The Child’s Primary School, San Diego | Fees, Rankings, Address, Admission, Vacancies, Reviews & More

It’s difficult to decide on where to begin a review of schools, but I’m going to start with what brought us to The Child’s Primary School (TCPS) and then explain our impression of the school.

Our daughter was preparing to enter middle school after attending public school for the first part of her education. Although she scores high on STAR testing and brought home excellent grades, she was apprehensive about large classes and the new pressures that go along with this transition. Part of us thought it would help her and prepare her for the “real world” to learn to deal with these stresses, but on another level I was very concerned about her not enjoying school. She always was very close to her teachers and she was comfortable with this almost nurturing relationship. Even though she did fine in elementary school, I felt like I always had to keep up on her homework, organization, reports, and social development. I was stressed by all of this work that I had to do.
As we got closer to my daughter entering middle school I became more and more uncomfortable with the path of public school. We decided to make a change for both our daughter and our son (who was entering the first grade). I wish we had started at TCPS, but better late than never. We selected TCPS after looking at several different options, and it has been the most amazing experience for both of our children.

The school facilities were certainly not impressive, but it’s the teachers and staff that make a school. With such small class sizes it’s impossible for a student to not have close attention from the teacher. The school emphasizes a hands on approach for children to learn and research without a hint of ROTE learning. It’s very academic, dynamic, interesting, and fun. Unlike last year at the public school, both of our children LOVE going to school and ASK to stay in the after school programs. I would never have guessed that could happen, but it did. The teachers are very caring and helpful and provide a remarkable environment where the students feel safe and cared for. I appreciate the “thinking outside the box” approach and I enjoy hearing my children tell me about their projects. It used to be I would ask about school and I’d get nothing more than a short “it’s ok.” Now they enjoy telling me about the various parts of their school day.

Another benefit of such a small school is that students quickly know each other. I was wondering how difficult it would be for my daughter to step in to a class without her friends. As it turned out, the kids are excited to have new students and make everyone feel welcome. The activities allow kids to work across age groups, so my son has friends in kindergarten, first, second, and even third grade. The older students have been nice, and it’s rewarding to see a first grader wave and yell to kids much older and get a positive response. The children play across grades/ages/boys and girls together.

I feel a huge burden has been lifted from my shoulders. My workload supervising and assisting my daughter has gone down to almost zero. I talked to the teacher and I got detailed feedback that showed me that the teacher understood my daughter better than any previous teacher had. TCPS is a hidden gem.

After extensively researching all of our public, charter, and private school options, we toured TCPS and were immediately drawn to the school because of it’s “tight knit community” feel and it’s small class sizes. We saw each child getting one on one attention, and knew that is what we wanted for our daughter. We did not want her to “fly under the radar” in a large public school, but instead wanted her to be around teachers that personally knew her as an individual, rather than just another kindergartner. We were very adamant that we wanted her to learn AND apply knowledge, rather than just be bogged down by worksheets and facts that she needed to memorize. Hands-on learning was also very important to us, and we were also looking for a school that allowed the children to be creative with the arts, as that is what our daughter has been drawn to in the past. TCPS has been everything we have hoped it would be! She loves going to school every day, and feels safe and happy. The educational experience she is getting is uniquely personalized and challenging, while being fun at the same time and is far superior, in our opinion, to anything she would be getting at other schools. And no other school can even come close to having the community feel that we feel at TCPS. Every teacher on campus knows our daughter by name, and it’s so rewarding to watch her interact with the older kids as well as her own classmates. As kindergarten parents we are very impressed that one school can offer everything we had hoped for for our daughter, and more. We look forward to many more rewarding years at TCPS!