Carden Conejo School

I have two boys who attend Carden Conejo and we couldn’t be more pleased! This school offers a very nurturing environment. The teachers and staff are amazing and always super friendly! The academics are top notch. The parents work together to help raise funds for the school. Since my sons have been attending, new play structures have been installed. In addition, smart boards and new computers have been implemented. As well as a new library and sound system for class plays and other performances. I cannot begin to express how happy we are that our children attend this most amazing school!

I attended Carden for kindergarten through 8^th grade. I graduated from Carden in 1996. In 2013 I wanted to enroll my daughter into their pre-​kindergarten class to see if Carden was still the great school I knew and loved. We are in our second year at Carden and I am extremely pleased. I loved my education I received from Carden, and I am pleased that my children will have that same education.
I loved Carden when I was a child, and I’m loving Carden as a parent.

This is our second year at Carden and my daughter loves it. She has blossomed into such a bright and motivated child. I credit the school for much of her growth. We have had positive experiences with the directors, and staff thus far. Coming from a family of 3 teachers and 3 principals from various surrounding districts, I can clearly see that my daughter is learning above her grade level with ease.
Carden has very high expectations for all of it’s students. Students who are falling behind or having trouble with concepts stay for after school tutoring free of charge. In my opinion, this is preferable to the public school that my daughter previously attended where students were divided into groups based on ability, so every child was learning at a different pace.
The math teacher for lower grades is excellent and well loved by her students. My daughter’s mental math abilities astound me sometimes! The school also offers Art, Music, Science, Computers, PE, and French classes, taught by teachers who specialize in their fields.
My daughter has quickly caught on at Carden and her self esteem has flourished.

Our daughter has been in Carden Conejo for three years. She is now in Kindergarten, and I am overjoyed with the education she is receiving. The pace has definitely picked up this year, but she absolutely loves going to her school. The student to teacher ratio in her class is 6 ½ to 1. This ratio ensures that she gets all the individual attention she needs, and my wife and I get quick responses, from the teachers, to any questions. The school encourages parent participation both at frequent school activities and working with your child at home. They post additional practice material through their website which we use almost everyday. Our daughter is receiving a strong foundation in math, reading, writing using traditional learning techniques (textbooks, practicing in the classroom and at home, encouragement and positive correction from the teacher). She is also exploring art and music. I know that this fuels her imagination and attention to detail by the drawings she brings home. She is learning French, and just sang a song to me which covered the numbers one to ten. She has daily physical education and activities involving games and teamwork. She also has a dedicated computer class and teacher. The school has weekly assemblies allowing the parents to witness their child’s development through songs, plays, poems, and speeches. Sometimes these are in English, sometimes in French.
The school has a lunch program offering warm organic meals at very reasonable prices. They have after school learning and play programs which are an absolute must because of my wife and my work schedules.
I completely disagree with the reviews about «socially awkward» staff. I have not encountered any of this. The staff has been absolutely wonderful to my family.

Our son has attended Carden Conejo since preschool, and we are so happy about our child getting exposure to a unique education experience that fits his needs. The traditional values that are more than modeled but also openly discussed by the teachers and Principal have provided a great foundation for our son. The children are proud and shine on Fridays during their assemblies, dressed in formal uniforms and challenged by their class contributions. The Carden students are all being exposed to appreciating classical literature and patriotism that is absent in most of modern society and public education. When we were deciding about public verses Carden for kindergarten, it was the daily PE, weekly music lessons, art, exposure to public speaking, theatrical performance, science, specialized math teachers, small class size, «academic choice» (a free tutoring program the school offers), and the sense of community that our family had experienced throughout preschool that influenced our decision. Brilliant educators come in all forms, have different personalities, varying communication styles, and unique relationships with students and parents, but at the end of the day it’s the collective village that raises a child, and it’s the same for education. Carden has many different key individuals built into their education teams, making a difference every day, doing their best, setting high but reasonable standards for the children, and our experience has been nothing but positive over the past four years.

