Holy Spirit in Annandale has a dedicated resource center for kids who need extra supports. https://www.holyspiritflames.org/inspiring-minds/resource-program-expanded-services/ |
St. Bernadette in Springfield has a partnership with Sliding Doors, so maybe their work with other K-8s too? I would reach out to SD and find out what other schools they work with to help get specific dyslexia information. Here is St B’s info: https://www.stbernschool.org/student-life/learning-resource-center |
You really need to ask each prospective school. Some will agree and some will not. Local NoVA Catholic schools fit the average student and few handle exceptions well. |
Sliding Doors was fantastic for our dyslexic child. |
A number of schools have OG certified teachers. When we toured for K, it was specifically called at at St Thomas Moore (Arlington), St Agnes (Arlington), and St Luke (McLean). Can’t say how good the services are but they do exist. |
Several of the bigger parish schools will tend to be less cliquey than the smaller ones. Not that the smaller ones are. The bigger ones - St. Agnes, St. Luke's, OLGC, etc. tend to have move kids move in and out of the school allowing for new friendships. Generally, the smaller ones like St. Anns do not have as much movement. Most schools also have orientation for new parents over the summer and at least for St. Agnes be assigned a host family that will introduce them to other St. Agnes families. We are at St. Agnes and regularly have parents from overseas countries enroll their children in St. Agnes (this is true of Australian and Canadian military - some are not necessarily catholic either). They do this because catholic school curriculum is basically the same all over the world. They are at St. Agnes for 2-3 years and then are transferred elsewhere. This generates a less cliquey atmosphere because there is a smallish portion of kids moving in and out. |
This area is so transient. I think that really reduces the clique-ness that you’ll find at a place where families stay put and people have grown up together. There’s so many military families and other people who move in and out for work. I genuinely wouldn’t worry about that in NoVA parochial schools. |
Sounds like public schools would be a better fit |
+1. This area is much more transient than most metro areas in the USA. |
Not OP but I live in Mclean and this is interesting because there are definitely lifers in this area especially on the Potomac/Little Langley crowd and it’s annoying (where our DS/DD are at). Actually looking at St Luke’s and OLGC (we are Catholic) for a change of the country club clique like parents who all know each other |
Out of curiosity, how many of the schools names here are easy for non-parishioners to get into? We were waitlisted at our local school as parish members. I'm curious if that's common around NoVa or just Alexandria. |
From the grapevine, I’ve heard the parochial Alexandria schools are very hard to get into especially as non parishioners due to the exponentially growing population |
I would look at St. James, OLGC and St. Marks or St. Lukes |
Not OP but looking into these schools. Even though the diocesan curriculum is the “same”, it seems like each school has its own strengths and weaknesses and different community feel. Do families travel a little further because it seems like a better fit (15 minutes instead of 5 minutes)? |
The difficulty getting in for a parishioner is generally inversely related to the rating of the districted public school. ( so for example it’s easier for a Catholic resident of Falls Church City to get into Saint James than an Alexandria resident to get into Saint Mary’s or Blessed Sacrament.) Post Covid, however, admissions for most of the NoVa parish schools have been tougher across the board. |