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I had a daughter who was in 6th grade getting ready for middle school, and she didn’t want to go to her home middle school. Many of the kids she had went to school with gave her problems. We looked for another option and came across a new school...SVA. I quickly applied, and she was placed on the waiting list.  I was also looking to make a change for my younger daughter who was in elementary school. I would often ask the teacher how she was doing when I volunteered in her class, or sometimes I would seek help in the morning or afterschool. When I did ask for help so that I could help my daughter at home, teachers would told me to call and make an appointment. I felt like they didn't want me to ask for help. At the time, I didn’t speak English very well. I am still learning now. Her teachers told me she was doing fine and not to worry, but when test results came in, I would see something else. Things did not add up. My daugher was not doing fine. I was happy to get the call that my older daughter got into SVA after being on the waiting list.  The following year my younger daughter got in when she was in 3rd grade. She has since made so much progress. She didn’t like to read before and struggled with English. With help from the school's intervention program, she is progressing much faster and enjoys reading now. Math is another area where she is understanding more and more. I can see that my daughter is growing. It may not be the fastest, or how I thought she should be, but I learned something when her third grade teacher talked to me. He told me that children learn in different ways and by adjusting the classroom lessons for each child's way of learning, students learn and grow more. 

 

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My son came to SVA as a first grader last year. When I met the teacher, I talked to her about his diagnosis. He has been diagnosed with Autism, and we weren’t sure about his level of learning. His teacher talked to me a lot, and helped us get meetings going so that we could all help him together. I did not feel like my son was put off to the side. At the beginning of the first year, my son was very worried. He would go to the side of the classroom, and he didn’t want to join the class activities. As time went by, we noticed the changes in him. His vocabulary improved to be more academic, he is more social now and has friends, and even though he is not at grade level, he sees himself the same as others in the classroom and wants to challenge himself. In his first year in math, I remember coming into the classroom as a volunteer and seeing my son in the back playing with blocks or legos. He had a fascination with them. This year, his teacher told me that she reminded him of those days. She reminded him because he was doing the same work his class was doing and saying that the work was easy! He has come a long way and it’s good to see that his teachers and the school care a lot about my child and his success.

 

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My son was chosen through the lottery to start kindergarten at Sycamore Valley Academy this year, but my daughter, a first grader, was placed on the waitlist. Our dilemma was: would SVA be worth the short term inconvenience to our family if we sent them to different schools while we waited for a seat to open?

Prior to applying for admission, we spent time getting to know some of their staff and other students who attend. The overwhelming sense we continued to get was that as students at SVA my children would be taught not just what they needed to know to pass a test, but empowered to love learning, find their gifts and use their gifts to make a great life for themselves and others along the way.

Now that I have a student at SVA I can see the promises the school has made being put into action through my child, he is thriving! Waiting for my second child to get in, either when a spot opens or at the start of the next school year, is well worth the wait. The education of my child is not about getting them from one grade level to the next but preparing them for a life where they create goals and are inspired and equipped to reach them. This school has shown me they are committed to making great students, who can become great adults.