Wren Avenue Elementary School

Essentially this is a really great elementary school. Not huge, so it can give quality experiences to pupils.

My son has attended Wren since 1st grade, is now in 4th. He has had amazing teachers each year and enjoys going to school. The administration is very good, staff is friendly. The low test scores are not indicative of how well this school does; scores had been suspended for the past couple years because of the switch to Common Core. Also, this school has about a 45% ESL population, which tends to lower scores. But a school is more than test scores. It's community and educators who seem to genuinely love to teach our children.

I would like to share my experience as a parent new to the neighborhood and new to the school scene. My son entered Kindergarten in September 2015. He was 5.5 years old, so average age (not too young, not too old). He was ready for a new challenge. To start at the beginning, we put our name on the list to get into Monte Gardens, having heard this is the BEST school in the area. We did not get in, and for that reason we had no choice but to attend Wren Avenue Elementary. I say it like that was a bad thing... to be honest, we were super scared, all of our neighbors told us to transfer to Sequoia Elementary in Pleasant Hill, or go to private school. I am a FIRM believer in attending school where you can afford to live. So I started at the beginning, called the school to register and get more information. In an effort to be 100% honest and tell the whole story, I will tell you that at first, the staff that picked up the phone was super rude, not helpful, gruff, grumpy and I literally almost cried thinking I had to send my child to this place. I requested a meeting with the principal (left like 3 voicemails which were never answered), and finally we connected by email. I missed our scheduled meeting (oops!) and was never able to connect with her again until school started. After the initial registration process, closer to school starting, I went into the school to meet the staff in-person. I think that the people picking up the phone during the registration process must have been temporary helpers or something, because none of the front staff is rude at all, instead they are sweet and kind and helpful. The new office secretary is a bit lost still, but she is nice and I think she will come up to speed. The other office support staff are really awesome, friendly and can get you to the right place. That being said, they do have a real problem with communication... because they can't send any printed materials, they rely on peachjar electronic newsletters. This is fine, but sometimes things get lost or overlooked. As to my son's teacher, she is a saint in my opinion. There are 30 children in her class (15 in the morning and 15 in the afternoon) and she somehow doesn't go insane. She's patient with my son and has helped him learn to focus and follow instructions (he continues to struggle in this area).

I have nothing but good things to say about this school. I was let too sure about it going in because of the rating. My son has went to kindergarten there and got the most amazing teacher who you could tell loved her job and kids. Last year before he started Wren Ave we put him on a transfer to another school. Thinking with the rating it wasn't a good school. We ended up having to go through a bunch of stuff to get him back in Wren: We got him back in and the office stuff was very nice. Even with my calling them all the time. The parents my son goes to school with our helpful and kind. If you need a car pool, or even just someone to help you out with giving a ride one day, I can always find someone willing to help. They have community events called called days were we go to places like The Jungle and raise money for the school. So far I have loved my experience here.