Riverwatch Middle School

We recently moved here from Virginia. My daughter has always struggled with learning and has had an an I.E.P. (Individualized Education Program) for the last 3 years which basically means she's allowed certain accommodations to help her learn. With Riverwatch being #1 & having such high test scores and my daughter coming from a less than desirable school in Virginia (low test scores) I was concerned Riverwatch would be so focused on getting those high test scores that she'd be pushed aside as a lost cause or pushed so much to get high test scores that she'd be stressed out. However, that has NOT been the case. Her Math & ELA classes are her extra help classes and her Science & Social Studies are regular classes all four teachers have been amazing! They truly want your child to succeed & they make sure any improvement your child makes is recognized. That means if your child gets a D on a quiz but a C on the test, the teachers congratulate them on their improvement. They're not just telling the A students good job. This is SO encouraging to my daughter! She was mostly a C student before Riverwatch & now she has all A's & B's on her 1st & 2nd quarter marking periods. She is SO much more confident and is a much happy child. I know some of the improvement in my daughter is due to the way Forsyth County teaches but I also know it's mainly due to Riverwatch & their awesome teachers!
Oh and as for loads of "busy work" and homework some reviewers have talked about, that has also NOT been the case. At least so far for 6th grade. Most of her homework has been to study for a quiz or test, which is mostly done through games & videos that the teachers put on the It's Learning app Forsyth County schools use. This is a really fun way for them to study & my daughter LOVES it!

I am a senior at Lambert high school, I wrote a review a couple years back (could not find it on here?) and I still stand by every word I said. It was a VERY long and detailed review. Let me start with this: I don't know who is giving good reviews and telling you that RMS is a great school. Your children are lying to you if they tell you "oh yeah it's fine". Only specific kids have it good there, because of all the bias and favoritism the teachers posses. Although there were some nice things I remember about my time there, when I am asked how my experience was, my first response is always negative. Shoutout to Misty Southern, Melissa Ryan, Mr. Prather, Amy Johnson, Lisa Alliston, Ms. Storm, Ms. Hunley, Ms. Rodriguez, Mr. Koperniak, and a few others for being good teachers that actually care. Otherwise, most/a large portion of the teachers do not seem to care. They depend on textbooks and outdated videos to teach, and give the students too much busy work, with less time spent teaching/learning. For example, I had several teachers that did not teach at ALL, they gave busy work with fill in notes that you have to find yourself online or in textbooks. There was a lot of material given on tests/quizzes that were not taught prior to taking them. The counselors like to tell themselves that showing us sad YouTube videos and more fill in notes will definitely help every student and that they're job consists of nothing more. RMS was a huge contribution to my depression, anxiety, and more. I enjoyed participating in the plays, however there was always still some bias. Food is straight up bad. Prison food is statistically better and I'm sure 99 of the students agree. They leave no room for social life, free time outside of school, or childhood. I do NOT recommend RMS. If possible, find another school. They are straight up rude, pessimistic and give no attempt to understand the students better.

The principals don't know a thing about science!!! You can't punish a kid for being curious about science, but they did. 3 days of OSS for science, not even something unsafe like during a lab and not following instructions. Just looking up some stuff about biology on the bus. So glad I'm out of that hellhole

All I ask is for some sort of fair, respectful, positive type environment for my child to learn. Riverwatch is not that place. At least half of the administrators and teachers absolutely DO NOT CARE about the children at all. Reminds me of pushing a herd of cattle through a system. Disappointing in so many ways.

Extremely disappointed. The principal does not care for academies, but puts more emphasis on sports.
Being a parent of a student on the Academic Bowl, I thought the school would provide the money to support the club.
However, unlike schools who focus on academics and support it, they made us pay $40.
I do not mind paying the $40. However, what's shocking is that the school gives little interest in those areas.
Not just academics, but also areas like band and chorus. Student numbers increase for band every year. However, the band room's size stays the same.
The school takes pride in academics and arrogantly boasts that Riverwatch is the best public school in Georgia.
However, the reality is strikingly and shockingly different.
The real world are math and science competitions.
However, Riverwatch discourages that and so do the students who attend there.
Compared to schools like South or Piney Grove, Riverwatch lacks in a lot of areas.
Riverwatch, stop being arrogant and ignorant. Open up your eyes to see the reality.
My child tells me teachers boast about how Riverwatch is always #1 or #2 in Georgia.
And he has attended for 3 years.
Terrible, terrible school.

Extremely rude staff; principal does not care about academics. She cuts academic, music, and arts programs in favor of additional funding for the football and basketball teams. The administration/counseling staff are very rude and selectively enforce rules, always taking the word of white children over my (Asian) kids. The gym floor is renovated every year, but the band room constantly exceeds the fire department's occupancy limits because it is too small to accommodate the students. I have seen this for myself. The Spanish language program has almost been entirely cut. But guess what: the gym floor was renovated again. The science program runs on a smaller budget than the gym. Awful school. Truly awful.