visit the school because my child is misbehaving. Meanwhile, my child is subjected to disruption/distraction daily from kids whose parents don't emphasize the same & who look at the school as a "baby-sitter". There are many teachers who are good at what they do & should be applauded, but there are many others who only see this as a paycheck. This is a sad look at our upcoming generation.
Submitted by parent on June 01, 2011

My daughter was in kindergarten this year and we couldn't have asked for a better school experience than the one we had at River Oaks. The teachers and staff are wonderful and took the time to get to know her. Whenever I was on campus or was just dropping or picking her up, we were always greeted with hellos or told goodbye. We were never ignored. The curriculum was rigorous enough for my daughter and it was tiered to meet the needs of all learners. River Oaks is a wonderful example that a child does not need to go to the newest school in order to get the best education. It is the teachers that make the difference not the building.