The Seven Hills School

I am very disappointed with seven hills admin and how they handle a child that doesn’t fit their mold. Don’t get me wrong, the teachers we have experienced in the 4 years we have been there are wonderful, caring and talented. We have found the admin staff to be very supportive and vocal about the cookie cutter high achieving students they have. Beware if your child displays any sort of developmental delay. We were fortunate to have an advocate for our child that saw the inner workings of seven hills from the staff side and was able to help us navigate the hidden agenda concerning our child.
We have found the new head of lower school to be unskilled in seeing and affectively navigating the whole picture of situations or being able to discern the difference between normal play and situations of concern. What I mean by that is she hasn’t displayed the skills necessary to be able to resolve conflict effectively and without making situations worse or more then they are without demeaning only one side of the issue… it kind of goes back to that old saying of it takes two to tango.
We feel there is a weeding out process that our child has been run through because he doesn’t fit their mold, our feelings were affirmed by their own staff member who was so distraught by how our child was being singled out, felt it was necessary to contact us on their own time to report the back room conversations and agenda.
If you are confident that your child is a high achiever who will test out really well then seven hills is well equipped to help your child soar!
Beautiful campus, excellent facilities, teachers are excellent. Admin is highly concerned about preserving their high academic standards and any student not fitting the mold will be strategically shown the door.
This year alone in one grade level there have been three departures by students that didn’t fit the mold.

Does Seven Hills have people who care about kids? Check.
Does Seven Hills have a progressive curriculum? Check
Does it have a beautiful jaw-​dropping campus? Check
But schools are only as good as the faculty and administration that they employ, regardless of resources. When the headmaster recommends an administrator for hire that has been fired from his previous post at a public school for bullying – and the school board approves it… well questions need to be asked to see if Seven Hills measures up.
After observing Seven Hills for several years, I know the answer.
At their best, teachers and admin can be intelligent, compassionate and passionate advocates for young people, setting high standards that keep children accountable while fostering the magic of critical thinking and inquiry.
At their worst, teachers and admin are insular and insecure, controlling and codependent with their students, protective of the small isolated world in which they operate.
Each school, private, charter or public has a mixture of both types.
But what happens when a school falls out of balance? What parameters are in place to make sure that faculty and administration are going beyond their defined roles when things get tough? What evidence is there that they are indeed just as they present themselves?
The standard should be to assess what you profess. Public schools are forced to do this, private schools have rating agencies that they pay for reviews.
Educating young people isn’t easy work. It can be grueling and heartbreaking with no shortage of answers that seem unclear. Seven Hills may believe that they are advocates for children, but only the «right» kind of children.
Don’t believe for a moment the canard that with private schools, you get what you pay for.

A great school in many regards. Excellent middle school core classes. Students will be well prepared in science, math, and english for high school!
Many bright spots — and a top notch middle school facility with a huge gym, climbing wall, and a very private campus location.

I was a Seven Hills parents for at least 16 years. Both of my children attended school there. It was not the perfect place for my oldest who eventually went to another place for school. However, for my youngest, it was a great place for her to go from pre-​school through 8^th grade. Even my oldest has fond memories of her years there. She is always welcomed back on campus as if she graduated from there.
I found the teachers amazing, the administration helpful and the staff excellent at keeping the spirit of the school. I often had people ask me why I was sending my child to this school when we had excellent schools in our neighborhood. It was for the varied experience, their teaching of community service and independence. The educational trips were amazing. In the later years there was Yosemite, Oregon Shakespeare festival, Washington DC, a boat in San Francisco, and Japan. There were also many day trips during the elementary years. I loved going on some of those trips.
In the middle school the education prepared my daughter well for public high school. (And prepared me well to allow her to take care of her own school work.) We actually have to battle to keep her engaged because she learned so much. One of the things that Seven Hills taught her was public speaking. It was stressed in a low key way starting in kindergarten and progressed at age appropriate levels throughout middle school. It is my belief that if someone is comfortable speaking in front of people, anything is possible.
Another area that impressed me a lot was the 8^th grade project. The students picked out a subject, researched it, wrote about it and then gave a speech about it. This taught my daughter how to pace herself on a project, organize a long term project and complete a major research effort. She wrote a paper that rivaled a senior year high school paper. After a year in public school she has yet to write anything near as complex.
The spanish taught there was first rate. My daughter entered high school with two years’ credit and is now in honours Spanish in her sophomore year. She is well on her way to finishing all that public school has to offer by her junior year.
Thank you Seven Hills for all of the years you nurtured my daughters and provided a community for us. I miss it very much.

A nice, independent school in Walnut Creek, CA. It is a gorgeous campus. The teachers are incredible. The administration is very welcoming and helpful, especially to new families unfamiliar with an independent school.

Amazing, Dedicated Teachers
Academic Rigor
Caring Support Staff
Innovative Access to Curriculum