Esencia TK-8 in Rancho Mission Viejo

Category	Rating	Details
Test Scores	10/10	The Test Score Rating examines how students at this school performed on standardized tests compared with other schools in the state. The Test Rating was created using 2025 California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) data from California Department of Education, and using 2025 California Science Test data from California Department of Education.
Student Growth	9/10	The Student Progress Rating measures whether students at this school are making academic progress over time based on student growth data provided by the Department of Education. Specifically, this rating looks at how much progress individual students have made on state assessments during the past year or more, how this performance aligns with expected progress based on a student growth model established by the state Department of Education, and how this school's growth data compares to other schools in the state. The Growth Rating was created using 2025 Student growth data from California Department of Education.

Posted: August 29, 2026

Wonderful experience with all teachers at this school, based on learning/development and state grading scales. A great sense of community and wonderful teachers who make elementary school fun.

Posted: August 29, 2026

Posted: July 12, 2026

Spanish teacher does not teach Spanish, terrible teachers, not enough room, lunch is inedible, facilities are dirty, 0/100.

Posted: July 12, 2026

Posted: April 26, 2026

This school has failed children. Middle school here is awful! No homework, a crazy grading scale and no teaching going on. The principal is scared of his own shadow. Kids have cellphones out always taking pictures of other kids and posting to social media. RUDE front desk staff .

Posted: April 26, 2026

Posted: March 1, 2026

Extreme overcrowding and grotesquely few resources, which is particularly shocking given the wealth in the area. Astonishingly poor facilities, large class sizes and uncaring administration are reminiscent of the worst inner city schools. The relatively good testing scores here derive from a pedagogy focused exclusively on teaching to testing standards while simultaneously pushing out "underperforming" students rather than supporting them.

Posted: March 1, 2026

Posted: January 9, 2026

We recently transferred our daughter to Esencia School from St. Anne School in Laguna Niguel, where the academics had become overwhelmingly rigorous. Recess was being cut excessively, and the kids were expected to sit and learn all daysomething we felt was counterproductive to a childs ability to focus and enjoy learning. After trying to make it work for another year at nearly $20k annually, we realized we werent getting the balanced, enriching education we had hoped for.

Esencia has been a complete breath of fresh air. The teachers are amazingpatient, kind, and truly skilled at teaching. Our daughter comes home excited to learn and eager to share what shes learned, which is a huge change from being forced to sit through lessons. While class sizes are larger, the teachers are well-prepared and handle it beautifully. She thrives with three recesses a day, and we see her confidence and enthusiasm grow each week.

The parent community is just as wonderful. Parents are genuinely kind and supportive of one another, which is rare compared to other schools weve experienced. Being involved with the PTSA, Ive also been so impressed by how engaged and accessible the principal is. He is hands-on, communicates effectively, and genuinely listenssomething that makes the community feel incredibly supported.

The school itself is outstanding, with state-of-the-art classrooms, gardens, and facilities. Yes, its a bit crowded now, but with a new school opening soon, things will balance out. We feel truly blessed to be part of such a warm, welcoming, and exceptional school community. The homework is just the right amount, the teachers are up-to-date with their training, and our daughters love of learning has been rekindled. We couldnt recommend Esencia moreit has been an incredible experience for our family.

Posted: July 11, 2025

The school is way too overcrowded making it so the teachers and staff cannot truly support students. The kindergarten is so overrun and getting bigger. Some of the teachers are great, but there are some that are so unsupportive, especially given the age of these kids, kindness would go a long way. We just kept hearing "I have 28 other students, I cannot spend more time with each student."

Posted: July 11, 2025

Posted: May 7, 2025

This school is very disappointing. We thought since the school is small that they will provide relatively proper oversight , supervision as well as more caring environment. I was wrong. Even though it has capacity limits, they keep increasing enrollment so it is overcrowded. This Middle School provide nothing other than minimum curricula compare to other school in the district.
The language and behavior that is prevail in this middle school is beyond any one can imagine. Racial slurs, sexist remarks and inappropriate behaviors are prevalent. No monitoring or supervision over these kids and they act up since there's no one watching them or report them making them accountable for their actions.

