Most school websites are built to convince you of something. This one isn’t, or at least not this page.
After sixteen years of walking families through this building, I’ve learned that the worst outcome isn’t a family choosing a different school. It’s a family choosing us when we weren’t the right place for their child, and everyone spending a year figuring that out. That’s expensive in a lot of ways, but most importantly, it’s not what’s best for your kid.
So rather than tell you why we’re wonderful, let me give you the questions I’d ask if I were you, and then answer them honestly, including the times the answer means we’re not your school.
How big do you want your school to be?
At Courtyard, we have about 135 students in the entire school. That means no marching band, no varsity football, no eight sections of fifth grade where your child can find just the right group of friends.
For some kids, that’s the whole point. But a child who thrives on a big peer group, a long list of activities, and the energy of a large campus will find us small. Not cozy, just small. If your child lights up in a crowd, there are schools around here that will be a better fit than we will, and you should, of course, go see them for yourselves.
How do you feel about two years with the same teacher?
From third grade on, our students stay with the same teacher for two years. Third and fourth share a room, fifth and sixth share another, and our seventh and eighth graders stay together as well. (Here’s how that works.) When the match is a good one, it’s the best thing we do. The teacher walks into year two already knowing your child’s handwriting, her hardest subject, and which kind of quiet means she is thinking and which kind means something is wrong.
But two years is two years. If you value the clean start of a new teacher each fall, or if it was a hard year and you want a reset, our structure works against that instinct rather than with it. It’s a real trade-off, and I won’t pretend otherwise.
Does your child need a specialized academic track?
We teach children where they are. In flexible groups, across a broad liberal arts program, including Spanish, music, drama, art, PE, along with a lot of hands-on project work.
What we don’t have is a dedicated gifted track. If your child needs an accelerated cohort moving at a specific pace, we are not set up for that. There are schools in Sacramento that have gifted programs, and I would be happy to point you toward them.
How involved do you want to be?
We ask a lot of our parents. Volunteering, showing up, knowing other families by name, being part of a community that spills well beyond pickup. Most of our families want exactly that, and it’s part of why they came.
But if you’re looking for a school that educates your child efficiently and otherwise stays out of your life, we’re going to feel like more than you signed up for.
Is the cost genuinely sustainable for you?
I’ll be direct here, because tiptoeing around it helps nobody.
Private school is a significant expense. We do work hard to keep ours all-inclusive, with extended care, meals, most field trips, and winter and spring break camps included in the tuition rather than billed separately. There is an annual registration fee and a facilities fee on top of tuition, and I would rather you heard that from me than found it at the bottom of a page. We also have a tuition assistance program, along with multiple child and prepayment discounts, and I would encourage any family who is interested to ask about them early.
But if the number only works in a year when everything goes right, that’s a hard way to spend nine years. Ask us the real questions about cost before you fall in love with the place.
So who does thrive here?
Now that I’ve spent most of the page on the other side of the question, let me answer the happier version of it.
We tend to be right for children who do their best work when the adults around them really know them, or kids who might go quiet in a bigger room. Families where both parents work and need a day that runs 7am to 6pm without it feeling like an afterthought. Parents who want their child known by name by everyone in the building, including the office staff and the after-care team.
There are a lot of wonderful kids who will love it here, and at least as many who won’t. It just isn’t for every kid or every family, and I’d rather be useful to you than persuasive.
If you’re still curious
Come see us and ask the hard questions! They’re the ones I like answering the most. You can schedule a visit, or call us at (916) 442-5395. TK and kindergarten are full for this year, but we have openings in first through eighth grade.
And if you’ve just started this whole process, our Sacramento private school comparison covers the other options honestly, and our guide to touring a school has some helpful tips for before and after the tour, plus a list of questions to ask if you want less obvious answers.
