Merryhill Elementary & Middle School

I wish I could put NO STARS! The administration at the Merryhill Milpitas school told us that they were even more advanced and a better school than the Merryhill Stockton. WRONG! ABSOLUTELY WRONG! My son learned the SAME EXACT concepts from MATH to READING including SPANISH!!! WTH!!! My son spent a whole year not learning anything new as a first grader. WHAT A WASTE OF MONEY especially since they cost even more than the Stockton school. You would think you get more for your money (quality or quantity) and you get NEITHER! I spend more money at this school to teach my son nothing new, and to top it off their gap coverage during the school year and school breaks/​vacation are EXTREMELY LIMITED in comparison that it is just NOT WORTH to send your child to this school. The teacher to student ratio is also very deceiving. There are 23 students, a teacher’s aide and a teacher in my son’s first grade class so you would think the ratio is okay. WRONG again! The teacher’s aide is more like a babysitter. My son did not receive the same individual attention he received from the Stockton school. His kindergarden class at Stockton had a maximum of 11 students. VERY DISAPPOINTING Merryhill Milipitas! I pay much more tuition for NOTHING, and all the Google employees or what ever other tech companies there are in the area have a tuition discount which they do NOT need. Maybe because they donated computers or whatever? My son had more computer «time» at Stockton than at Milpitas. ABSOLUTELY DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS SCHOOL! STAY FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR AWAY! His teacher cannot even correct my son’s english correctly. She marks my son’s mistakes when they were actually correct and her emails have so much grammatical errors… no wonder she’s from a different country! WTH is she doing teaching first graders english when she doesn’t even know the correct grammer of this country? … In conclusion… Merryhill STOCKTON IS AWESOME… I would love to move back and have my son attend again Stockton school again.

Former student here feeling a little nostalgic, so I’m going to write a review. I went to this school from the time I was in pre-​K until the first half of 8^th grade (this was a while back when it was still called Rainbow Bridge) before moving to a public school in Texas for the rest of middle school and high school.
The biggest thing I want to stress about this school is that the faculty cares so much about the students. Class sizes were reasonable so I never really felt like I didn’t get enough attention. From what I can remember, the teachers are very hands-​on. Classroom participation, active learning, and critical thinking were all emphasized. This school’s priority isn’t to breed test-​takers/​scantron-​bubblers, its priority is to develop strong thinkers and enthusiastic learners. When I moved to a public school, there was so much at stake with standardized testing, multiple choice tests, and the classroom environment was nowhere as nurturing as that of Merryhill. In addition, I pretty much cruised my way through high school. A lot of the books we read in English class at Merryhill were also taught throughout my high school curriculum, the math classes here are designed to give you a slight edge (but I mean it IS the Silicon Valley), and learning Spanish from when I could barely speak English made things a lot easier for me as well.
I also played basketball and football here throughout middle school and I can personally vouch for Coach Jorge who I think had one of the biggest impacts in my life as a youth. I don’t know what they offer now, but at the time those were pretty much the only real extra-​curricular activities offered in addition to yearbook and a monthly newsletter.
Now on to some cons…
This school is NOT cheap. I can’t believe my parents decided to pay for my tuition here for all those years, no wonder they have trouble retiring. Honestly, the facilities here weren’t all that great back then (for what we paid) and when I went back 4 – 5 years ago, not much had changed. I also remember a strict uniform policy, and I also remember throwing out all those clothes once I moved. I pretty much didn’t know how to dress myself well until college…
To conclude… I think I ended up fine after spending such a good chunk of my life here. I graduated last year with a bachelor’s degree and am now working on getting my doctorate in pharmacy. I have taken the lessons I learned here, both in and out of the classroom, on with me throughout my life so far and I will continue to do so. I made friends here that I still will try to get into contact with anytime I’m back in the Bay Area, and a few of the teachers I had are still teaching here, changing lives, and cultivating great thinkers. Out of my class, a lot of my friends have gotten their bachelor’s degrees and seem to be doing well. So if you have the money, I would highly recommend this school.

Both my kids go to this school. They were a part of Stratford before. I have to admit this school beats Stratford any day. They believe in individual growth. Your kid can shine here if he/​she has the willingness to do so. They really look at each kid’s strength and weakness and help them grow. The staff is outstanding. And Ms Quinn the principal is one of the best principal I have met so far. She knows her job and does it with great enthusiasm. She is a gem to this school. And I am sure with her being the principal this school will grow.

The school is OK academically and the teachers are friendly and excited about teaching. If you have a special need for the handicapped parking, I suggest you reconsider. Many inconsiderate, healthy, able-​bodied parents use the handicapped parking because they’re just too lazy to walk an extra 20 yards. So far, although I’ve complained, I haven’t see the school address it. During school performances, parents totally fill the fire zone making it a huge liability if there really was an emergency and the fire department needed to get in. They wouldn’t be able to.

