Thomas Sumter Academy, Rembert | Fees, Rankings, Address, Admission, Vacancies, Reviews & More

Highly recommend TSA.

I’ve had my kids (now almost 6 and 8 yrs old) here for 3 years now. We tried many, many schools around the area and were met with a pretty distasteful impression from them. Things like ignoring curriculum, watching movies all day, teachers with nil experience; just pushing kids through the day for the status quo.

Our daughter was struggling… immensely… with reading. Night after night talks with my husband about getting her tested for dyslexia and other things. We tutored her the best we could. We even transformed our playroom in the house into a pseudo classroom. We talked to those teachers at those other schools about her severe underperformance… and we were not met with warm and fuzzies.

We looked at private schools and TSA came across our table as an affordable institution.

Our daughter can now read above her level and she looks forward to school. She’d rather go to school than play hookey for family situations.

Our son is doing excellent as well.

Both of our kids have TSA merchandise that they love. They adore that school.

The teachers will text back and communicate, they are hard workers, they have EXPERIENCE, and they are damn passionate.

There are plenty of extra curricular activities and field trips. The classrooms are cozy and warm. The curriculum for young ones are paper based and iPad. Albeit I used to be skeptical giving kids that young iPad’s, but, once I saw how developed the reading and math programs were on the iPad, and how interactive they are, I’m not too against it anymore. They slowly drizzle a little more homework at a time each grade to get the kids accustomed to being accountable.

The aftercare program is ran by lovely people as well. The kids are given free time to let it loose as they should. And, at the same time, the aftercare promotes a homework session so the parents aren’t burdened when the kids get home.

All in all – the teachers diligence and communication, the curriculum, the overall vibe inside the beautiful interior, I would highly recommend this school as an affordable solution to the dumpster fire that Sumter is.

And finally: Our kids actually LIKING school combined with their unbelievable progress, well it’s quite literally changed all of our lives for the better. I wouldn’t even dream of going back to the other schools.

The review before mine says it best – if your child doesn’t fit into their mold, do not go here.

My review is directed toward the preschool. I have nothing to say about any other grades, and never will because I would never send my son back to this school, nor recommend anyone to send their child here.

On the first day of school, my son was able to walk into the school parking lot ALONE before any teacher noticed he was missing. He is 3. This is terrifying. We should have left then.

My son was involuntarily removed from the after school program after 1 month of school because he would not nap. Again, he is 3. He hasn’t napped consistently since he was 2. Side note: I even told the admissions director that my son doesn’t nap when I came to tour the school.

The teachers were very contradicting. They gave my son an iPad one day and said he did great, but then said he’s not allowed to have an iPad in his classroom. They say things like “we would never compare children, they’re all different”, “we can deal with kids that don’t nap, that’s our job” and “we will do everything we can to help your child succeed.” BUT the reasoning they gave to remove him from after school care? “Your son is the only child who won’t nap, but he’s tired. So, it would be a disservice to your child to keep him here when he’s tired.” What do families do when both parents are working and their child won’t nap? Not send them here, that’s for sure.

As we were leaving on his (very sudden and unexpected) last day, he happily said “bye friends! see you later!” and it truly broke my heart. I now have to explain to my 3 year old son that he will never be going back to school to see his friends.

This school is a bargain compared to most other private schools, so I guess you get what you pay for. My advice is to look elsewhere for schooling.

**UPDATE: I would also like to add that I sent a lengthy email to head of the school and received no response to my complaints. It does not seem that any feedback is welcomed, unless they agree with it.