St. John Neumann Academy, Blacksburg | Fees, Rankings, Address, Admission, Vacancies, Reviews & More

My son attended SJNA for the last two years in their preschool program. He had Mrs. Rooney, who has since retired, and then this past year he had Mrs. Harmon. I cannot say enough amazing things about this school. I had every intention of keeping my kids home until they went to kindergarten, but when my son came to me at three years old and said he wanted to go to school to make friends, I knew I had to make it happen, even though it broke my MaMa heart! I had passed SJNA since it was being built in 2016 on my way to doctor’s appointments when I was pregnant with my son and was always intrigued, so I figured I would check it out some more. I was very anxious about putting him into school being as he had only ever been with myself or my husband and, very rarely, when visiting out of state, my mom. Tack on being in the middle of a Pandemic and we were not allowed to enter the school etc…I was on the struggle bus! Mrs. Wharton, the director, was amazing at helping us with the transition. She took the time to have my son and I come to the school when it was empty so he could see the building and classroom he would be in and get to know her face so he would have some familiarity with everything when he started. She even made sure the first week or so of school at drop off she came and took him out of the car because she was a familiar face to him. These last two years have been amazing for my son and our family, he has grown so much as a person going to a school where you are treated like family. He loves everyone there and always looked forward to school and was upset when he couldn’t go, even if it was because it was the weekend! The only reason he will not go to kindergarten there and our daughter won’t be starting preschool is because we have relocated out of the area, otherwise we would have been there as long as possible! It is an amazing school. I could not have possibly asked for a better school to enroll my son in, in the middle of a Pandemic no less, then SJNA! Amazing staff, amazing community!!! We will miss it so much!

I cannot rave about this school enough! If you want your child to be educated in an environment where they will thrive, this is the one! The older children help the younger ones and everybody knows everybody. My daughter is in Kindergarten and loves the “book buddy” program. A younger child gets matched up with an older child so they can work on their reading. Mrs Wharton, the director, is as nice as can be. She truly cares about every single child at that school and wants to help you however she can. All of the teachers and staff are very involved in the activities that go on, and they are all wonderful! I just cannot say enough nice things about the staff here!

We are going to be moving at the end of this year and have to leave this area. We want to just pick the school up and take it with us! I know how it is trying to find a school, we have moved quite a bit. Sometimes you go to visit a school and you think, okay these people are just putting on a show for us because they want us to sign up. That is not the case at SJNA. When I talk to other people about them, I often describe them as a tight knit family environment. We are going to miss this school and its people so so so so much! My daughter is quite devastated that she has to leave this place where she has thrived and made friends of all ages. Thank you, SJNA, for giving my daughter a solid foundation to build on through the years, and for loving her during her time there.