Children’s Day School

My daughter is finishing her first year at the school as a Kindergartener. She has had a wonderful year with two very smart, caring, veteran professional lead teachers in a class of 24 students. They have done an incredible job of fostering the social, emotional and intellectual/​cognitive development of the students.
I was very impressed with the scope and sequence of the curriculum this year. Students studied the lifecycles of pumpkins (fall), trout (winter/​spring), trees and plants (winter/​spring), and now recycling (spring), throughout the year. The approach is inter-​disciplinary, meaning that each of these themes was covered in every subject — math, science, language arts (reading & writing) — and related activities in art, music and Farm and Garden, followed by culminating field trips (i.e. visit to pumpkin patch in Half Moon Bay, trout release in Lake Merced, trip to Botanical Garden, and visit to recycling center). Students have made a series of bound books throughout Kindergarten (over 30 so far) on various topics, with each student contributing a page with his/​her ideas, drawings and written words, and you can see the incredible growth over the course of the year. Each student also creates his/​her own «newsletter» that keep throughout the year, documenting their learning and experiences with written words and drawings. This will be something we keep forever!
The teachers are committed and passionate about their craft. We get detailed weekly updates from the teachers by email on what students are learning, and suggested activities to do at home to support what they are doing in the classroom. All teachers/​staff at the school are trained in Responsive Classroom, which is very well-​respected approach to creating a caring classroom and school community and used by other independent schools in the city (SF Day School, SF Friends, others). Most importantly, my daughter is excited to go to school and to learn. What a gift!
The parent community is diverse, warm and welcoming… Most are working parents and there is robust after care program as well as vacation camps and summer camps offered on-​site with fun and engaging staff. It has a very low-​key, down-​to-​earth feel compared to most private schools in SF; the values feel right.
The only place where CDS might not seem to measure up to other schools is its facilities. If you visit other schools you will see a wide range of facilities — none is perfect. CDS has a very limited library close to the lower school building, there is no common room space in the lower school as all events are held outside on the yard, which works well for the most part. There is no cafeteria and kids eat outside at picnic tables, but that seems to work just fine. Kids don’t care at all! The yard is very large, sunny and protected — so nice that is off the street unlike many city schools! It feels like a little oasis for kids with the garden, farm and plenty of space to run and play. Nevertheless the classrooms in the lower school building are large, and sunny (all have southern exposure light with huge beautiful windows). The new middle school building opened last spring (2015) and is gorgeous and state of the art (Makers classroom, fully-​wired, beautiful central community space, roofdeck where student eat and grow vegetables). The building is in a converted church and faces Dolores Park with beautiful views of the newly-​renovated park. I think CDS is prioritizing getting and keeping good teachers and offering sliding scale tuition over fancy facilities, which is the right choice.
Come visit and see for yourself; ask current parents and kids about their experience directly; and don’t take every negative review at face value.

It is very much swayed by money and politics, and the classrooms/​school is made up if handpicked/​selected by snooty, uppity teachers/​staff.

Disaster is really the only word you can describe a school where your 8^th grader shows up the first day and they don’t have a classroom to my 5 yr old who has been run over so many times in the overcrowded yard that she has suffered head and eye injuries (school has doubled in 4 years in the same small yard). When our older daughter and her classmates completely bombed the only standardized test they take, we were to told to LIE to our daughter about her scores in an email sent home! WOW not, how do we improve our children’s basic skill set which is a year behind everyone else! The constant fund-​raising has only raised one thing: the head of school’s salary which has DOUBLED in the last 4 years while more and more children are shoved into that small building. I loved this school for many years but the quality has dropped like a rock and the financial strain on the school is overwhelming as this school doesn’t have a gym, art rooms or even a library. We transferred our younger daughter to Brandeis mid-​year after we were told we needed to sign a GAG order after complaining. Yes, a gag order that they keep as a standard form that they serve parents who object to just terrible conditions after paying $ 30,000 a year. We have spent thousands and thousands on tutors this year to get our 8^th grader up to an appropriate level of math where she might have a chance to survive high school. You cannot solve problems if you do not admit them — and this is the real challenge for CDS.

