Richmond Annex & Fairmont Elementary Advice
Hello,
We moved from Brooklyn 2 months ago and need to figure out where to live after our short term rental is over January 1. Our 4 year old will be registering for public kindergarden from our new address so we really want to find the right fit. She is a smart and sensitive kid - and we are looking for a friendly environment where being a good, caring member of the group is emphasized. It would be great to have a progressive curriculum and high test scores are not too important to us. Richmond Annex seems like a nice spot that is still relatively affordable. If you live there I'd love to hear your thoughts on the neighborhood and schools. I am an artist and my husband works at a museum - I also work remotely for my old job in NYC so afternoon kindergarden would not work with my work hours, or match with our younger daughters preschool hours. If you have any advice on that as well I'd love to hear it. Also on the table for us is renting a super small place in South Berkeley to be in BUSD. What do you think? If you have experience with both BUSD and Fairmont that would be amazing.
Thank you!
Parent Replies
WCCUSD holds K registration the first full week of January, so this may all be moot; if you don't have your paperwork in order showing an in-boundary residence you will not be allowed to register (until you do, and then you're on the wait list). Fairmont is a nice school. Very diverse, both economically, culturally, & racially. I am not sure what a "progressive" curriculum means; all public schools in CA follow the Common Core and they do a great job with it. The learn-to-read program in K is amazing. Kindy is now what is called full-time, 8:30-1:45, with an option for paid onsite childcare until 6. (Beginning in first grade, there is a free afterschool program also onsite.) We are a Fairmont family but live in El Cerrito so will leave it to others to speak to the Annex neighborhood vibe.