Bishop Elementary School

Reviews

• ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
  Don't let the test scores scare you away. Teachers are great, kind, caring, accessible. Students are kind, enthusiastic, respectful and there's a real sense of school pride on campus. Bishop has been a Leader in Me school for a few years, and I have seen my third grader bloom into a responsible, hard working kid. Leader in Me focuses on learning lifelong skills to set goals, work hard, and achieve, all while balancing work and play, personal needs, and the community needs. Academics are great. We use the exact same curriculum as the higher scoring schools in the district, and the added bonus of extra one-on-one reading support for EVERY student in early grades. Extra curriculars include phys ed, drama, visual arts, music, in rotation. Last year fourth and fifth graders put on a fun musical production of Peter Pan. Field trips one to two times a year, depending on funding. They have included Happy Hollow, a play at Santa Clara University. Children's Discovery Museum, Tech Museum etc...There's a garden on campus that fourth graders tend, led by volunteer master gardeners from the community. The school is being rebuilt (as of Sept 2017) and when it is done will be an amazing campus. Just a few weeks ago, the kids were able to (safely) watch the construction as the crane lifted the second story onto the first story. I took off one point because I've had a hard time making parent friends here- -there's not a ton of participation in school activities, and the PTO, while run by a handful of great, dedicated parents, has low participation, is really operating on a shoestring. The PTO is working on starting a classroom parent program, which may help. On the bright side, if you want to get involved, there's a lot of opportunity here.
  By Lauren Ledbetter, August 16, 2017

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