Posted: May 7, 2025

Posted: March 4, 2025

Kindergarten classes are much too large
Sone teachers lack necessary experience needed. No real help for students with learning difficulties other than to recommend a different school

Posted: March 4, 2025

Posted: August 28, 2024

As other reviews have stated, for the moment, we have amazing teachers at this school, but the school is very overcrowded and not equipped to handle the number of students. My guess is we start to see those teachers start to leave as better opportunities arise.

Class sizes are well above what they should be, and the campus is filled to capacity with portables (with more, somehow, planned). There are not enough amenities at recess or lunch to go around for the kids, and kids often miss out on lunch as the lines are too long to serve everyone.

The administrators don't have time to develop relationships with parents due to the overcrowding. When complaints are raised about how things are administered at the school, the principal and other administrators just state that they can't do anything other than the bare minimum based on the number of students they have to deal with. Rules are often put in place based on the fact that administrators and support staff don't have capacity to learn the students' name, but have to treat them as a faceless mob. They manage to the minimum goal of maintaining safety, rather than fostering personal student growth. You can feel that the principal has given up at this point, as his hands are tied.

The school will be growing even larger in the next two years as more houses are being built in the community without a plan to build more schools or redistribute students. In a community of multi-million dollar homes and very generous PSTA, the school is run like a poor inner-city school scraping for resources.

Copying from an earlier review, there is no gymnasium, music hall/room, assembly room, or play/dance/meeting assembly room like you would normally find at elementary or middle schools, either.

I would advise those looking to move to RMV in the next two years to look elsewhere or budget for private schools based on the current situation at this school.

Posted: August 28, 2024

Posted: February 27, 2024

Too many cliques, many kids go excluded and unnoticed. Endless homework every day. Some of the teachers really just have you practically copy entire text book chapters as notes each week then give you a test weekly so they dont have to put any really effort into actual teaching. Just tedious busy work. No real support for the kids that struggle academically or socially. It often feels like white, privileged kids are given preferential treatment by some of the teachers, particularly in drama class, this class is not very inclusive at all.

Posted: February 27, 2024

Posted: October 9, 2023

I have two young sons that attend this school, and all of the teachers we've had so far have been exceptional. However, this school severely lacks resources, facilities, and greenery. For example, there is no gymnasium, music hall/room, assembly room, or play/dance/meeting assembly room like you would normally find at elementary or middle schools. Instead the school has performances, plays, parent meetings, music, and everything else in the "library", which is just a medium sized room in the administration building. The books are all on wheeled carts so they can move the entire library into the corner when there is a school play or meeting of some kind.
Parents will often sit on the floor because there are not enough chairs in this small space.

In a nutshell, most of the space for this school went to administration offices instead of for the kids and they landscaped it on the cheap. Furthermore, there is next to zero shade at this school, so many of the young students have to eat their lunch in the blazing sun (it can get extremely hot this far inland), and there are no mature trees to provide shade for the kids at recess so a lot of kids will sit in the tiny bit of shade provided by a handball wall or a pole. There are 5'x5' spots in the blacktop trees should have gone, but trees were never planted. Parents experience the same lack of shade at school pickup and bake in the sun. There also is no shade or cover from rain from the class rooms to the library, bathrooms, or lunch area so kids get rained on when they walk out of the classroom during those occasional rainy socal days.

Lastly, the school is severely impacted because Rancho Mission Viejo builds houses first, and schools last. The small amount of real estate dedicated to Escencia is filling up quickly with portables, and more are coming now that Reinda is being built out. Although another elementary school is planned to be built at Reinda, there is no timeline that I am aware of as to when it will be completed, and ground has not yet been broken on it. Another 10-ish portables will be added in 2023, and I really have no clue as to where they are going to fit all these classrooms in this school as it's already out of space.