So here’s the update… I was way over zealous to begin with, I now wish I would have given 3.5 stars instead of 5. Here’s the things I like and things that can be improved upon:
PROS:
1. Structured Curriculum/​Academics. It’s a bit too «Tiger-​Mom» for me but I’ve stated why in the «Cons» portion. «It’s a love/​hate thang»
2. Principal and Administrator; Glenda and Rosa. They’ve done a great job really updating/​revamping the program Academically, visually, and activities for the children. They’ve put a «new coat of paint» (literally) on the inside and out. There’s different area’s of learning and play. And the sections are *very* child friendly.
3. Love their NO NUT/​Allergy POLICY.
4. Constructive feedback: I wish they had the Parent/​Teacher Conference on a quarterly basis. But the Teacher’s and assistants will let you know if your child has had a good or bad day and address any behavior issues.
5. Play Centers: They have dress-​up/​drama, construction, reading, and science. The children earn their way into their favorite indoor activity.
6.Teachers & Assistants must have the patience of JOB! (jobe) They can be a bit overwhelmed it seems yet they do a really good job considering there’s like 10 to 15 4y.o.‘s in each class at a time.
7. On-​Site Activities. They have a Petting Zoo day, Bird Show, Reptile Show, lot’s of really fun and cool guest’s, lot’s of Pot-​Luck parties, Pumpkin Patch and Halloween Parade, Holiday Recitals, etc.
8. Parking lot behavior is *much* improved. It took a YEAR! because of the parents. Glenda and Rosa have probably turned blue with reminders, and to their credit and tenacity it’s much better. However there are those who just don’t care, and that’s a true shame, because their children will grow up that way and we have enough idiots out there, we don’t need anymore.
CONS:
1. No «High-​Tech» Security (for the price of tuition there should be) This being a part of Silicon Valley you’d think you’d be able to log-​in via a website, and peek in on your little darling at anytime during school hours. But nope, unfortunately not at this time.
2. Uniforms. Mandatory for the PreK2 classes. I’m told it’s to acclimate the children to get them ready for uniforms when going to Kindergarten. That’s still NOT O.K. Here’s a couple of reasons:
2a. It’s teetering on the 1^st amendment issue and I can argue this both ways.
2b. Child isn’t going to be enrolled at Merryhill or any other private school for
Kindergarten.

2c. You are «REQUIRED» to buy from the merchant who they choose (=‘s gives the lowest bid) and the quality of the shirts is worse than Walmart! I washed a shirt twice (and I have a new «he» wsh’g machine) and the threads started to unravel! I bought 6 shirts (short & long sleeve) and all have lost the hem thread around the bottom and arms of the shirts. They are not cheap in price, but in quality. RIDICULOUS!
3. Tiger-​Mom Academics. This is a Pro as well as well as a Con and again I can ague it both ways. While my husband and I have high praise for education, the amount of homework (that’s right I said hmwk) is a bit much. The children are only 4 – 5 and have 2 full pgs of «hmwk» daily. (though my son attends 3 days a wk) They have eased up a bit, but also require a few «Community Projects» that I believe the children do in 1^st or 2^nd grade. It can put more stress and pressure on the child and the parent to make the deadline (usually 1.5 /​2 wks given) which isn’t much time. Parents really have to make time to do these with the child and make it fun.
4. Meals. With new administration in come the changes, to which most I really like and appreciate. However, not in this case. It seems the quality went down, and for the upcoming year they will now charge double for the hot meal program! I understand cost of living and pay increases, but from $ 1.50 to $ 3.00?! REALLY?! at $ 1.50 It was worth paying for the hot meal and it was less stress on me, but at $ 3.00 per meal per day? I’ll be packing my boy’s lunch. RIDICULOUS!
5. Parking. THE WORST OF ALL are the PARENTS/​GrandParents! STOP, just STOP for 1 bloody moment and pay attention and follow the rules! Whether it be parking, security, or COMMON COURTESY issues! If you’re offended by this section then *YOU* my dear parent are apart of the problem.
However I digress, my son who is about to graduate PreK2 in June is learning a LOT. He’s already a head of some in Kindergarten, and way a head of those kids who (unfortunately) are not. All-​in-​all I’m glad we’ve struggled to pay the tuition to have him in this school. And even though we’ve registered him for the summer, since they have increased the tuition we may take him out since Kindergarten starts in August 2012.
*The Tuition Rate for 3 full time days a week (m-​w-​f, 6:30am-6pm) is $ 200. Plus Registration Fee $ 160 (for a returning student), $ 190 (for a new student), plus Deposit which is 1 weeks tuition applied to final week, plus (non-​refundable) Activity Fee of $ 100

Very good communication system with teachers and principal. Lot of activities at school. Even I go pick up my girl late as 5:45 pm, they still on activities with the teachers. Love that!!!

My daughter has started the beginner’s program two weeks back and I love the school.
Especially Miss Zoila is so amazing. She truly loves the children in the class and gives each of them personal attention.
They have excellent meal programs, outside play structures and lot of variety in the activities to simulate the kids each day.
The principal Miss Glenda also pays very close attention to keep the school up to the mark. I totally recommend it.

Used to be Rainbow Bridge Academy (which is when I went here)… Was never really a fan of it. Each class size was about 35 kids at max. Teachers weren’t that good. Eh. That’s all I can say. Eh.

To Ben K.:
«The child that wondered away from class was missing for only 5 minutes before they starting searching the school.»
«starting to search»? read the disclosure they provided to parents (by law) how long did it take them to actually locate the kid in parking lot? maybe they have improved security since that incident. but still, there is no onsite security patrol like other schools i mentioned.
«What is the big deal about having a piano in every classroom.».
Let me tell you what’s the big deal: the piano is not to be played by preschool kids, but for professional music teachers who come in twice a week to teach kids songs. At Merryhill, I saw teachers were just humming some tunes they felt like — kind of funny in comparison.
One thing you are right about is that some teachers do look too serious.
Also I want to make it clear that my negtive reivew does not mean to trash them, but to encourage them to improve, and to get parents informed about other schools out there might be doing better jobs in some areas.