Newcastle Elementary School

Excellent. All of my kids have gone there and we love this school

I am a graduate from this school and had a fairly decent time in a few of the grades. In terms of teaching skills, 7th, 3rd, and 8th were really the only impressive ones. The leaddership at this school could use vast improvments from the uninvolvment, to the lack of care about the students. Many of my fellow classmates had input on how the year could be improved, which was completely looked past. Other years, I experienced struggles with bullying, verbally abusive teachers, and more. There are so many ways that this school could be fantastic, but outside input was never accepted. Especially in the upper grades, students are expected to perform a drastic ammount of homework as well as an overload on un-taught materials. A majority of the staff was just looking for a power trip. The current principal is uninvolved and incredibly unsupportive towards the student's efforts. The superintendent looks for ways to gain more power but not actually help the school or community. The people actually trying to improve the learning of those who are impaired such as the one to one aides are always overruled and never get a chance to have a say in the student's struggles. Bullying is a hugely overlooked issue at this school. Teachers and staff know about it, they just don't properly handle it.

As a student who graduated from NES, and is now graduating from high school, I looked up my old school just for fun. After reading the comments on this site, I want to set people straight. The comment about teacher turn-over is very true. By the time I graduated, there were AT LEAST 20 new/replaced teachers including 3 principals. Some teachers came and went in one year. I also only learned after graduating that Newcastle kids are considered to be the “bad kids” out of all the schools in the areas. We weren’t invited to dances, we didn’t participate in the Del Oro High School homecoming parade floats, and we didn’t go on nearly as many educational/organized field trips as the surrounding schools. I felt, even as a student there, that NES was particularly unorganized. Teaching methods were drab, even for me as an honor student. The only grades I enjoyed because of the teaching/learning were kindergarten, 1st grade, 4th grade, and sixth grade. Commenting on another comment: the bullying was extremely bad. Teachers and principals knew when kids were being bullied but did absolutely nothing to stop it. I had to stand up and take the beating because I could handle it while sometimes other kids couldn’t. I remember going home on multiple occasions crying my eyes out because my peers (and in three cases, teachers) had verbally and emotionally abused me. It didn’t matter where I went either, computer lab, lunch room, library. They would come and pick on me. Even younger kids would make fun of older kids. And having rallies about bullying and drugs was defective. Quite dumb actually, as some of the things heard at the rally’s were just new ideas put into our heads about how students could be even more awful to each other. Another huge problem I had with the teaching: kids that were worse or better than average academically were not helped at all. I’d say kids that were smarter and more advanced had the biggest disadvantage. I personally was told I couldn’t read books higher than my assigned reading level/grade because I had to wait until I was older. After all of these negative things, I do have a few positive comments to make about NES that made my personal experience there unforgettable. Library time. Probably the quietest you will hear a kid be for a long period of time is when they are listening to a book being read before check out time.

I have three children who attend Newcastle Elementary School. I absolutely love this school. My daughter has been at NES since kindergarten and she is in 7th grade. She has never had a bad teacher. The new principal is outstanding. She sends out a weekly announcement so you never feel out of the loop. She greets each student as they arrive to school by their name. The teachers are loving, hard working and hold high expectations for the students. Every week the students (TK-5) participate in PE, rhythm and movement, Spanish, library, computer lab, and music. NES has never taken away programs for the students even with financial cut backs. The field trips that the students take are amazing and create life long memories for the students. NES invests their money into the students. The communication between parents and teachers is excellent. I always know how my kids are doing in class. The teachers are very accessible and easy to reach for any reason. NES is a family. The small class sizes and big buddy/little buddy program allows for everyone to know each other and develop relationships beyond the class room. The school is extremely welcoming and inclusive. Disciple issues are handled immediately. I feel so blessed to have found such a great place for my children to learn and grow into their teenage years.