Yew Chung International School

My son is enrolled in YCIS since kindergarten. I was not very impressed by the principal when my son came for the interview in 2010. By the time my son started the school in Fall, a new principal Mr. Reimer has taken over. He is much better, very experienced in both teaching and managing. My son has ADHD and caused lots of trouble in the first year. But his teacher Ms Trutter is very patient and very cooperative. With the help from her and other YCIS staff (after school), my son made great progress in one year. Now he is a happy 1st grader. He is doing well both socially and academically. My daughter is going to kindergarten here this coming fall. I truly hope the student body grows a bit more at 4th and 5th grade. A satisfied parent
--Submitted by a parent

I feel this school is average. Allot of the teachers no longer care and it is evident in how they handle situations. We have 3 children now in and while the Chinese is still really good in the lower grades, it suffers greatly in the upper grade. The english is also subpar to local public schools with a high grade point average. It's sad that this school in no way compares to it's China counterparts.
--Submitted by a parent

I rated this school 5 stars because we feel it has everything a great school needs.We don't speak mandarin at home. My daughter started in the Yew Chung preschool and is now in 2nd grade. She went from no Chinese to winning Mandarin contests and becoming a fluent Chinese speaker. The school originated in China and is very famous there, as I discovered on a recent business trip to Beijing and Shanghai. The YCIS teachers and staff, including the principal, are top notch -- smart, dedicated and caring - and incorporate technology in the classroom. My daughter has placed very well in the national placement exams in all subjects. The YCIS music program includes violin instruction in the elementary curriculum. My younger daughter started at the new preschool this year and we like that the elementary campus is separate but very close by. The parent community is kind and involved. The school includes a variety of cultures, religions and ethnicities, and all are made to feel welcome. Like any organization or business, there have been changes and ups and downs over the years, but this has never negatively impacted our review of the school. It's been a great experience for our family!
--Submitted by a parent

My youngest daughter has been in this school for 1.5 years. The staff so far has been fabulous. At least English teachers (I am not hundred percent sure about Chinese) have California teaching credentials. The new principal Mr. Reimer is very personable, kids adore him, he has a vast American and international teaching/administration experience. The parents are very involved and friendly and as a white non-Chinese speaking parent I never felt left out. Many kids come from mixed-racial families, probably less than 30% of parents speak Mandarin at home, My daughter seems to understand a lot of overheard Mandarin conversations on the streets. She is not speaking much yet, but she is able to recognize quite a lot of characters and write some. Her English and math are very appropriate for the first grade level. There are many kids in her class that are reading at much higher than the grade level, but she feels quite secure and is moving at her own pace, I do not feel that she is "drilled" or "pushed to perform". She is respected, liked, encouraged and challenged. I like the school's "character building" aspect, focus on health and community service in addition to academics.
--Submitted by a parent

I have three kids in this school and we are really happy with it. We are non-Chinese speaking family and our oldest became fluent in Chinese in less than a year in the primary school. Our 2.5-year old twins are already singing in Chinese and speak a little after attending the school for 2 months - especially as they are learning their 3rd and 4th language at same time (Chinese&English). The teachers are very caring and innovative in the pre-k and there is lot of arts and crafting involved. The elementary school Chinese curriculum follows the Chinese YCIS school one and is very advanced - and our child loves it. Other teaching is also great, proven by the state exam they took last year (our class scored 95% in math). I like the emphasis on creative writing & presenting their books and reports to parents. This is a great environment for kid to become global citizens. They also use technology and Smartboards in teaching and it;s good to learn tech skills young. The principal is also very approachable and involved. Altogether a very warm and caring school. Pre-school has a great new facility, but it's 1/3 mile from the main school - would be great to have just one campus.
--Submitted by a parent

