Moving to Lafayette, need info about schools

We live in Orinda not Lafayette, but my kids attend(ed) Miramonte High School and we know tons of Campo families. My kids are 11, 15 and 19 and we've lived here 15 years. Campolindo and Miramonte pull from the same extended community and are virtually identical except for 1) the different electives they offer and 2) Campo tends to be stronger in most of their sports teams and Miramonte is said to be more competitive/intense academically. Yes there is tons of parent involvement at all the schools you mention. Yes, in all Lamorinda high school kids get a lot of homework, depends on the child's class load and how many/if any AP classes but expect an average of  3-4 hours/night. That may decrease somewhat next year with the implementation of the block system. We found middle school is very manageable (homework load tends to depend on which teachers you get). Yes, in Lamorinda schools there is a heavy emphasis on sports. That being said, however, there is also a strong emphasis on other interests and by high school, you see lots of kids who are not "jocks" and who have many varied interests in and out of school: Music, Latin, Public Speaking, Videography, Dance, Sports, Drama, volunteering etc. As far as being open to new kids, 6th and 9th grade is the perfect time to integrate as all the kids converge from other schools. Miramonte actually has a decent percentage of 9th graders who come from outside of the community - can't speak to Campo on that. Good Luck! 

I've lived in Lafayette for several years. Those are all excellent schools with top-notch academics and a lot of parent involvement. This is an area that really values athletics too and there is a lot of kids who do club sports, year-round sports or who cycle through different sports depending on the season. There are both rec and competitive leagues for many sports, and in middle and high school, school sports too. Sporty kids, in particular, will have lots of opportunities to meet people. Homework depends on the teacher. My middle school kid doesn't have too much but there will always be a lot at the high school level. Most kids start here in K (we joined partway through elementary), but don't worry, the kids will find friends. If anything, it is hard for moms to "break in" and social circles have often been long established. I recommend trying to find other relative newcomers. In the early years, we hosted lots of playdates, swim parties, bbqs, etc. If you put yourself out there, you'll be fine.
 

I have a 9th and 12th grader at Campolindo (a girl and a boy) who went through the Moraga elementary and middle schools.  Both my kids made new friends that were incorporated into their social circles in both middle and high school so in our experience, it is very easy for new kids to be incorporated especially because you will have multiple elementary schools feeding into Stanley and multiple middle schools feeding into Campolindo (the majority of the kids are from either JM or Stanley, but there are also kids coming from other private schools, as well as a few from OIS).  Campo has been great for our kids, but it is a very competitive environment and has a high work load - a lot is expected academically from the kids.  This past year, Campo has partnered with Challenge Success to try to foster a more balanced environment and has looked for ways to reduce stress and improve the HS experience for the kids.  As part of that program, they are implementing a new block schedule next year which I think will be very helpful.  I think a lot also depends on the type of child you have.  My senior daughter is a perfectionist and an academic high achiever who put a lot of pressure on herself to get stellar grades while participating in her sport year-round.  So her high school experience was much more stressful and filled with very many, many late nights.  My son, on the other hand, is having a much more balanced and enjoyable freshman year.  He has participated in 2 different sports this year, but has a much more relaxed attitude about schoolwork - he is willing to put in the time to get his school work done but it's not the end of the world if he doesn't get an A (or even a B) on any particular test and he doesn't feel the need to stay up late to continually refine his essay with multiple rewrites,, so he rarely has to stay up past 11 or 11:30.  If I have one complaint about Campo, it is that the amount of work a particular course requires can vary pretty dramatically depending on the teacher, which I do not think is right.  My daughter's 11th grade regular English class teacher had a reputation for assigning a higher work load than the 11th grade Honors English class.  But overall, all the schools in the Lamorinda area are excellent with a high level of parental involvement.  There is a lot of emphasis on sports in this area, but I think that kids who are not into sports would not have any problem finding others to bond with.  If your kids are interested in sports, the other negative with Campo is is that there are so many good athletes here that it can be difficult to make the team depending on what sport they are interested in.  So a kid who might be good enough to play varsity at another high school might not be able to make the JV team at Campo, but that is probably true just for the more popular sports.  The one positive I keep hearing is that Campo academics are so rigorous that the kids have a very easy transition to college, with many finding that the college workload is easier.  I don't know if that is true, but I guess we'll be finding out next year!  Overall, I think this is a wonderful community that we feel very grateful to have.  Good luck!

We are new to the area, coming to the end of our first year in local schools. We have one child in elementary school (Burton Valley) and one in high school. We previously lived in Berkeley (to give you context). What follows are some random thoughts on the schools in no particular order. The schools are very highly resourced, which means the teachers are well-supported, there are great electives (specialists in the elementary schools), lots of opportunities for enrichment, etc. We are very happy with the teachers and administration. Burton Valley has a "no homework" policy, which I support completely. It is a pretty insular community, I find. Many of the kids have been together since pre-school, which means that it is a bit hard to break in to the kids' social words. If your kid is into athletics, sports ease the insularity somewhat, as they give kids and parents another chance to get to know each other. I don't think families and kids are aware how insular it is, which is to say that people are "nice" but it still feels difficult to scale the walls. Add to that a real lack of diversity (ethnically and socioeconomically)--I don't think you can really appreciate the lack of diversity until you sit in a school event and look around you. Wow. I think these issues are especially concentrated in high school, which may be true everywhere (that high school kids are loyal to their groups and leary of outsiders), but high school is painful anyway...add in the homogeneity and insularity, and it is very very easy to feel like an outsider in the local high schools. There is a lack of diversity, the lack of mobility (kids have been together all their lives), a somewhat rigid conventionality among the teens, and a very strong focus on status tied to wealth (I doubt the kids see it this way, but I have overheard conversations that demonstrate that many teens here are absorbed in brands, status symbols, neighborhood hierarchies, etc). Makes high school hard, depending, of course, on your child. The academics are reportedly strong compared to many high schools, though I find a lack of creativity in the classrooms (likely due to standardization). So I think it is a real mixed bag. I have talked with young adults who came through these schools who feel they were well served academically but were glad to get away from the social nonsense (again, a sentiment likely true for many many high school kids). I guess it all depends what you feel is most valuable in a school.