2E 7 year old girl - help us pls on school choice!

I have two 2e kids and they both went to Walden Center and School in Berkeley. It was a fantastic experience for both! My 16 year olds core group of friends are kids that went to Walden with her even though they are all indifferent high schools now. It is arts based and bullying is NOT part of Walden. Check it out!

Check out Park Day School.  It has been fabulous for us!  My child is not 2E, but does have other considerations.  I have been impressed that it is not seen as "exceptional" but the norm, as there is high prevalence in the school, and the school is structured from that point of view.  Great with socio-emotional development and context, as well as adjusting academics for the student.

I’ve had two sensitive boys at all three institutions.

-DiVinci did not work for us.
-Big Minds is super nurturing and may be the best fit. It’s not academically challenging though. We were there 3 years and our son told us he needed more.

-we also attended Berkwood Hedge and I highly recommend you check it out. Small, nurturing, great program and individual attention. 
-Bentley- we are there now but I wouldn’t recommend starting there now. Let her get comfortable and feel safe before putting g her in a very high academic environment. It’s intense, so a strong emotional/social foundation is essential.

feel free to PM me for more details.

I highly recommend that you check out Aurora School in Oakland to see if it matches your daughter's needs. It's a small, progressive school that has focused on social-emotional learning since it opened in 1988. They are well-equipped to differentiate for the needs of high achievers with their multi-age classrooms, low teacher-student ratio, and focus on the whole child. While we have not confirmed it with a diagnosis, we have been told that my daughter could possibly qualify as 2E, and she is thriving at Aurora. We have established and maintained strong and transparent communication with the school since the admissions process, and this has made a world of difference. My daughter has made great friends and her teachers are the most supportive and flexible educators you can find. She is developing lots of confidence and a sense of her place in the world. This is definitely a non-bullying community! Good luck to you in your search. The right school makes all the difference.

We were a very happy Sunnyside family except needed an in person school this year and they are distance learning for the forseeable future.  If you don't find a school home for her, definitely pick up Sunnyside again when she is in 3rd grade.  I can't say enough great things about them.  We moved our 2E 5th grader to Crestmont School in Richmond and so far its been very good.  They are so small that they can work with neurodiversity and the community seems to have a lot of capacity for compassion and patience with each kiddo.  We've only been there a couple months (and they are still distance learning mode for 5th grade right now).  It is a very sweet school that is worth checking out for sure.  (they have K-8 classes)

We've tried a few schools for my 2E daughter. DaVinci was a disaster for us. We started at Crestmont School in Richmond last year and it is working out pretty well so far. Lots of neurodiversity there and great teachers.

This is a challenge and I sympathize with you as you search for a good match.  If social emotional needs are your major concern, I would not recommend Davinci.  The director made some very bad choices with our child making a challenging social situation (years ago) much worse.  I have heard good things about Big Minds, though I have no personal experience with them.  Bummer about Sunnyside.  Awesome program in all respects. Bentley is going to be a more traditional school experience.  If you child needs extra attention, I don't know if that will fit the bill. Best of luck.

Feel free to reach out to me.  We also live in the Lamorinda area and I have been looking for the same type of school without luck.  Happy to connect and share information. 

If you’re looking for a school where kindness is a core value and you feel it from the kids and adults, please look into Contra Costa Jewish Day School in Lafayette. Great academics, too. It was a wonderful school for our son. 

So sorry for your daughter’s bullying experience. My twin daughters attended Berkeley’s School of the Madeleine from K-8 and received an excellent education and more importantly inculcated sound values rooted in kindness and compassion. The school’s motto is “let’s be good to one another” and the follow up response is “pass it on.” Those values were repeated every morning during student assemblies. Perhaps we just got lucky that the group of students they attended elementary school with for nine years are an exception but their parents were also quite wonderful and I remain good friends with many. I do recall that during 4th grade there was a problem with a click of girls wanting to unkindly exclude a student but the teacher intervened and all the girls in the class had several group meetings and training about the negative impact of “cliques.” 

At 20YO my daughters continue to maintain very strong friendships with their Madeleine friends. My daughter shared that only 2-3 MAD-mates are not attending college. 
Their father and his five siblings also attended Madeleine and most still maintain close friendships with their MAD-mates. My husband’s class graduated in 1968 and have had regular reunions throughout five decades! Although it’s a parochial school perhaps half are not catholic, this includes staff. Their 6th grade teacher was Jewish and she was exceptional! I wish you the best finding a safe school for your daughter. 

Please feel free to message me privately about our experience at DaVinci. We enrolled in Crestmont School in Richmond mid-year last year. We haven't been there long, but so far it is the best fit that we have found for our 2E daughter.

We have been so happy since we found the Burkard School, which is specifically for bright children with ASD, ADHD, and similar disorders requiring extra support in the classroom. They are a relatively new K-8 school. My daughter now has friends, feels smart, and enjoys school. The only negative is that it is in San Mateo. Besides that, it is perfect for us, and we're able to make the commute work. The school even received a waiver for in-person education, since the school is so small, they have excellent safety practices, and they serve students with (minor) special needs. Feel free to contact me off-list if the location isn't a deal-breaker. (That goes for anyone else reading the message in the future.)

I also have a 2e 7 year old (turning 8 in a couple weeks). We had a bad experience with DaVinci, and it turns out that's not uncommon (I'd be happy to say more if there's a way to PM me on BPN. We moved her to Crestmont halfway through last school year and could not be happier with our decision.

We asked our Davidson consultant about Crestmont, she told us there were a few Davidson families enrolled, but that they haven't been in contact much, which is usually a good sign that they don't need help getting appropriate acceleration and services (for those not familiar, Davidson sets up kids in the 99.9th percentile for IQ with services).

When I called to set up a visit it was clear that Dianne, the Head of School, had a good grasp of giftedness and attendant concerns. We were able to go for two visits to see which grade level best suited her. They ended up accelerating her one grade past where she would be based on age, which has been better for her socially than the other option of accelerating her further, while still giving her advanced work that is tailored to her. Also the split grades helps with the social aspect, since she was in a 1/2 split in 2nd and a 2/3 split now, so half the class is her age (I assume it won't always work out this way but it's nice when it does).

Right now she's into sea life in that in-depth way gifted kids are often into things. Her teacher is working with her on an individual project on the various forms of sea life at the different levels of the ocean. He really is letting her run with it and make it her own, while providing guidance on evaluating research sources, planning out what she will write, etc. I'm constantly blown away at how well her teacher is able to differentiate for her over distance learning. My only regret is that we didn't find Crestmont when she was younger, because Mama Kay has to be the most magical and amazing K teacher there ever was- I feel lucky my younger daughter will have the opportunity to be in her class. But really I have never seen a teacher in action there who wasn't awesome. 

Crestmont also recently started a twice-monthly support group for parents of children with learning differences, which just seems par for the course in terms of the type of community support at Crestmont. I really think it's the unicorn of schools for 2e kids.