Posted: October 9, 2023

Posted: January 19, 2023

I am concerned about the lack of follow through or even care when children are being harassed or bullied. There have been multiple situations and beginning to become physical. Children spitting on others is absolutely ridiculous. Harassment of any kind is unacceptable. Does a child have to actually be punch in the face or worse for people to take things seriously? Issues have been brought to attention multiple times, to be swept under the rug with no repercussions. There is no other choice but to escalate to the superintendent/school board. Our children need to be protected.

Posted: March 22, 2022

I have been very please with this school so far. I have two sons that have been with the school for two years and four years (since it opened). The teachers have been exceptional! They have art and music classes, and they also have access to after school enrichment classes like chess, drama and sports. They take a different approach to homework, focusing on reading and extract curricular activists instead, which I really like. The classrooms are set up with flex spaces, so the students can choose how they work best (e.g., desks, reading corners, flex stools, bean bags).

If you child is struggling in certain areas, most teachers are quick to communicate. Ive also frequently had teachers communicate positive behaviors and advancement outside of report card time, which is nice.

The principle and vice principle are professional while also being approachable from both a parent and kids perspective. There is an office staffer that is amazing, very helpful and approachable. Other office staff can be a little prickly, but in my experience if you keep it respectful, and keep your patience, theyll warm up and become more helpful.

In my experience, they deal with inappropriate student behavior well. They actively work with students and parents to work through whatever the issue may be, preventing bullying behavior.

Posted: March 9, 2022

I am so disappointed, as the school does not have enough resources. Capistrano Unified School District offers bus shuttle for many elementary and middle schools, but not Esencia. Esencia-8 have students from both Esencia area and the Sendero community 3 miles away, but the Capistrano District thinks that all students are local, which is totally not true!

Saddleback community college offers many after-school programs for middle schools , but not for Esencia K-8!

Today I feel this school is so left out! The school leaders need to fight hard for the students and parents!

Posted: February 20, 2020

Fantastic! TK program and Mrs. Barry go above and beyond.

Posted: February 20, 2020

Posted: October 29, 2019

Fantastic experience preschool through Kindergarten. Teachers are hard-working, structured, but compassionate. Great balance in curriculum, highly recommend.

Posted: October 29, 2019

Posted: October 28, 2019

Love this school, amazing teachers and staff. The principal is a wonderful leader and the kids absolutely love to be around him.

Posted: October 28, 2019

Posted: August 12, 2019

THEY HAVE EXCELLENT COMMUNICATION WITH THE PARENTS THEY GO EXTRA MILES TO DO THE BEST FOR EACH STUDENT

Posted: August 12, 2019

EVEN THOUGH IS A NEW SCHOOL THEY KNOW WHAT IS THE BEST FOR EACH STUDENT, THEY LISTEN CAREFULLY AND HELP TO GROW

Posted: March 21, 2019

Esencia is a wonderful new school. The administration and teachers are very active and go the extra mile to support a positive learning environment. We are looking forward to grow with the school as it expands into the middle school grades with 6th grade opening next year.

Posted: January 16, 2019

Our 5th grade teacher is passionate, motivating and organized

Posted: January 16, 2019

Principal Wellikson is a fantastic leader. He is welcoming and effective.

Posted: January 16, 2019

No homework policy gives kids ample time to get excited about reading rather than repetitive worksheets

Posted: January 16, 2019

This brand new school rocks! From the office staff,the friendly maintaince guys, and of course the teachers -Esencia has made my daughter excited to learn again. She has made fantastic friends and is truly excited to go to school each day. Many kids walk and ride bikes eliminating traffic. There is ample parking on both sides of the street and as a neighborhood school lots of families are easily able to get to school without a vehicle. Everything is communicated and well organized. After attending a well known yet chaotic charter, this is a breath of fresh air.

