We absolutely love CHS for our two boys and in a few years we will be excited to send our daughter there! The teachers are so loving with our little learners, and help teach them how to respect themselves, each other, grown-ups and nature. They post daily on Bloomz to inform us on what the children were up to that day, and also put together extremely thoughtful and detailed student evaluations twice a year. Our boys spend a great deal of time outside, albeit exploring the Presidio or in the natural playground at the school. Most importantly, they learn to love learning because the pedagogy at the school encourages "learning by doing." The administration is very supportive, and partners with us as parents to ensure we are helping the children grow into their best selves by providing resources and insights when things are tough. The parent community has been a tremendous and unexpected highlight for us, as we have grown close to many of the other parents in the class and we celebrate the highs and lows of raising children. Recently we were able to start volunteering in the classroom again which has been SO fun because we get to see the little ones first hand in their element. As a parent of three children, in a dual-working household, I am grateful for the school's influence in raising our children, and am excited about the expansion that will not only extend the school day but also draw on an even more diverse group of families to join the community and enrich our children's learning!

Our family enjoyed three incredible years at CHS, where our daughter bloomed into a confident, curious, empathetic and flat-out joyous child, and where my husband and I enjoyed participating and learning amongst a dedicated (and fun!) community of fabulous teachers, amazing administrators and a wonderful group of parents. The experience was life-changing for each of us. This is a play-based preschool with an emphasis on nature and teamwork. Students embrace "inquiry work" where they do deep dives into topics of their choosing. Around those topics introductions to math, writing, community, advocacy and social justice naturally arise. (One of my daughter's favorite projects was figuring out how to help worms that get stuck on sidewalks. This led to researching worm behavior, a field trip where the students consulted with worm experts, developing a 5-point plan on how to help worms, and then sending letters to the CHS community teaching them how to help worms.) My daughter went to school each day thrilled to see what would come next. And she thrived emotionally and intellectually by being truly known, loved, respected and safe. (Isn't that what we all want out of life?) If you are curious at all about CHS, go see Darcy Campbell (the school's director) give her Real Parenting talk. I promise you will leave with specific parenting techniques you will immediately employ and be eternally grateful for! And do a tour of the school: you'll see the warmth and dedication that brings the magic. The preschool years are such a short and important time. When our daughter graduated and started elementary school, she did so with the self-assurance of knowing that she was capable and competent, as well as the skills needed to be a valued member of a community. She also had the baked-in assumption that learning is fun. We couldn't be more grateful to CHS for these profound gifts.

Cow Hollow School is a place rooted in the beliefs that children are capable and competent, teachers and students are collaborators, and the problem-solving process is just as important as—if not more important than—achieving an answer. The extraordinary faculty, in partnership with the Presidio as an academic backdrop, has fostered a deep, joyful love of learning in our children. In many ways, our daughter's inquisitive, kindhearted spirit is a direct result of Cow Hollow School’s curriculum that expertly folds lessons of compassion, social responsibility, and integrity into a rich inquiry-based curriculum. And I would be remiss if I didn’t touch on the impact this preschool has had on me as a parent. The parent participation opportunities are truly one-of-a-kind, not to mention incredibly educational, and I have become a more mindful and reliable parent as a result. With parent volunteers in the classroom daily, our children have developed loving, meaningful relationships with grown-ups outside of her family who are not her classroom teachers. Some of the personal growth we have witnessed in our children can be directly tied to the trust and mutual respect she has built with these important people in her life. I cannot recommend Cow Hollow School more strongly. My love and gratitude for the school run deep!

Our son has gone here since we returned from London 14 months ago. We were looking for a school with strong social emotional learning (morals, manners, methods) and balanced academics to continue his education journey. He had an excellent head start at Young England Kindergarten in London, and Cow Hollow has extended and enhanced his ability to relate to peers and grown ups as well as progress academically in a non rigid way. We love that the teachers all have graduate training and that it's a Reggio inspired school which puts the needs of the children at the center of the program. This does NOT mean the children do whatever they want. To the contrary, there are very clear objectives, guidelines, and objectives. But EVERY child is seen, heard, supported and encouraged to be the best version of themselves. Because the teachers and staff are so well educated and trained, the students are allowed to access, process, and master new information in multiple ways. Since it is a Reggio school, Cow Hollow rigorously documents everything so you can see exactly what and how your child is learning. Everything done at the school, although it seems informal, is backed by top of the line research and evidentiary data as to what works for that age group. Darcy, Trevor, and Leslie (the school administrators) set a tone of warmth and inclusion that is genuine and pervasive. The parent community is very close - we joke that the parents in my son's class are closer than the kids are! Because the school is on such solid financial footing, the children have great resources. The real jewel in the crown is the social emotional language the children absorb and integrate into their development. Cow Hollow kids know how to speak up for themselves, how to resolve conflicts, how to take their place in community (they're very proud of their citizenship contracts!), and how to check in with their own feelings as well as those of others. This is a top notch school and the proof is in the great kids who are welcomed (and sought after) into kindergartens all across the Bay Area. Bonus: the forest location means my son and his friends come home with real soil and grass stains on their clothes, leaves and twigs here and there, and a daily experience of being outside in clean, purely oxygenated air.