St. Mary Magdalene Catholic School, Apex NC

Saint Mary Magdalene is last on the list if you consider the Catholic route for your child or children as an education route. My time here as a student was brutal. The students constantly bullied others, the teachers threatened and flipped off students, and the staff was terrible. Some students are allowed to swear, wear 49-layers of mascara, and even bully students to the point of a mental breakdown every minute. Yet some students can't even wear a single layer of lip balm, are constantly bullied and harassed by students and teachers, and receive negative comments and experiences. I am one of the latter students. There was rarely a good teacher or two, but they never lasted long. Constant harassment and negative impact could seriously damage your child's behavior, academic score, and even mental or physical damage. I never truly liked this school since it encouraged homophobia and transphobia, racism, and severe bullying. They treated me like an object, just to be used and tossed away. Future parents, please do not consider this school. It will cause severe physical and mental problems to your child or children if on the wrong side. The school is not worth it, don't spend your money on useless, terrible schools. You'll thank me later.

If your thinking about the catholic route, stmm is probably the worst option in the area. The school is filled with bullying and negative energy, not only by students, but also by teachers. Teachers are mean, they will make fun of kids grades to the whole class, and call kids names (one teacher refused to let middle schoolers drink water in their classroom). Teachers in the young grades have little to no patience, and are often yelling at little kids/toddlers in the hallways who wouldn’t know any better. Test scores have gone significantly down, and a good amount of teachers have been leaving for an unknown reasoning. Administration roams hallways doing their best to catch someone in trouble, either by harassing someone because of their clothes, “distracting makeup, ” or even because of their haircut. Let me mention that administration is taking phones and searching through them as if they own it, with no probable cause. It isn’t a great environment for your child, and I wouldn’t suggest stmm for any ages. If your looking for a nice school for your kid to feel wanted and safe in, stmm is not the place for you. Try staying the public route, or even try st. Michaels, located in Cary.

My son loves Mrs. Senn. She is great with him and honestly, he’s not the easiest kid. I feel very safe with him at SMM, and my daughter went there the previous year and loved it as well. If I didn’t have 4 kids (making it cost prohibitive) I would stick with SMM for all of their elementary and middle years. It is a sweet school with caring staff.

This school was most definitely the worst one I’ve ever gone too. The assistant principle as well as the horrible staff ruined my years here. The assistant principle patrols the halls in desperate search of anyone to get in trouble whether it be by means of stealing your cell phone or making you get a haircut. This school in no way prepared me for high school.

We have been at StMM since 2010. Our three children have all been through the preschool program and are now in the elementary school, the middle school and one even just began in High School. We have enjoyed watching our children make life-long friends and grow close to Teachers, Coaches and support staff at StMM. This is our village and we couldn't do parenthood without the direction of praying, learning, and caring from the school.

My experience here was awful. There’s so much bullying and just negative energy I couldn’t wait to get out of there. The kids are mean, the teachers are mean (except for some), everyone was just mean. Don’t waste your money on this:)

I have been a student at this school since kindergarten and am currently in eighth grade. The atmosphere of the school is super welcoming and all of the teachers are kind and enthusiastic about teaching. I have never had any experiences of bullying at this school and all of the students are kind and inclusive. I would recommend this school to anyone looking for a good education that you can have fun while getting!

We are new to St. Mary Magdalene this year. The experience for us has been incredible. The communication from the school has been good. Each week we get a newsletter from the school and teachers alike to know what's going on, as well as a call every Sunday with information for what is happening the week coming up. The new administration has been very energetic and seems to really know my kids. I constantly see pictures on the school's social media pages of things they are doing like retreats, reading to classes, and service projects. It is what I expect from a catholic school! My children's teachers have been very caring and loving. I feel very safe and know they are at a great school. Overall, I could not be more pleased with the school. I read some of the negative comments, but am not seeing these things at all. I would recommend this school to any of my friends (and have!). I look forward to seeing my kids continuing to grow at this school for years to come.