when we did the pre school tours i didn’t pay very close attention to the presentations. these were all good, polished, profession. i just watched the kids to see if they looked engaged and happy to be there. i believe the first few years of school are key since this is an introduction to a lifetime of learning. the best thing i can say about my daughter’s first year at cds was she often didn’t want to leave school.
this is a school that takes community seriously. there is a large fundraising effort for sliding scale tuition. a large effort for inclusion. this is part of cds’ core values. they don’t just want you to be good at a narrow set of academic skills. they want you to be decent human beings and citizens.
its a good mix of parents over there. mostly «professionals» but also some very cool creative types (my peeps like musicians and artists). one thing they all have in common imo is kindness. there are some high function corporate types that are enormously generous with their time and money for the school. these are people that could have had their kids in more traditional prep schools for the rich but have a commitment to community.
the campus is very nice tucked back from dolores street with an urban farm (2 sheep, chickens, garden). middle school is expanding to a very nice building off of dolores park.
i read through some of the one star reviews here. they don’t reflect my experience at all.

CDS does a great job working with the whole child. The teachers are committed to both character development and skill building, and the acceptance rate to high schools speaks for itself. This is a very special, caring community.

Unfortunately, what use to be «the happiest place on earth», has turned Into a plastic, fear-​based enviroment where the children and education are secondary to money and growth. After 15 years, 3 administrations and two children at CDS, the nightmare of the past 3 years is finally behind me. It is a shame to see such an amazing journey and promise of education flushed down the drain by the ignoranance and ego of one individual.

unfortunately for us, we failed the interview as parents. we failed the question…“how will you help us fund our endowment?”
i hope this was a deviation from the mean and the existing and prospective families have different experiences.

My criticisms center around two ideas: lack of emphasis on rigorous academic standards and an overemphasis on political «education» of children.
Academics. My son arrived at CDS from a great Montessori program enthusiastic about math and a very competent early reader. By the Christmas both skills had atrophied to the point where he lost everything gained in preschool. When I compare the work saved from preschool to the work brought home from CDS it’s genuinely startling. He still complains about not being challenged mathematically.
Pol​i​tics​.My son was taught a song which included the lyrics «protest, petition, let big business know…» I’m not particularly concerned that he learn the «skills» of protesting and petitioning at the age of 5. I would prefer something along the lines of «innovate, invent, do the hard work» I find it telling that this political correctness is taught within the context of a private school and its hand picked diversity. The school has a contingent of true believer parents who undoubtedly disagree with me, but this is my experience.

OMG. Childrens day school=the besttttttttttttttttt:):):):):):):):):):):):):):):)
yay you should send your kids there your kids will not complain at all!!!
They will be sad at the end of the year

cds is o mazing!!!
i go there and i luv everything about it cause everyone luvs each other plus its preschool to eigth grade!!! and everyones unique like a…
cow hee hee no
(but parents don’t dout that it’s amazing)
There is a big structure area and lots of classes for different topics. There is tons of performences and assemblys and your kid will make lots of friends!!!
–Nikki

CDS is an incredible school. We are a new family to the CDS community with a daughter who has just entered kindergarten (and who was waitlisted last year for CDS’ preschool program).
First, CDS’ admissions process is thorough, informative, and respectful. Going through the admissions process was truly an educational process in itself — admissions is handled very thoughtfully and thoroughly and we felt, at the end of it, that we had an excellent understanding of the school and its unique approach to education. It is quite a time consuming process to go through private admissions and the public lottery (we did both) and I can honestly say that CDS did a wonderful job of welcoming prospective families and communicating their unique POV.
As for their educational philosophy, CDS takes an inspiring approach to learning — one that is both interdisciplinary and holistic. CDS encourages critical thinking, creative problem solving, left /​right brain learning, civic engagement as well as social and environmental sustainability. We especially love their environmental education program (the kids get to work in the organic garden and with the sheep and chickens every week!)
Overall, from what we’ve experienced, CDS kids are thoughtful, poised, confident and creative. And the community itself is warm and welcoming. The school just has a certain ineffable vibe that is hard not to fall in love with.