Description: Joyful Noise Christian School provides a challenging, innovative educational program. It is designed to foster self-respect and provide choices that encourage a spirit of co-operation. We offer creativity and a love of learning in an exceptionally clean, safe and nurturing environment. Our curriculum is enhanced by the loving teachings of Jesus Christ. We teach children that God has a purpose and plan for their lives. We believe when children understand they are fearfully and wonderfully made, their respect for self and others will blossom as they reach their full potential in life.
Joyful Noise is run by religious fanatics who teach about God's love (which would be OK, but...) from a basis of sin and evil. Despite talking about all of the students as "friends", they steadfastly refuse to give you a list of parent contact information making it a bit more challenging (but not impossible) to build relationships outside of school. And, if you dare question Ms Deborah, you will be summarily dismissed via letter handed to you as you walk out the door. Here's why this school isn't for us, and why we were dismissed: One day, my _3yo_ cherub came home asking why "Jesus' friends hung him up on the cross and killed him." When I asked the teacher, director and asst director about it, they said they had no clue where it came from, but not them. The following week, my cherub started chanting "there is evil, there is evil" in her best heavy metal/hair band voice (having never heard that kind of music). The third sign was when they ended the Christmas pagent with "Jesus was born so he could die for all of us sinners." (Really? for a 2-5yo play?) When Lent came around, I asked for her to please be excused from discussions of the death and resurrection of Christ. In response, via a letter (with my cherub's name misspelled throughout but telling me how special my child is), that said that death is natural and I shouldn't shy away from it (hard to with family member dying of cancer and aunts dog recently dying, BTW), and that, ultimately, the school declined my request saying all students participate in everything. Eventually, we had a meeting. During that meeting, they showed me the book the teacher reads during lent (I have a picture of that page to this day). It reads, "It was a sad day. The bad men didn't like Jesus. They put him on the cross. And he died." Even after showing me that text, they denied that it was possible that a 3 year old would make the connection to putting him on the cross/him dying, and Jesus being killed. a long discussion ensued with me basically saying, but she did (since we don't talk about Jesus at home). When I asked if they could just start with "jesus died", they told me No. It was true, and when was I going to start talking to my obviously intelligent 3 year old about bad people. Two weeks later, I got a follow-up letter saying that they believe her fascination with death has nothing to do with them and everything to do with me letting her watch Disney movies (ahem, I've never seen Jesus in a Disney story!) Ultimately, we were let go because the school heard that I was still unhappy (the ONLY thing I had said was that she would not be enrolled in summer or fall ... and when pushed ... because we have different philosophies on what is 3yo appropriate). We were dismissed by means of an impersonal letter handed to me as we walked out the door vs. a face-to-face conversation - even though I had been there for 10 minutes watching my cherub play with friends. And it was effective immediately (meaning my cherub could not say goodbye to any friends). When I asked if I could leave our contact info, I was told that the asst director would have to check with the director, but probably not. #NotVeryChristian #Doesn'tShowCareORConcernForMyChild FWIW, my cherub LOVED her twos teacher and the friends she made at school. And I know other parents are happy/don't have their kids repeating the sin and evil and damnation quotes. So ... if you don't mind that, the school may be for you. But Lord help you if you have any questions or in any way disagree with the director. She's too weak to talk to your face if she knows you'll disagree. She handles everything through letters and the ever-smiling (equally conflict averse) asst director Ms. Jessica.