REVIEW OF Ashwood Glen BY parent, Tracey Lombardini

(5) Student Experience

My daughter loves Ashwood Glen, her teachers, and working in the classrooms. She has attended Ashwood for 18 months and has blossomed as she's almost 4. She likes to go see her friends, teachers, and staff and likes the after-school programs offered. She is very proud of her school and loves to show us around every time we go to an event there. She particularly loves the library and chooses her book weekly. She gets excited that they do concerts, and talent shows and have family event days that she gets to spend with her family, friends, and teachers. She enjoys writing and learning new things from her teachers. She then gets excited to bring home new words in French or at the moment Spanish as her class is learning about Argentina. Overall, she enjoys all aspects of this school.

(5) School Leadership

The administration staff typically replies within the hour when I've emailed about anything. They greet every morning, making all students and parents comfortable and welcome. Every morning we get detailed emails and communication all day and week. If an issue were to arise, they are dealing with it in an appropriate and timely manner. They provide us with a positive school environment for the kids and parents. Also provide extra time for extracurricular activities, student council meetings, and socials.

(5) Teaching

I am so happy with the teaching. My daughter is progressing daily and our mind was blown when she came home knowing the continents at age 3. Her vocabulary, spelling, and writing are all progressing daily. I speak highly of her teacher to everyone and I'm so happy with how she challenges the kids to go out of their comfort zone and gives parents feedback daily. Teachers really make a difference and with the class sizes and teaching staff they really take the time to have the one on ones with the students as well as class learning. Our teacher provides us with a weekly message on the app providing us with weekly pictures and comments on what the focus of the week was with learning and what the kids loved. As well as she communicates at pick up what they were up to that day with their studies and what they really enjoyed for the day.

(5) Academics

Ashwood is a progressive school with a Montessori and IB program. I have really enjoyed the Montessori approach of hands-on and real-life skills. My daughter is very independent and likes to have the opportunity to learn or “work” on what she decides. The teachers are also very engaging and have helped guide her to areas where they find she doesn’t go to often to ensure progress. What my daughter has been learning is proven just by a simple conversation. They also learn a lot about the world which is amazing. My daughter can point out and tell us different country flags and every year every class gets to learn about and then present another country. Ashwood is academically focused but also very engaging and inviting to families with seeing the kids progress. With the amount my daughter has learned and continues to enjoy learning and having us see her progress, I would highly recommend this school.

(5) Extracurriculars

I do like the extracurricular activities provided at the moment at Ashwood. They switch them up every few months which includes different types of activities such as art, cooking, creating with slime or Lego, etc. creating a well-rounded variety. Ashwood puts the effort into being very inclusive in after-school programs. In terms of competition, they do offer Maker Space, math competitions, and intramural athletics to name a few.

(5) Students

The general atmosphere about the students is that they are respectful. I feel like the older kids help out the younger kids and the younger ones look up to the older ones which is a nice dynamic. Smaller class sizes create those stronger welcoming bonds and find they have a lot of school spirit and support for the kids that go there. The older children run most of the bake sales, and volunteer to face paint for the younger kids at the socials and they interact with all students and parents with grace. Because it's a newer school, I think the kids are more respectful and proud in general. They all seem to interact and get along well. They also started a student council which meets weekly.

(5) School Life

The overall quality of the school is very good. I have and would always recommend this school to anyone. The staff members are great and welcoming, the teachers are fantastic, they offer hot food which is amazing, and they are very engaging with parents and activities. Students have smaller classes allowing them to have more attention to their learning which then creates great bonds with their peers. They give back to the community by fundraising and helping out in retirement homes. They do after-school programs, they have Christmas and spring concerts, and talent shows which as parents we love to attend. They usually do a welcome fair as well or a bazaar to allow families to have fun and socialize. Overall the school life is well rounded and very good for any age.

(5) Community

In regard to community, I find that our parent committee is doing a great job with what seems like monthly activities to raise money like bake sales, and silent auctions. With the Christmas concert and bazaar they did a fantastic job creating rooms for the adults to interact with each other while the kids can have pizza, play, and watch a movie. They do social nights that allow parents to chat and get to know one another and make the community more fun and stronger. Parents are always welcome to sign up and help out which they do reach out about, so lots of opportunities to help out. Volunteers for trips are also always welcomed by parents who want to be involved with the class and maybe not the whole job role of the parent committee. Also, it’s nice to be a parent and be able to go see our kids progress, concerts and be present in their achievements.

(5) School Location

The neighborhood is nice and safe, with nice parks and a good community. The location is great, it's close to some shops and food locations. The mall isn't too far away either. It has encouraged me to go to the gym after drop off as it's in the next plaza as a parent. It's off a main street so lots around the area.