Heritage Christian School

Went today with my son to check out this preschool. Firstly we saw a large dog in the fenced play area with all the preschool kids that share the area with daycare kids. I find this highly inappropriate that the school would allow dogs in the play area. Then we looked at the actual preschool, in the basement. Seemed pretty small but adequate. What was disgusting is the preschool bathroom, all you could smell was urine but I was told it was cleaned nightly. I had to leave immediately from the smell, but I noticed a sign to leave the exhaust fan on at all times. I couldn’t even imagine the smell in the bathroom if that fan was turned off. This school has serious hygiene and safety issues. How they are not ashamed of themselves for operating a school with such conditions is beyond me. I highly recommend going to the other private schools in Kelowna, Willowstone and Kelowna Christian School are night and day compared to Heritage Christian School, as they are more what you would expect from a private school.

A lot of issues with taking charge of issues going on within the school such as bullying and physical abuse both by students and certain teachers. I personally had a teacher smack me in the back of the head in grade 10 telling me to move seats, and the schools “best” they could do was get the principal to ask me “how hard did he hit you? And can you slap my head to give an example?”. After that embarrassment the teacher was allowed to continue working there and my family was told “as brothers in Christ we tend to forgive, and will be sure to keep an eye on him.” Before this I was bullied by a single boy in my class for 4 years, starting in grade 5 until he left in grade 9. I brought this to the attention of both my parents and the school was contacted, how did they deal with it? They asked my bully of course, do you think he told the truth about bullying a girl? Nope. So the school told my parents that I was dramatic and seeking attention, because my bully denied all accusations. The bullying got worse and I was told multiple things from him like “yeah you NEED to eat a salad” to “why don’t you go home and cut yourself!” because I was reading a book about a girl who was depressed and struggling with self harm. Nothing was done so I tried to move on and in grade 12 I was a teachers assistant for grade 5 students. I had 2 incidents where kids were being bullied to the extreme for their clothes, weight and looks in general. I automatically took this to the principal of elementary and their teacher (who was also my fifth grade teacher) and was shocked to have my concerns belittled and told “they are just dramatic and this happens all the time”. I was angry when I realized they were trying to do the same thing they did to me when I was their age. So, I took matters into my own hands, and I helped those kids the best I could; Hoping maybe, their self esteem/self worth wouldn’t be destroyed so early on. I made a few good friends here, but by no means did this school feel safe, or have a better atmosphere than a public school which I attended for a year. All in all save your money and send your kids somewhere education matters and so does their well being.

Decent place and friendly people