I was wondering if anyone has experience or knows others with kids at Dunham Academy, a private school for gifted children in San Rafael. I am starting to look at kindergarten options for my son. Any information is appreciated. Thanks!

The school is not for everyone, nor do not accept everyone. The school's directors deeply understand the unique needs of gifted children, and are very compassionate to those special needs. The school was founded in order to meet the oft-neglected needs of intellectually gifted kids. They do marvelous job of keeping the children challenged, and disciplined, within a creative and supportive environment. Children are encouraged to go as far as they want to in any subject, and study in multi- age settings. The program is highly individualized.

There is no homework! The school feels that since the kids do meaningful hard work at school all day, the kids need down time to explore the world on their own, and just have fun. They also discourage the perfectionistic tendencies that often go hand-in-hand with being gifted.

Outside enrichment instructors handle foreign language and poetry. The poetry instructor is truly outstanding; there is no condescension, at all, to the children - poems are reviewed anonymously and honestly.

The school is a year round school, that has 6-week "programs of inquiry" centered on a specific subject (e.g. History of the Arts), and then the school closes for one week off. Writing, Math, Vocabulary, are taught every day. Weekly report cards are issued for all children; and each child has their own computer (in middle school).

The school has recently moved to a new, outstanding location, at St. Vincent's in northern San Rafael. The 150-year-old mission provides an extremely scenic environment in which to study. Dunham Academy is the only school in three counties' that addresses the needs of gifted children. The school draws children from the East Bay, San Francisco and Marin. Nueva School in Hillsborough on the Peninsula is the next closest school for gifted.

Dunham has an intimacy that can only be found in a small setting. Which has pluses and minuses - highly personalized attention, but lack of resources for things that would help the school be more organized, etc. That should change with the new location, which is able to accommodate more children, and thus more revenues. (Ironically, the school does a great job of teaching organizational skills and personal responsibility to the children). -Anon