Canyon Heights Academy

At one of the recent Open Houses, a parent spoke about his children's experience at Canyon Heights Academy. His children went on to a local, private, Catholic high school and a very important person of this very prominent high school said, "Send me as many students from Canyon Heights Academy as you can. I've been very impressed with every student I have seen come from Canyon Heights Academy." I believe parents get just as much out of Canyon Heights Academy as the children do. It's a wonderful school with excellent leadership and teaching quality. This is the catholic school you have been looking for...
—Submitted by a parent

Come and see why Canyon Heights Academy is a great school from Preschool to 8th grade! I love the small class sizes where my children are academically challenged and cared for in a nurturing environment. Other schools will tell you they have small student/teacher ratios of 11:1; but this school has the perfect number of students for optimal learning and social situations. Their class sizes range from 15-20 students! Every child has a special place in the hearts of the teachers and staff at Canyon Heights Academy. This is a school that will prepare your child for life and the journey that awaits them! The children are taught to be the leaders of tomorrow and the best leaders have a strong foundation. This school will give them that foundation to be great leaders!
—Submitted by a parent

Excellent school with a fabulously supportive and welcoming community for the entire family. Challenging academic environment teaches more than just knowledge of facts and figures. Students develop critical thinking and communication skills to know not only the right answers but to be prepared to ask the right questions. Combined with stellar faith formation and virtuous character development, Canyon Heights Academy will prepare your child to be a leader at the high school of their choice.
—Submitted by a parent

Not a good school. The fact that all negative reviews for this school seem to disappear off this site is disturbing. Many of the teachers at this school are not excellent, leadership is poor, and academic program is lacking.

We moved 3 kids to Canyon Heights Academy (CHA) from our local school in the fall of 2010. We were looking for more intellectual development - not just memorizing facts for standardized tests - but learning to think critically about issues and problems, and then being able to effectively articulate their views. We wanted a school where kids were more actively involved in service activities - to their family, their community, and to God. We wanted a place where kids learned how to be good citizens, to take responsibility for themselves, and where they would recognize right and wrong and be challenged to take the (often) tougher path. And, of course, we wanted a school where spiritual growth was a sincere priority that received daily attention. This is the basis of the Integral Formation model that CHA employs. With dedicated and talented faculty, staff, and priests, CHA is a place committed to forming good, well-rounded, and happy kids. And best of all, it is also a very inclusive and immediately welcoming community. We feel truly blessed to have found this wonderful school!

Canyon Heights Academy is an environment where children flourish in all aspects of school and life. Our child entered CHA in middle school and has benefited tremendously from the emphasis on developing analytical, abstract, and critical thinking skills and on the ability to transmit those thoughts and ideas through extensive written work, verbal presentations and speeches, and multimedia presentations. Our child has excelled academically and has been accepted into a national talented youth program. The Theology and Catholic Formation curriculum is exceptional in its richness and depth. The Integral Formation approach produces leadership qualities and develops the children intellectually, morally, spiritually, and apostolically. This is especially evident through the Middle School Service Program, which though mentored, is led and run by the students. Through their own initiative they have been performing great apostolic works which far exceed imposed service requirements of other middle and high schools. This program is one example of forming young leaders with a strong sense of charity who look beyond themselves and to those in need in the local community.
—Submitted by a parent

This school does a wonderful job preparing students to excel and lead in a competitive high school environment. They emerge as confident, independent, articulate young men and women, able to think critically and ready to make a positive impact on the world through service to others. What my child learned from this school will be with him his whole life.
—Submitted by a parent

CHA's preschool was critical and enabling. Our 2nd son has the ability to relate things beyond his age and possesses much stronger organization skills than our 1st son who didn't attend this preschool. CHA's middle school was tough but transformational for my 1st son after being transferred from a bigger, private middle school. He went from not delivering consistent results to his potential to making A grades on his own. Now he is at a very competitive high school. The integral formation teaching has tremendously benefited not only children but also parents. It has made us realize that our children's trouble often comes from parents' own ignorance no matter how accomplished we are at our profession. The teachers are highly qualified in their subject fields as well as being role models for our children. Our 1st son at elementary level loves his teachers and his classmates.
—Submitted by a parent

We love this school! They not only teach the children how to learn but they actually teach them how to THINK both critically and abstractly. The curriculum is advanced and comes from NCE; National Consultants for Education. Philosophy will also be added this year. Because it is a Leadership school they teach the children how to live virtuous lives and to serve others. The children also work on their public speaking skills by making oral presentations about 6 times a year. The school performances involve all of the children in the lower grades and the middle school and upper school kids produce their own film documentaries on computers. This is our 8th year at the school and can not say enough good things about it. Our 3 children just LOVE their school; the teachers are well formed, and VERY caring. Check it out for yourself; this is a very innovative school. www.canyonheightsacademy.com
—Submitted by a parent