I have two children at this school, and have been really impressed. The teachers are absolutely WONDERFUL. The student:teacher ratio is very low, so the children get a lot of individualized attention. I wish I had started my kids earlier here. The mandarin program is great. I didn't think it was possible for my kids to pick up on it as fast as they have. It's a great "balanced" school between academics and arts/play-base (for the pre-school). The children are all very friendly, and parents are all very much involved. The school had a tough few years trying to gain some traction and finding a good principal, and I believe they have finally found one. Mr. Reimer is friendly, approachable, reasonable, and accommodating. He's got great leadership, and yes, I was scared away at first by some of the negative reviews, but after being here, can honestly say that none of those situations experienced years ago, are true anymore. It is really a great school, and my children are absolutely thriving!
--Submitted by a parent

There is some truth to the positive and negative comments about the school. No school is perfect and fits every child. This school has lost several very good teachers. It lags behind in teaching and school facilities in comparison to other bilingual or Chinese immersion schools in the Bay Area. Unless your kid is unusally talented in language, this school is best for those children who already speak Chinese at home, or whose Chinese education can be supplemented with a Chinese tutor or nanny, or an annual trip to Taiwan or China, or some extra Chinese classes on week-day nights or week-ends. Otherwise, it will take at least two or three years before your child will utter a Chinese sentence. The pre-school helps the kids develop their social skills but is totally play-based, unlike other pre-schools in the Bay Area where children are taught the alphabet, phonetics, counting, are encouraged to color, draw, develop their motor skills, etc. Homework is assigned starting from Kinder. The after-school care offers various outsourced enrichment programs. A Chinese staff (not teachers) is available to 'watch' those children who are not enrolled in the enrichment classes.
--Submitted by a parent

We had three children enrolled at this school at one point. It was a terrible disappointment. The Chinese program is excellent; my children all learned an amazing amount of Mandarin (both speaking and writing.) Unfortunately, the rest of the curriculum is sadly lacking. We left the school when it became apparent that the nice, well-intentioned, though inexperienced teachers would not be able to engage my children (who are now happy and doing well at other schools.) In addition, the deplorable management and lack of leadership at this school fail to support a quality education for the children. Absentee leaders (decision-makers in Hong Kong) cannot possibly make decisions that benefit our children, and this is what Yew Chung suffers from. The fact remains, this is a private school (with commensurate private school-level tuition!) that does not offer a private school quality education (with the sole exception of it's Chinese program.) If a family is only looking for a bi-lingual Mandarin/English elementary program, this school may suffice. For anything else, it fails.
--Submitted by a parent

My daughters attended this school, and we have since left it 2 years ago. I am very disturbed to see these glowing positive reviews, as it is extremely misleading. While the staff and teachers are very nice people, and the parent body is *extremely* involved, it is completely untrue that this school offers a high-quality academic education. The curriculum is directed from leaders in Hong Kong, who have no idea what is needed to help elementary students succeed upon graduation. While it's true that the Mandarin program is terrific, graduating 5th graders need more than fluent Chinese to get into Bay Area private middle schools. By the very same reason this parent body is so involved, YCIS graduates' success is largely attributed to the extreme efforts of "tiger mom" parents (such as tutoring, supplemental study materials, and an overwhelming amount of homework.) This was not the kind of stressful childhood I wanted for my daughters. They are now doing very well at their new school, with enough homework to reinforce what their teachers are teaching in class (and we no longer have to struggle nightly to teach our girls subject matter in order to complete their homework assignments!)
--Submitted by a parent

Caring, easy-to-approach, dedicated Principal. Nurturing passionate staff. Active parent community. Superb academic, arts, and whole child curriculum...almost all the kids in my daughter's 2nd grade class are doing work that is normally done by 3rd graders in our local public schools (Palo Alto/ Los Altos/ Mountain View/ Sunnyvale/ Santa Clara). After-school enrichment programs include top-notch soccer training, Peninsula Youth Theater, private music lessons, professional art instruction, dance, science club, chess, discovery math, Spanish... Positive creative energy on campus. My daughter likes this school so much, she begged for me to send her to its summer program too.
--Submitted by a parent