St John the Apostle Catholic School

My son has been attending this school for 4 years, starting on his 5th year. We love this school, it is a family atmosphere and they truly care about the kids. The principal is always outside at drop off and knows each and every kid by name. I feel comfortable knowing that my son is in an enriched, positive, caring, and loving environment all day. While my son would rather have summer all year long, he does love this school. He has loved every teacher he has ever had and he has made great friends who come from great families; exactly the type of people I want him to be around growing up in this tough world. I highly recommend this school. There will always be people who aren't happy at places like the last reviewer; but some people just aren't happy anywhere. We are very happy here!

I don't like to leaving long reviews, however I feel like it's needed to explain my rating. Unfortunately, there's not an easy way to provide a holistic review of the school given a 5 star system. So I have provided my own 5 star system for different categories. The overall score is the average. [* * * * *] - Quality of Pedagogy All of our kids have really enjoyed the teaching methods used at the school. They have hired excellent educators who care about student success. They have been working hard to integrate Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math STEM into their curriculum. Which leads me to the next category. [* * * * *] - Student Growth Every child is different some kids love math and some love reading. They challenge their student to work hard and encourage students to push themselves to be their best. One our children didn't care for reading because of fluency troubles. The teachers encouraged our child to read anything age appropriate and allowed our child to read books that were of more interest. [* - - - - ] - Transparency in Business It's a private school. That doesn't mean that customers don't care how money is spent or reinvested. This is an area that the school has been failing at for the past couple of years. I hear so many parents talking about it, yet no one has addressed it with the administrative staff. The parents would like to see the school's budget so we know where our money is going eg. technology upgrades, STEM programs, facility expansion for capacity handling. This leads to the final point. [* * - - - ] - Tuition Rates maybe I'm frugal During the past few years tuition rates have been climbing. Rising costs are not a huge problem as long as the consumer knows what they are getting in return see previous point. Additionally, the school should provide better deals for people who have multiple children at the school. The cost of 4 kids attending the school could almost afford you two new cars a year. Ahh what we do for the love of our kids. I would really like the State of Virginia to start a voucher program since we're not using the public school system. Overall I think the quality of education and educators is fantastic. I hope these points are used by the staff to improve transparency and multi-student discounts. Should anything change I will update the review.

Awful. Luckily we had a few years before the current principal came on wherein children were expelled for bad behavior. But the past three years were miserable. If your child is smart, hard-working, and you are looking for something better than the public school system-do not send them to SJA. SJA houses the delinquents from the public school system and dumbs all children down to their level. You should also be concerned since the vaccination policy is nonexistent. There are so many unvaccinated children enrolled that weekly notices from the school nurse are routine.

This was my daughter's first year at this school. She was warmly welcomed by the principal and I felt at ease reintegrating back into the private school setting. Prior to her starting her seventh grade school year, she had fallen behind within the public school system and the poor grading scale they implement at the elementary school level; hence my decision to place her back into catholic school. The school year was rigorous as I knew it would be and was expecting. All of the educators I encountered were friendly, professional, and knowledgable within their subject and I truly appreciate that. That being said, there is a huge flaw within St. John's: the lack of accountability and disciplinary action within the school. I lost track of how many times my daughter would come home and tell me what other children within her peer group were saying and doing to one another. Colorful name calling and other covert measures demonstrated by the females in class, but overt actions on behalf of the males. I don't condone hitting of any kind, but my daughter was kicked by another student within her class, and a mundane punishment which consisted of an apology and lunch detention was given. Another instance in which my child's Chromebook school property was written on with permanent marker. The principal and guidance counselor spoke to the class due to their less than satisfactory behavior; however, the problems persist. While although middle schoolers can be challenging, the lackadaisical attitude on behalf of the principal is highly disheartening. My intention of enrolling my daughter into St. John's for the remainder of her middle school career was to have an enriching academic experience. Instead she faced other obstacles outside of learning, which is unacceptable.

Best school my Grandson ever attended! Very loving caring staff and the best education ever. Lots of community activity. That's what life is all about helping one another and installing a great education and great morales on the children.. I have been there 2 years and will be there for 6 more without a doubt! Love them!

