Newcastle Elementary School

NEWCASTLE SCHOOL . IT'S A GREAT SCHOOL. WHERE YOU FEEL THAT IS YOUR SECOND HOME. I LOVE IT BECAUSE MY SON LOVE TOO. HE IS SO HAPPY.
—Submitted by a parent

a schools API score doesnt tell the whole story about a school. it definitely needs more ethnic diversity, homework help for students, and more extra curricular activities to reward the students for there hard work!
—Submitted by a parent

Newcastle is a fantastic school. The API score is 862, which is very high. Newcastle received an Honorable Mention as a California Distinguished School. Newcastle received a huge art and music grant for all grades. All grades had a field trip to the Getty Museum. Aquarium of the Pacific came to the school with a mobile aquarium so the children could touch starfish and baby sharks! The campus is lovely with mature shade trees and a large grassy area for play. The after school program is wonderful, helping children with their homework than organizing games. Newcastle has a nice community feel, nestled in a quiet residential neighborhood. We are so lucky to have such an academically strong school in our neighborhood. We love our school!
—Submitted by a parent

For the average child, this may very well be a good school academically, but for children who are a bit accelerated, this school is not up to snuff. One of the first grade teachers was asked by another parent about some extra work for an accelerated child and she refused to help claiming that she didn't want her smarter than the other kids. WTH? As for my child, her first grade teacher often lashed out with name-calling when she was stressed and on field trips, children were neglected and a couple were "misplaced". The cafeteria in extremely unhygienic and the principal is not concerned. In fact, the principal does not hold the mothers in as high regard as the fathers of the children and often condescends to them. Hispanic families also seem to be held in higher regard than Caucasians however is has been noted that Mr Rojas has made many empty promises to the children about iPads and x-boxes for the kids when they are making the PTA pay to re-instate the buses for the special needs children. I have since left this school for a better and safer school district as i could not keep placing my child at risk, physically, emotionally and educationally.
—Submitted by a parent

I am so happy to see that my old elementary school is finally open again. I attended this school back in the early 80's and even back then I thought the school was awesome. Still don't know why the school was closed for over 20 years but I'm really happy to know that it's open. Good job!
—Submitted by a parent

Its a great school! My kids love it and I love the teachers and the way they have taught my children!
—Submitted by a parent

Truly the best LAUSD school I have encountered since my sons entered into school 5 years ago.
—Submitted by a parent

I love Newcastle Elementary School, My youngest son has attended this school since Kindergarten and will be graduating in the summer of 2008. The Principal, Vice Principal and Teachers really work hard with the kids to bring out the best in them. It can really be hard working with all those different little personalities. I take my hat off to those ladies and gentlemen who have the gift of patience, tolerance, love and courage to pass on to the students that attend Newcastle Elementary. I just want to say Thank you very much.
—Submitted by D Alexander, a parent

Forget test scores, the quality of the teachers and the leadership of the principal at Newcastle makes Newcastle superior in every way. Since we transferred our kids back to our neighborhood school after a year at a great api test score school, we discovered that a great education has very little to do with testing and a everything to do with fairness, love, respect and caring, which is in abundance at this school.
—Submitted by Roy, a parent

I feel the availability of the extra curricular activities is absent from the school. I don't see the Principal involved in with the school. Certain teachers give up to easily with educating children at Newcastle Elem.
—Submitted by a parent

I have 3 of my sons at Newcastle Elementary and I feel that the teachers are very helpful. My kids were first going to another school in Woodland hills that was a 'good school' but never received any help when they needed it. The teachers there focused more on the kids that excelled and not on the ones who needed additional help. I took all 3 of my boys to Newcastle and they were given the attention needed to excel and now they feel much more confident about themselves. They have a wonderful after school program that allows them to play sports and they even have tournaments against other schools every so often. I am very pleased with this school, it is small enough where everyone knows each other.
—Submitted by a parent

My son has been going to this school since preschool. I think this school has worked its way up in the past 5yrs, but it has a long way to go. I am moving this year, and acutally am glad that he will be going to another school.I hardly find my son challanged, as most of the kids are on minimum levels. Hardly any homowrk or challanging activities makes this school not-so-desiarable.
—Submitted by a parent

Fairly good school. Not so challanging for gifted or advanced kids.
—Submitted by a parent

I had a positive experience with this school. The principle took my child into her program with open arms and turned him into a top performer.
—Submitted by a parent

Newcastle has improved greatly over the past year. Parent participation is extreamly important along with teacher meetings. The teachers are very active and do help the kids who are bright to be more involved with different types of projects. My son has been going there since preschool and I am very happy with the kind of attention my son recieves from different teachers. The principle has greatly improved, it was not so good last year, but this year she is more hands on.
—Submitted by a parent

My son spent two years at Newcastle Elementary School. We were extremely impressed with the staff, particularly the helpful and easily accessible Principal Schear and Vice Principal Ruiz. We were also very pleased by the warmth and professionalism of the teachers, who we miss!
—Submitted by a parent

Newcastle Elementary is an undiscovered gem. The API score jumped 77 points this year to a respectable 704. Under our new principal Newcastle received an Honorable Mention as a California Distinguished School. Newcastle received a huge art and music grant for all grades. All grades had a field trip to the Getty Museum. Aquarium of the Pacific came to the school with a mobile aquarium so the children could touch starfish and baby sharks! The campus is lovely with mature shade trees and a large grassy area for play. The Creative Kids after school program is wonderful, helping children with their homework then organizing games, art, music and drama classes. Newcastle has a nice community feel, nestled in a quiet residential neighborhood. Families in this neighborhood are pulling out of private schools and taking back Newcasltle as parents did at Lanai. We love our school!
—Submitted by a parent