Finally the truth about Carden! We pulled our children this past year. I couldn’t agree more with Kerry and Amy. The head of school is bizarre, out of touch and refuses to deal with issues. The curriculum is outdated, dull and useless. Many teachers are not credited. The 5^th grade teacher is moody and difficult to approach. The French teacher has judgements against parents and children that she openly shares with other parents. Our children didn’t look forward to school and pleaded to leave. I’m thrilled to join the Oaks community. Good riddance Carden!

Well call me sour person #2 then. My daughter attended this school for 2 years and it was horrible. I echo everything Kerry said below and FYI, I wrote a negative review on GreatSchools website, along with several other dissatisfied parents, and the school specifically asked other families and staff members to write favorable reviews to offset the low marks they had. That Director Of Marketing and Communications must be very busy.
One of the teachers submitted this in her review:
«I’m so tired of reading inaccurate statements from „former parents/​students“ who have left our school because, either their child couldn’t keep up, or their child was not given special treatment because he/​she was an actor/​actress» which is one of the biggest problem with this school. They feel they are above teaching any student who is bored out of their mind or frustrated with learning in an archaic, dated method. They are so high and mighty about their outdated methods that they can’t admit their shortcomings as educators and make any positive change. Kids don’t leave because they can’t keep up or don’t get special treatment. They leave because the curriculum sucks, the teachers (not all, but many) suck. The materials suck, the facilities suck. The people who run the school… unbelievably difficult, petty, socially inept and removed from reality.
The school director is also a bigot and made a really rude remark about gay people when I was there for my initial tour in 2011. I should have known right then and there that this was a backwards place to be.
In a nutshell, Carden is bizarre at best and pathetic, overall. The school has lost so many families because of their poor management, the narrow-​minded owners, their unwillingness to think outside the box or even teach a curriculum that serves a child living in the 21^st century.
There is also incident after incident of the school directors not handling discipline problems appropriately.
I’m not the type to write negative reviews about places unless I feel somewhat of a duty to warn people, and this school deserves a buyer beware stamp. Their tuition is low, compared to other private schools, but you get what you pay for. Actually, you don’t even get that. The local public schools are heads above this place. Why? Because they have accredited teachers, they teach a curriculum that isn’t from the turn of the century, they have real libraries, computer labs, technology, text books and materials, buildings that aren’t run down and dirty, creative writing and critical thinking in their programs … Carden does not. And this is a short list of differences. I could go on.
No doubt, there are some kids and families who dig this school, and that’s fine, but I don’t think it’s for most. It is a very specific, niche sort of education and if your kid doesn’t fit it, then you’re SOL. So if you want your kid to go to a school that is run by a wacky husband and wife duo who are so socially awkward they can barely hold a conversation and who clearly don’t know how to run a school, if you want your kid to learn Latin and sing «Columbia, Gem Of The Ocean» ad nauseam, salute the American flag in French, learn Singapore math, and write «who-​doing» sentences OVER AND OVER AND OVER, then this is the place for you. Weird.

Don’t be fooled by the small class sizes at Carden. Over 50 families did not return to the school in the fall of 2013. This number does not include children who graduated from 5^th grade or families who moved away. Several major factors contribute to the school’s very low enrollment. The owner/​operators are dismissive and socially awkward. They, and many of their teachers, make promises they NEVER intend to keep. They do not even adhere to the policies outlined in their student handbook. Moreover, the curriculum is non-​interactive, laboriously dull, and dictated sentence by sentence to the children. History, language, and spelling books are not allowed to leave the classroom unless a parent insists. The upper level French teacher is a cynical cavalier racist who berates her employer, peers, and students behind their backs. The owners have enlisted local real estate agents to steer newcomers to the school. They have also just added a Director of Marketing and Communications to their staff. Oddly, they have yet to address their own personal adverse contributions, change outdated curriculum, and let go of certain teachers. The forecast for support and trust from the community is grim for Carden.