Berkeley Parents Network: Bayhill High School

Berkeley Parents Network

Bayhill High School

Berkeley Parents Network > Reviews > K-12 Schools > Bayhill High School

http://www.bayhillhs.org/

Nov 2007

After years of watching our dyslexic son suffer (the word is not too strong) his way through conventional schools such as Ecole Bilingue and Bishop O'Dowd, we have, at long length, found the perfect match: Bayhill, which opened its door this September. Our son entered the 11th grade, in the prep strand. Students are divided into 2 different English, math, language and history classes, one more supportive, one more challenging, according to each studentms ability. The difficulties that seem to cut across almost all of the students are weaknesses in processing speed, working memory, and organizational skills - invisible but tough challenges. Classes are small, homework is light but pertinent. The athletic program includes flag football and basketball. Track and field will be offered in the spring. My son has now been there 2 full months and he is, well, content. As for me, a parent, I appreciate more than I can tell the entire adventure. The faculty is young, generous and dedicated; the dean is a forceful young woman with a keen understanding of the labyrinthine mind of teens; the staff is just excellent. Speech and language services are included in the tuition. Psychological and/or educational therapy are also available. I encourage anyone interested to contact Rachel Wyle, director of the school, an extraordinary woman, at: (510) 268-1500. Don't hesitate to call me at 655-5721.

Oct 2007

We would like to hear from any parents who have kids attending Bayhills. My son, who has language-based learning disabilities, will be entering 9th grade in the fall and we are wondering if it would be a good fit and also how difficult it is to get in for kids who have not attended Raskob. anon

Dear Anonymous,
I am a former Raskob Day School and Raskob High School parent (from which emerged the brand new high school, Bayhills). I am happily now a Sterne School parent of a high school sophomore. Sterne is an outstanding, well-established, WASC accredited, and State of CA certified middle and high school in San Francisco for students with language-based learning disabilities. There are many East Bay-based students who attend, so carpooling has proven to be easy, plus it's accessible by public transportation. I'd be happy to speak with you in person about these high school programs -- and others in the Bay Area (there are some great ones -Stanbridge Academy in San Mateo being another) -- and try to answer any questions that I can. Our search for a special ed. high school that focuses on language-based LD was exhaustive and took a few years to accomplish. We found Sterne to be the best solution for our child, short of sending him to one of those famous New England boarding schools, which we could not bring ourselves to do. If you will respond to this message by email with your contact information, I'll provide you with my phone number. Best wishes, Kathleen

Our son has been attending Bayhill High School since the start of the year and loves it. It specializes in students with learning differences. The teachers, curriculum, and facilities are all great . It's literally been a life changer for my son. Chris

I wanted to put in a plug for Bayhill high school; where my ninth grader attends. If anyone is looking for a place to put an ''out of sync'' kid this is it. We also spent two and half years at their sister school Raskob, but I have seen a huge improvement this year in his ability to stay motivated, manage his work load, and even the social stuff seems better. My son also has issues beyond his academic challenges, and I feel the staff has gone out their way to accomadate him. For example. at my request, they instituted a morning break so that my child, (and others) could have an AM snack, and they agreed to supervise my child at lunch. I can't think of any other school that would do this, Im guessing some teachers probably have to sacrifice their own break time to make this happen. Anyway, the staff is very dedicated and my child who really needs it, gets a lot of personal attention. Happy Bayhill Parent

I have a 10th grader at Bayhill high School and she absolutly loves it there. My daughter was in public school and in special day since first grade and she never learned a lot as they only babysat her until her 7th grade special day teacher knew these kids can learn and taught them. Last year she went to Raskob which was wonderful and Raskob did not want the highschool there anymore so BayHill was made and it has the same staff from Raskob. Bayhill is a wonderful school and the class sizes are small and your child will get a lot of attention. They will modify your child's ciriculum as needed to. Everything is individulized at this school. The kids are all regular kids that can sozalize. The student body is wonderful and the kids all seem to get along well. Your child is really supervised all the time at this school where in a public high school they are not as supervised. At Bayhill all the teachers really know who your child is and the director of students knows all 53 kids by name and for who they really are.This is a wonderful school and I am so greatful to have a school like this for kids with learning differences. My daughter loves everything about the school and she has been able to become really involved in student council, yearbook, and they even have a cheerleading program at this small school. The best part of this school is the attention your child recieves and the individualness the children get. You would not make a mistake in sending your child to this fabulous school. We are extremely happy here. Happy Bayhill parent

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