Posted: October 15, 2018

This school is fairly new and so far it's very limited in a lot of areas. We have attended some amazing schools in the past, but this one has yet to figure things out. Hopefully they figure things out soon.
There are multiple gates at this school, yet students are forced to walk completely around the school to the only gate open, this is absolutely ridiculous and creates a lot of stress in the morning. Particularly for the kids that are already walking 20 minutes to school. There is no real valid reason for this. They could have a parent volunteer monitor the side gates, but they chose to just keep them closed despite the huge inconvenience it causes students and parents.
They make all the kids sit at the blacktop every single day, so we do not ever allow our kids to wear nice clothes, unless we want them ruined. Our others schools, allowed for morning lineup by the classroom unless it was the weekly announcements day.
Kids are marked tardy and made to go to the front office even if they're practically in line as they were not "technically" in line when the bell rings. This is absurd and a waste of time. Not to mention that kids wouldn't be late if the side gates were opened and the kids didn't have to walk around the school to get into it.
At lunchtime, kids are obligated to only sit at their classroom table, this limits their ability to make choices, meet new friends. Kids aren't allowed on the playground during their recess as younger kids are using it, this is also rediculous. Kids not being able to use the playground during their own recess is nonsense.

Posted: October 15, 2018

A few of the teachers are good, but a lot of the teachers have very little experience and seem to be right out of college. Kids spend a lot of their classroom time in front of a computer while the teachers just plays music and sit in her chair. No actual real teaching seems to be done. If we wanted our kids staring at a screen, we'd keep them home.

Posted: October 15, 2018

Not a fan of the principal here. He seems clueless and tries too hard to be "fun and friendly", but he comes across as obnoxious and not really helpful in the areas that matter.

Posted: October 15, 2018

#	Name	Type	City	State	Distance
1	Whispering Winds Apartments	Apartment Complex	San Clemente	CA	6.1 mi
2	Copper Canyon	Neighborhood/Subdivision	Murrieta	CA	20.4 mi
3	The Ranchos	Neighborhood/Subdivision	Murrieta	CA	21.2 mi
4	Amberwalk Townhomes	Neighborhood/Subdivision	Murrieta	CA	22.3 mi
5	Montecito village apartments	Apartment Complex	Oceanside	CA	27.6 mi
6	St. Cloud	Condominium/Townhouse	Oceanside	CA	27.8 mi
7	Mira Costa Estates	Neighborhood/Subdivision	Oceanside	CA	28.9 mi
8	Redhawk	Neighborhood/Subdivision	Temecula	CA	29.2 mi
9	Palisades Pointe	Neighborhood/Subdivision	Carlsbad	CA	30.8 mi
10	Shadowridge	Neighborhood/Subdivision	Vista	CA	32.3 mi
11	Windsor at Aviara	Apartment Complex	Carlsbad	CA	34.5 mi
12	Rancho Carrillo	Neighborhood/Subdivision	Carlsbad	CA	35.5 mi
13	La Costa	Neighborhood/Subdivision	Carlsbad	CA	35.5 mi
14	Torrey Highlands	Neighborhood/Subdivision	San Diego	CA	46.5 mi

#	Name	City	State	Distance
1	Downtown	San Clemente	CA	7.7 mi
2	West Side	murrieta	CA	21.6 mi
3	Murrieta	Murrieta	CA	25.2 mi
4	Downtown Oceanside	Oceanside	CA	26.6 mi
5	Murrieta, California	Murrieta	CA	27.6 mi
6	Temecula, California	Temecula	CA	28.4 mi
7	Lake Rancho Viejo	Fallbrook	CA	29.3 mi
8	Carlsbad	Carlsbad	CA	29.7 mi
9	Encinitas	Encinitas	CA	38.6 mi
10	Torrey Highlands	San Diego	CA	46.6 mi

Base	Distance
Camp Pendleton	16.9 mi.
March Air Reserve Base	31.6 mi.
Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station	31.9 mi.
Los Alamitos JFTB	36.1 mi.

Esencia TK-8

Rancho Mission Viejo, CA 92694

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Esencia TK-8

Rancho Mission Viejo, CA 92694

School Ratings

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