North Terrace Elementary School

Take reviews with a grain of salt. Go to the state website and see the schools scores. North Terrace has come a far way. Its a good school in a bad district and state. I am not a fan of CA schools at all but this has been a good school. Gotten much better with the new principal. Can't wait for the brand new school building to open. My sons teacher have been excellent each year. Don't blame a school for the horrible state.
--Submitted by a parent

We just moved here last year...i was scared after reading some of the reviews but i have been pleasantly surprised...my sons kinder class has 30 students which scared me at first but his teacher more than made up for it....he has a wonderful teacher and despite the class size he has learnt alot....don't care too much for my 3rd graders teacher but he is also learning so i cant complain....Love the principal....and the new campus looks amazing...looking forward to moving back on base. Oh and the school was awarded the Distinguished school Honors in California for the third time.
--Submitted by a parent

I'm so sad that we had to move here and have our son attend this school. There are no elective classes (I realize there were budget cuts but some other schools in the area at least have art OR music) & no extracurricular activities that I have heard of (except I heard they have band for 5th graders, not sure if it's true because my son is in 2nd). Class sizes are over 30 children (heard 1 case of 38!) which has really affected my son's performance. He had straight A's before moving here and loves school but has gone down to average already this year. The schoolwork is NOT any harder and we work with him at home (he loves reading and doing extra math) as we always have so I feel very strongly that the lack of individualized attention is the issue. We've had to add even more extra work at home to get him back to the speed he was at. The only reason I did not give this a one star was because his teacher seem nice. I don't understand the reviews that say there is _ and _ wrong with the school but by _ and _ you can make any school a great school (& rate it 5). If you feel that way, wouldn't it be more helpful to rate the school based on it's merits not the extra you put in?
--Submitted by a parent

love the principle. he is personally involved in everything. he would probably teach the students himself if there were enough of him to go around! the teachers are pretty good as well. they really take their jobs seriously and genuinely care about the welfare of the students, though at times they can be a little pushy. the office staff, however, are extremely abrasive, unpersonable, abrupt, rude...need i continue? overall, north terrace isn't the worst school. but that office staff makes it very unpleasant to communicate with the school.
--Submitted by a parent

My son has been at NT for 4 yrs and we just love the school. My daughter also stared this yr and yes the kinder class sizes are way to big but blame to education system not the school. NT is just a GREAT place to go to school and be involved in and around campus. We LOVE the teachers we have and can tell they are excited to teach and mold the minds of my little ones. We also really like the new principal. He has a wonderful love of education. Getting involved is the only way to make sure education works.
--Submitted by a parent

Too bad i couldn't keep my child in pre-school at North Terrace for ever. The class size is just overwhelming. There should not be 30+ Kinderg rtners in a classroom - 16-20 is manageable. ALL Oceanside schools are severely impacted. Don't plan on sending you child to public school here if you don't want to deal with over-crowding, budget issues, and gangs at a very young age.
--Submitted by a parent

I am dissapointed that this is my sons first school experience. He just started Kindergarten this Aug. and it is not what I had hoped for at all. There are far too many children in the class, the school is way over student/teacher ratio. The teacher is not attentive to any of the childrens needs because of this but I dont believe she would be if the class was smaller. She is not very communicative with the parents and basically seems to just be working for a pay check not for the children. Im really upset that my son is not enjoying kindergarten and am considering transfering him to either another class or school.
--Submitted by a parent

Unfortunately my daughter has never stayed in the same school for more than a year due to my deployements. Returning from my last deployment, I decide to move closer to work so I had to enroll my daughter into one of the Oceanside Schools on base. She had previously went to Mary Fae Pendleton for 2nd grade and a public charter school in Washington DC for 3rd. My child's education is very important to me so I looked at the reviews and ranking to help me decide which school would be best. They were relatively equal so I went with the school closest to my home. I was dissapointed the academic program was not challenging. She was doing math problems from 3rd grade in the 2nd advisory of 4th. If your child is a fast learner recommend Mary Fae if you don't want your child's academic growth to be stunt.
--Submitted by a parent

My daughter attended NT from 2nd to 5th grade. She excelled in learning and thoroughly enjoyed being a student there.
--Submitted by a parent

My son goes to Pre-school and we absolutly love the school and the staff. If you are willing to put in extra time and volunteer and be and active parent any school is a great school. North Terrace is very small but friendly and loving in a way that I have never experinced before. I wish we didnt move around so often so that my son would be able to spend the rest of his time here. Great school, great job!!!
--Submitted by a parent