Great Hearts Forest Heights

"Great teachers that care!!! The curriculum is very challenging for students that are coming in from a public school system. Very strict, however it molds the students to be respectful & responsibile. The school has prime virtues that are instilled to every student & are reminded in a daily basis. The students do plenty of poem recitations. It can be a struggle for some. No pop-culture, which I love. They focus on the student very much, and if they notice that the student is struggling in any subject, they place an Interventionist for assistance, to make sure the student excels. By the way, the students are called scholars by there teacher. School winter concerts are amazing. I just wish the school had more color in the halls, for better children ambiance, and a better library."

"Glad to have withdrawn my lil' from this school. The poor little one aren't allowed to be kids. The teachers just want them to be perfect and they constantly compare them with high schoolers. I never received a positive note about my little one. Every week was a constant "your kid was talking", "your kid can't remain sitting", etc. It's kindergarten!!! They are still learning all this new routine, processing the new responsibilities, wondering and learning! It's like the teachers have no idea of what a kid is, the learning process, etc! Of course they will talk! Because it's part of being FIVE! However, this terrible system counts behavior as a big percentage of the kid's grades. Behavior of a five years old!!! Ridiculous! It's like they have no idea about what is a child and how do they learn and their brain grows. In December, the nurse left for PTO and my child missed the albuterol therapies/pumps for asthma. I knew only because I asked my child about it and my kid told me that no one gave them the inhaler. The kindergarten receives quizzes and parents aren't being informed about the information for the quizzes. The test are based of what the kids are taught at classes, so they poor 5 years old has to have a great memory, because there is not way that the parents can review the info at home for their quizzes/tests. Such a terrible experience. The day that I withdrew my lil', it was because I was fed up of seeing my kid crying ever single morning because the teacher assistant was mean! Sometimes that assistant teacher could see my kid in reception BEFORE 7:50 a.m., because my lil never wanted to go to classes, and that teacher used to mark my child tardy. This happen so often. And they knew my kid was always on time in reception, but they won't go to pick them up, unless a superior from the school ask them to help. The only good reason for me to had my kid in this school was because the teacher lead was good, however, at the end, she didn't even say good bye to us, not even responded to my message with good wishes and farewell. The headmaster did not show up to ask our reasons to withdraw, not surprise after seeing her daily attitude at school and her careless behavior every time someone brought something to her attention. The school has a lot to improve: security and safety, bullying policy, kindness, child-oriented curriculums, respect to the parents-child relationship, to the children's process and to their learning process, the academic calendar, etc."

"My daughter was on a waiting list for a bit. But when we finally got in, it is well worth the wait! Very education oriented, very supportive staff and just focused on traditional learning. The public school system has nothing on the learning at Great Hearts. I tell everyone to enroll their child/children. I wish my boys could transfer from high school."

"Many stuffs going on. Staff is very negligent and careless. They barely respond the emails, the concerns are not addressed, and sometimes they can be veeeery rude. My kid (FIVE YEARS OLD) has been sent to the dean office, because they has been talking with some friends in the classroom. It's incredible that the teachers cannot handle their students. And even worse, that they has done that to a kindergarten student. The children have only 25 minutes for lunch, but several students go home hungry and in a lot of cases, with an a half of their lunch in their bags, because the teachers didn't let them finish it. The 20 min recess suppose to be for them to play and socialize, also to eat a snack, but the kids aren't able to have a good snack either, since the teachers pretend that they eat in FIVE MINUTES!!! All these concerns has been brought to the attention of the headmaster and to the Facebook group, but nobody cares. The teachers ask for PER-FEC-TION. I could put pictures of everything that they has marked wrong on my kid homework, just because is not perfect!!! For example, because the letter that they drew up, doesn't measure 1 mm more, etc. But they are not even being taught to learn writing in kindergarten notebooks. Now my kid is going through ANXIETY and so much stress. I even had to left my job, so I can be there and not sending my kid to the afterschool anymore, because the school has made a terrible impact on her emotional health. All this is without mentioning that the children has early release every Friday, but 3 in the entire year. They have a LOT of days off, and a week off on Fall and on Spring, and 3 weeks off in Winter break. I do regret enrolling my kid in this school as well. The teachers lack of vocation, so do the staff. Calling the Great Hearts District office is a complete waste of time too. And for much more than all this, I'll be changing my kid to another school next year. This school is very abusive. Beauty IS NOT a priority if the kids has not SOCIAL LIFE neither feels HAPPINESS. It's like putting makeup to hide bad imperfections. Recent reviews here aren't lying. This is very sad."

"I can't say enough positive things about this school. I love that our kids memorize poetry and recite it regularly in front of the class. I love that even in kindergarten they have to prepare an annual project to present in front of the class. It was cute to see our kids research a topic, prepare a presentation, and practice presenting it. While there was some bullying in the lower school, we found that the teachers and headmaster worked to resolve the situation. I never felt like they were ignoring our concerns. You're going to have issues with behavior at any school, but at least with the structure at Great Hearts there are expectations of virtue. Nearly all of the students in the upper school at this campus did not grow up at Great Hearts and came from other schools, so I'm sure there are a lot of students and parents that had a hard time transitioning and don't understand the structure. I'm not denying the person's experience who has posted the same review on multiple sites, but our experience with the headmasters and teachers is not the same. If anyone is smoking in the restroom then that should and would be taken care of. We know several people whose kids will not even go to the bathroom in public schools because of drug use. Don't expect this place to be perfect, there are some bad people like any other organization in life, but the overall structure and goals of the school are great."