I recently graduated at St.John the Apostle Catholic School, and I loved going to school here. The work load is usually not stressful and the teachers are so helpful. The education is great. If I had had the choice of moving to another school, I would not. This school is a very caring environment.

I noticed a couple of things in the reviews that need to be addressed: 1. If you have issues of grave concern, which it seems some do, please post using a legitimate account. We aren't reviewing the service at Red Robin for Pete's sake! We are talking about the education of our children. If there are issues that could possibly affect my child: I would like to speak with you personally yet have no way to contact you. 2. The negative review posters who trash the school, but are incapable of using proper grammar..? You, and your children, have not taken education seriously. Which would explain why your children had a difficult time at a private school. 3. To equate a routine "unvitation" for your children to attend the following school year to the Catholic cover-up of child molestation...? This far-fetched correlation only proves you either received a very low score on the SATs, or you are Googling "what is SAT" right now. Either way, if you are that unhappy with the decision they made you have the right to take your issue to the diocese. The process is listed in the manual which you either didn't, or couldn't, read. 4. If you express your dissatisfaction for your children's education on a Google review -- you have underlying issues that lead to your children's failure. STOP BLAMING EVERYONE ELSE! Get off of your device and take your child to the library or a museum without texting on your cellphone. YOU are your child's teacher ALWAYS! Until you acknowledge where you have failed, you cannot be upset when your child fails. And they will keep blaming everyone else for their problems just like you do. I would like to thank the reviewer whose name I cannot pronounce but I could still email since they used a legitimate account for providing an indepth review based on a star-scale providing knowledge and facts. Your children will succeed wherever they are because you succeed at parenting.

The majority of this school is staffed with wonderful people, however their head priest Father Rob and their principal and former principal are very corrupt and very money hungry. We had a teacher falsely accuse our family of something we didn't do, in order to make her lies and wrong doings seem just. The three of these people called us into a meeting, accused us of these supposed accusations, and then refused to let us defend ourselves before telling us "we were uninvited back next year". I am not sure what this teacher had on the school, or what she and her husband threatened them, but I'm sure it must be huge. After the year had come to an end, they're then acting principal called a meeting for the staff to tell them all how "evil" our family was. I'm not sure about you, but I'm not sure that's creating a good example of Christ in a school... Why do you send your kids to a Catholic private school? For them to get a great education, but also to be able to walk each day with Christ in their hearts and to be surrounded by great, faith loving, people. This school isn't any of that.. I have been a practicing Catholic for over 30 years and I have never been treated so poorly by a Priest in my Catholic faith EVER! This entire situation has been very eye opening and definitely very educational about this Church and this school. I have a lot of faith in God, but Father Rob has definitely made me call into question my commitment to my families Catholic faith after how poorly this 'man of the cloth' has decided to treat us... I'm not sure how he can stand at the head of the pulpit every Sunday and preach the love of God and guide us all to be better non-judging Catholics when he takes it upon himself to pass such hard judgements without being willing to find out the truth. He isn't above any of us in God's eyes... it's a shame he views himself in this manner, but with his 2 million dollar church reno underway and waiting lists for almost every grade, I guess he's doing his "job".. I hate that someone who "found Christ after 40" can be so quick to be so judgmental and refuse to listen to both sides of the story and really get all the facts. Keep in mind he isn't the only one to blame Dr. Rawls and Ms. Cotton are also to blame for this... But I guess what they say is true, "it's easier to believe a lie then to search for the truth" Our situation was really a shame and this teacher definitely targeted our family.. we were really unlucky.. But now I am grateful that I no longer have to subject my kids to such nasty, gossipy, money hungry place.. yes they got a great education while they were there, but if you can't go in with an issue and have faith and trust that the people in charge will do their due diligence to really get down to the bottom of an issue instead of taking sides with only one person and not hear both sides, then in what kind of capacity can you actually trust in this school? God speed to you all! Seriously, you never know you may one day need it, if in deed your child or family is ever subjected to an issue that this school refuses to acknowledge, fix, or uncover the truth. Another 'Catholic Cover-up'... way to be so typical of our faiths already bad rep. I really hoped this would be our home away from home... what a disappointment.

Provides a caring community feel for the kids and parents.

Great transfer for our son. He’s showing love for school and is receiving the proper attention and help. Awesome staff!