I would not recommend this school!!!!! Before my family left the school I found out that almost all the 8th graders had to be tutored at Gallagher Learning Center in Saratoga because Canyon Heights couldn't deliver a solid education. The fact that the school is very expensive and then you have to go out to supplement the education with more cost just doesn't add up. This was just one reason we left the school. There are no up to date books in the library and no computer classes for the kids. Can you believe this is happening in the Silicon Valley? At the open house there's the principal telling you how wonderful this place is. He shows you fancy graphs, colorful data, photos of smiling children, and it sounds very impressive. Don't be fooled. Check his facts
—Submitted by a parent

Canyon Heights Academy is an excellent school not only because of its high academic standards, but also because of its strong emphasis on forming its students to become men and women of God who will be the empathetic, prudent, and temperate apostolic leaders of the future. We liked the school so much that we made the sacrifice of driving our kids there from Fremont every day. Now we have moved down closer so that my family can fully participate in all of the activities offered - both spiritual and social - for kids and parents. This school is worth checking out!
—Submitted by a parent

Canyon Heights Academy is the school that we've been praying for. This school provides a healthy environment for a wonderful education provided by wonderful teachers, and my child is having an awesome time. My daughter can't wait to go to school everyday, and everyday we have something new to discuss from school. Her homework is challenging, but she can handle it. I will not forget to mention the outstanding leadership our school principle and his committed staff. WE LOVE CANYON HEIGHTS ACADEMY.
—Submitted by a parent

CHA teaches at a higher level than any school that my children have attended either private or public. The principal and faculty have the vision required to prepare the next generation of leaders.
—Submitted by a parent

Integral Formation is the schools methodology for educating the whole child. Character, Intellect, Spirituality and Apostolic servant leadership are integrated in everything the school does. I highly recommend Canyon Heights Academy.
—Submitted by a parent

This is our 6th year at Canyon Heights Academy and our kids love it. Every year the kids get to know their teacher to a level to love them! that contributes a lot to the students ' love of learning and respect to the school. The environment is safe and the parents are warm and friendly. The principal has great leadership skills.
—Submitted by a parent

CHA is a pretty well rounded schoool, teaching more than just academics! Starting from the very top -- the principal: great leadership quality and personalism. The teachers: bountyful sacrifices and unending compassion towards their students' learning needs. The staff: respectfulness and candor. The Priests and Consecrated: Tending to Christ Jesus' flocks every waking hour. Above all, the parent community is so much a Brotherhood My children are surrounded by all of these STAR qualities each day. My children are in good hands. We are so blessed!
—Submitted by a parent

There are a lot of reasons why parents choose to put their children in a private school even though they belong to an excellent school district. Ours is to help us mold our children to have good moral values, to keep their faith intact and a high level of academic. We belong to another Catholic Parish, but we choose to go to Canyon Heights because of small class sizes and most of all the gender specific class. Most of us know that boys and girls learn differently and by helping them understand their needs in a specific gender atmosphere the children can maximize their learning abilities. We have 2 boys and this will be our 3rd year in this school and we love it. The teachers and staff give individual attention to my children and the support of the parents with each other is admirable. It s like having a big family. Mr. Parker the Principal is awesome, in spite of his busy schedule he will try his best to attend to your needs if you call him. The religious orders are a bonus to us. Their chaplain Father Patrick is so great with the kids. When he says mass to the kids he makes sure that his homily is geared to them and he tries to interact with them during mass. It s so sweet to look at those little angels on the pew praying and learning about their faith.
—Submitted by a parent

Overall, I really like the school. I transfered my son into this school from a very desirable public school. This school is much better. The parents are great people who love the school and really care about their children's education. The school is new and is growing rapidly. This is a little bit of a challenge to the management and it shows. The curriculum that Canyon Heights gives their teachers to follow is extensive and indepth, but I don't believe that the teachers have a strong grasp of what they are teaching beyond the curriculum. The Spanish, art, and music programs are weak. The reading, writing, and math curriculum is strong. My son has no complaints about the school and is having a lot of fun. He transfered into the school reading at grade level, after a few months, he now reads three grades above grade level.
—Submitted by a parent

My child has been going to the PK for over 2 years now. She really loves her school. It is definitely a great PK curriculum and not glorified daycare as so many Preschools I visited seemed to be. On the other hand, I find the faith aspect of the school sometimes way overbearing! They are very pushy with parent retreats, parent seminars and Soul searching sessions going on ALL the time. I am Catholic, but it seems trully over the top to me sometimes... The academics seem to be very high. I am still not sure if this is a good thing, though... I have heard that Kindergartners are gettin alot of homework already! I am not sure if this is a good thing. Still evaluating wether or not I will leave my child here for grammar school.
—Submitted by a parent

We transferred from another catholic school - I always tell my friends, there are reasons that people choose to send their children to private school and beyond those, are additional reasons people send their children to a religious private school. CHA exceeds all of our expectations. Strong acedmics in a concentrated atmosphere (small class sizes -max 20) and fosters a very strong love of our faith woven throughout everything the kids do. It's not just the formation of kids either - its the formation of the parents which creates strong community and helps our children reach their goals. I love it!
—Submitted by a parent