The Adderley School

Incredibly rude and unprofessional bunch of people. Especially the women that runs it. Little patience and no respect for new, young students. What a horrible experience. Don’t go here.

Rude staff, and worse rude owner (It does trickle down from the top after all). This was our first time at Adderley and I wanted this to be a great experience for my child. As the other reviewer said, and I concur, the Owner is awful. She seemed more concerned/​defensive about defending her school than actually listening to what concerned parents had to say. Constructive criticism NOT welcome. She also managed to insult an entire group of moms/​caretakers. She was dismissive, abrasive and disrespectful. There was a lot of disorganization and confusion with the kids and parents. The staff did not manage the young kids very well (i.e. keeping them engaged while others worked one on one with their lines).
The way I, and many of the parents there, were treated and spoken to, was shocking. We can’t all be wrong can we?
This has nothing to do with being mean or being an «LA Thing’, as one reviewer states, but only sharing our experience at this school. I have no incentive to give a negative review and I do wish we had a better experience.
There are plenty of programs available for kids which evoke a safe, supportive, confidence building environment. It’s also a nice feeling to join a program where you feel they actually appreciate your business.

My kids love the Adderley School. They look forward to seeing the teachers and love that it is fun and playful but they learn a lot too. Monique has been such a sweet and caring teacher and is so good with the kids. And Janet has taught them to have fun but to give it all you got. She is a force of nature and the kids really respond to her energy and expertise! The younger classes are perfect for kids to see if they like theater in a welcoming and no stress environment. The teachers help the kids on stage and encourage and help them through when they forget their lines. The kids learn so much about their confidence and it makes them more secure in speaking and performing in front of people and at school. We’ve loved all of the adorable plays they’ve put on and it has been a wonderful experience. We’ve also met many wonderful families through the years at Adderley and my kids really look forward to their theater class days! They come out smiling from ear to ear and can’t wait to share their new songs and lines with us! We are so happy that we found Adderley!

This school is a little gem in the Palisades. Most of all, my daughter LOVES her classes there. The plays are so cute! The method of teaching is fun and playful. The other kids are so sweet and we are so happy to have found it. I love exposing my daughter to the dramatic arts at such an early age. It’s all about pretend, music, dance and laughter! Great little school.

My daughter has been performing in Adderley plays for three years and she absolutely loves it! As she has worked hard and gotten better, her roles have gotten better. The staff have always been very supportive and worked with her to facilitate improvement. All the teachers are wildly talented and make it very fun for the kids. Janet and her staff seem to love what they’re doing and it shows up in the kids’ experience and in the plays. I am so grateful to have Adderley!

It Must be a LA thing that people are so mean, also what parent disrespects ADULT’S and TEACHERS… Shame on the ones who wrote harmful words…

Sorry… I had two children that worked with Janet and totally disagree with the last reviewer. We are in Santa Barbara and we are by no means rich, but I feel like she put my children in roles that brought out the best in each of them. We were with her from the beginning for two or three years and never saw favoritism.

Janet is awful. She picks favorites and promises that, despite charging the same rather excessive fee, your child’s small role will increase with each successive play that you enroll your child in.
That doesn’t necessarily happen, and in most cases, it won’t. More accurately, students she perceives as rich or important excel much more quickly while the others stay behind. Several students of hers consistently performed in her plays, season after season, and yet, season after season, all the leads had the last name of Platt.
If she has no interest in increasing your role, she won’t, and you will continue to receive only the small roles in each play. She won’t bother helping you out (doesn’t work with students individually, doesn’t boost confidence), but she doesn’t mind yelling at the students she doesn’t care for for the most trivial matters («Did you wave at your family from behind the curtain!!!»). She seemed to lack the ability to yell at the Platts or her other favorites. Favortitism. Favoritism. Favoritism.
(Very interesting that reviewer Cheryl G. signed on to Unilocal just to give this a 5-​star rating.)