New Horizon School

Me and my husband had very high hopes for this school and we wanted to enroll her in Islamic environment where kids grew up with that foundation.
I felt that we were unfairly treated. First off, We came for tour where we received a demo from the teachers involved in their classroom. They even went as far as doing a art project with our child. No other school showed that much promise as far as involvement. My daughter has speech delay and I expressed this during this meeting and teachers assured me all she needed was to be around other kids and that they worked with many kids with similar issues.
The second phase was to receive a evaluation of our child’s level to determine where academically she should be placed. We were told if she was behind that she will be placed in lower grades. First off after we sent our application and expressed our interest to start her in next school semester, we had to make many attempts for them to make a time for us. Whole month of Ramadan they just made us wait. when I called they seemed to forget by their own admission.
When we met with the director of the school, she wanted my daughter to be in a room alone with her to focus better. first of my daughter is just turned 4 and had no previous school experience. she was in room (classroom) filled with toys, dollhouses… etc and meeting with a women she never had any interaction before. director came out shortly after telling me she wasn’t able to assess her and needed my help. my daughter was very happy to be right by the playground and around t to explore she did naturally paid no attention. she is very self directed and she has never been in a school setting. she was overly excited.
Than came to part that director told me that they cannot accept her to their school. She asked me over and over again what my pediatrician thought about my daughter, insinuating that maybe something was wrong with her. I had been open with them from the beginning that she had speech delay and she was very self directed child. she told me that she will be disruptive in their program. I felt that she was very insensitive when she asked me over and over again what my pediatrician thought and if she had any routines. I am a very self aware parent and I know my child needs more attention than others initially until she understands the rules. the reason is that we are working parents with no grandparents around or any close family. she is with me all the time and I am not a disciplinarian. She has her routines, wonderful happy family life.
There is few expectations as a parent when I am enrolling my child into preschool besides learning her alphabet and numbers, I wanted her to learn taking directions from teachers, learn social skills. She needs help getting used to taking directions otherwise very bright sweet girl. this school is not willing to work with children who might need direction more than others or need help transitioning into school. In other words they want kids who can just sit there and listen. they have no intention of molding them to do that. they are more interested in making easy money than putting work into a child that might need help. I had emotional involvement in this school thinking they are better than any school because they are muslims but what it boils down to which student requires less work and pays the same.
It also shows how eager they are to keep their current payers (parents) happy that they have no problem rejecting a child who might need help transitioning into school. In todays world it is so important to raise kids who academically competitive and maybe this school will be able to give you that but today they denied my child because they weren’t willing to put extra work into molding her to become a student.
Even one day she is used to structured classroom environment, I will never go back to this school again who decided my child wasn’t worth their efforts.

This school offers parking during games at the Rose Bowl. We swooped in, got a spot (on the cheap) and 10 minutes of walking, were at the Rose Bowl.
Why 5 stars? After a decent drive, we HAD to use the bathroom. The very nice attendant made sure we were escorted to the bathroom, and walked back. The other attendant was extremely friendly, and asked us if we knew our way (which we thought we did, but apparently we did not.) and gave us directions. The grounds were clean, well kept and professional, and there was a guard ensuring we didn’t have any issues with our car while at the game.
I’m sure this was «Just a fundraiser» for the school, however, they were really friendly and professional ~ goes to show they’re a great school if they take something like this so seriously.

New Horizon School is a local private school that is geared towards Muslims. They are a Blue Ribbon school meaning the students are top ranking nationally in math, science and reading. The class sizes run on the smaller size so it is a great learning environment for children. The staff is helpful and families are close knit at this school. There are children representing all parts of the world so there is diversity and at the same time common ground. Our child has been at this school four years and is confident, happy, and excited to go to school. For us to have that, we feel it is worth the investment of private tuition.