Wardlaw-Hartridge School

I would never think of writing a review for a school on Unilocal — I see Unilocal more for interesting restaurants and the like — but when I saw a review here clearly out of step with the way the school lives, I thought I should clear my throat and share our family’s perspective.
The Wardlaw-​Hartridge School is a world-​class school with the very best teachers and a solid philosophy that prepares kids to be happy and productive adults. Children are exposed to new material and ideas, challenged to work hard and reach high, and are taught by committed and caring faculty. Its commitment to enhancing the lives of each student and truly understanding their individual needs is unmatched. Wardlaw is a school with the perfect balance between rigorous studies and extracurricular programs. My son thanks me (!) on a regular basis for helping him find ‘the world’s most perfect school’ for him. My child is more than ready for the challenges he will face in the coming years at college. I would recommend W-​H to anyone who is interested in a vibrant community of high achievement and the best possible education for their children.

My children have been attending Wardlaw-​Hartridge for four years and have been in all three divisions (lower, middle and upper schools). Prior to enrolling our children at WH, we did extensive research with our children and made many comparisons with public and private schools While there are many wonderful schools in NJ, we came to see that not every school is a good fit for every child, but when we and the kids finally found WH it became clear that this school could meet each of our children’s unique needs and challenge each to reach full potential. My children have been challenged academically in all three divisions and are really becoming critical thinkers/​learners. The school really does a good job of integrating technology and curriculum in all subject ares with their focus on STEM (science, technology, engineering & math) learning, but also in their humanities classes. WH is a strong, diverse, community which encourages kids to participate in all they have to offer — in and out of the classroom. We couldn’t be more pleased.

There are a few times in life when you are so very pleased with a decision you have made. Sending my daughter to the Wardlaw-​Hartridge School is one of them. True, it is expensive but it has been worth every penny. Wardlaw is a place where my daughter prefers school to staying at home, takes Latin, enjoys chemistry, loves history, plays varsity soccer, receives peer tutoring, wants to be a peer leader in her senior year, sometimes makes the honor roll and sometimes doesn’t. Wardlaw, for the past 12 years, has nurtured and noticed my daughter.
Is it perfect? No, but neither are we.

We loved this school for so many years since first finding it in 1999. We still value many of the LS teachers and the memories of moving from grade to grade. It really was not until our older son entered the HS when it started to feel like the wheels were flying off the bus. When our younger son joined the school in 2006 it seemed like the demographics of the enrollment started to change as well and we were never able to make the same kind of connection we did the first time around with other families. Though our older son decided to stick it out until graduation we pulled our younger son out in 2011 (at the end of the second grade) when there were major changes happening at the LS. The science and technology special was removed from the program. Though I am still not sure what the total plan was to fill this gap I do know part of it was relying on a technology solution and, at that time, the school was hiring an IT director. On top of these changes the head of the LS itself was moving on. In summary we never felt comfortable that science would be as strong as it had been with so much change happening at the same time.
Looking at two other possibilities we were stunned with how much has changed over the past ten plus years. The school we chose, Gill St. Bernard’s, not only had a science special but it also had a separate technology special on top of that. In addition, we were happy to see the many other advancements that our son would have access to in the grades ahead that were not available at WH. We were especially thrilled about the food program which included an on campus garden that augmented the purchased food when in season. All of this for a net spend of money that was LESS than that of WH. Speaking of the lunch program — we were glad to be able to leave WH just before the lunch program became a mandatory add-​on cost. Though not 100% familiar with the financial aid calculations I believe the itemized costs are not included and thus become a separate burden to families relying on the aid. At least at GSB everything was included as tuition with absolutely zero itemized add-​ons.
Our experience in the US at WH deteriorated every year we trudged through the grades. We had a particularly hard time with physics in the junior year where a newly hired teacher did not use a textbook nor provide a clear lesson plan. Though it is hard to gauge any experience other than our own it seemed like a disproportionate amount of tutoring was needed to keep up with the material in several classes. The particular problem we had for physics is that it was nearly impossible to get tutoring for, as crazy as it sounds, there was no way to communicate what to tutor without a textbook and lesson plan. To make things even more bizarre the teacher said there was no need to have our son «spy in class.» This was referring to him taking photos of graded quizzes with his phone so I could help tutor him at home since they were not handed back. Instead we were told I could come to the classroom to review old quizzes. This teacher only lasted one year at the school, but the feeling of frustration will last with us forever. I am no expert on the subject but things seem to stall if differentiated learning is needed. In other words, if you are lucky enough to have a child that is a true self learner then problems like this might be a small, and possibly not even noticeable, bump in the road. If not… good luck.
Another place where GSB seems to excel is in the theater with year after year of Paper Mill Playhouse Rising Star Awards. Contrast this to the embarrassing situation of an audio system failing in an AP room during the recent senior farewell dinner and it makes you wonder where the talent of the students could ultimately rise to with the right match in resources.
With cutbacks at public schools I guess it has been a bit of a scramble looking for better education. The above is based on our experience and the most important thing to do when choosing to spend dollars for education is to dive deep into finding the right match and value for the money being spent. The ultimate goal might be getting into the right college but why not at least put a similar effort into finding the right match at the K12 level as well?
Financial stability and access to resources going forward should also be compared. Though there is no way for me to personally rate WH in any way that makes sense you should make this evaluation a part of comparison for any schools you might be considering. For more on this topic you can read through a blog entry I wrote some time ago on the subject:
In general 501c3 organizations must file a good amount of public information — let places like
be a starting point to reviewing this information and the best part about it is basic access is 100% FREE. Remember, if you are starting from the beginning you should look at the entire 14 year horizon when making your choice.