I am giving my honest review because I truly wished someone did for me – I know its stressful trying to find the right school for your family. Background on us: my child is attending 2nd grade at Triad this 2017/2018 school year, I home schooled 1st grade, and kindergarten & daycare (starting at 2 years old) she was at Brookfield.
My review of Triad in a nutshell: Top notch school and education and excellent all around.
1. The beauty of this school is that it doesn’t matter where your child is at academically, the custom curriculum is for every single child. During each subject like math and language arts the children are grouped according to ability (not age nor grade). Throughout the school year some kids may grasp concepts faster than others so the groups are constantly changing. This was key for us as my child had a great start and was ahead academically for her grade.
2. Social & Emotional Learning (SEL) is a part of the curriculum not just a tool. They get an actual grade on SEL. The SEL has a licensed Phycologist that is also one of the approved groups that does the public school GATE testing. During SEL the regular school teachers are not present so it’s a safe environment for children to discuss things.
3. Triad is like a homeschool education (but better because of trained educators as teachers) without the struggles of doing it yourself. At Triad my daughter has many teachers and is exposed to different teaching styles and personalities.
4. I am constantly impressed by how behavior conflicts are handled. It actually makes me doubt my Parenting Skills. If there is an issue in class and the child has had their fair share of warnings, they can be sent to the Principal’s office for a reset or reflection. This is not a bad thing. It allows the class to continue and gives the child an opportunity to take a break and reflect what has happened.
5. The Owner/Principal is Yvonne Blinde. She is an amazing Parent, excellent Principal, and very smart Business Woman. These 3 things are very hard to be all at the same time when you have children at the school, have to make decisions for the good of the school, and own it as a business.
6. You have 30 day notice policy verse having to sign a contract to pay a full school year. I love the “If you are not happy here, we don’t want you to have to stay†philosophy.
7. One of the best things I LOVE about Triad is that I can see where every penny of tuition goes. It’s physically visible on the facilities, security system, software to communicate to parents of the progress of kids is great, and equipment. I have also seen how one curriculum may not be working for the kids so the Teacher talked with the Principal and together they switched it – custom curriculum.
8. There are only a few negatives for me. A) One is the cost of tuition, it is hard for me. But I see that my child is getting more than what I pay. I do the math of tuition and how many children and I don’t see how it is all paying for the high number of adults per child ratio or top notch education. B) I’m not a fan of the children having their own mac laptops. Luckily we had an old one that we could let my daughter use. I just don’t think a 7 year old can appreciate the value of a mac laptop. They do not have a computer lab, so I do see why they prefer students to have the laptops.