Differences Between Alexandria Parochials St. Marys, St. Ritas, Blessed Sacrament?

[Anonymous]

Can anyone highlight the known differences between the three most popular Alexandria parochial schools for K-8, e.g., St. Mary's, St. Rita's, and Blessed Sacrament? We are considering these, and would like feedback from families who attend. Is there one that is most "conservative?" How do they stack up re: academics, athletics, and extra curricular activities?

[Anonymous]

Generally, St. Mary's is the most conservative, followed by Blessed Sacrament and then St. Rita's.

The all have the same curriculum.

[Anonymous]

St. Mary's is significantly larger - 725 students in 2012, vs 328 at Blessed Sacrament and 200 at St. Rita's.

[Anonymous]

If you are not an active parishioner, getting into St. Mary's and Blessed Sacrament will be next to impossible.

[Anonymous]

I don't have direct experience but I recently attended an Open House for both schools.

St. Mary's was quite impressive in terms of facilities (for example state-of-the-art science lab for MS, separate cafeteria and gymnasium), administration (very professional and well-run open house presentation), and technology integration (I saw tablets being used by some middle school math students). The middle school students who gave the tour belonged to the National Junior Honor Society and were well-spoken. The overall environment in the school was very traditional, strict, disciplined and structured. I wasn't sure if that would be a good fit for my active child but maybe the structure would be just what she needs. Class sizes were about 26 kids. The school has a wide range of extracurricular and enrichment opportunities, definitely more than Blessed Sacrament but given the large school size that makes sense. From what I understand, St. Mary's has a lot of kids whose parents and grandparents attended the school.

Blessed Sacrament is very different from St. Mary's. It is much smaller with only 1 class per grade and had a warmer, more intimate community feel to it that I liked very much. It's still a traditional school. There is a lovely playground and turf field - it was nice to see the green space which is something St. Mary's doesn't have. The students also have very high standardized test scores which parents on the open house tour were invited to review. The principal said that area high schools report their kids are well-prepared for the rigors of high school academics. The principal also reported that kids go on to many schools including not only Bishop Ireton and Bishop O'Connell but also TC Williams, SSSAS, Gonzaga, Visitation, Holy Child, Madeira, Episcopal HS and even NCS. I preferred Blessed Sacrament but was worried about the large class sizes with 28 kids per class (1 teacher plus with 1 assistant for K-4). The principal said the teachers practice differentiation to address the students' different needs and I did see kids broken out into smaller groups for activities but it still seemed like a lot! I would worry about my child getting lost in the shuffle. Other minor things that bothered me - small library, no lockers for MS kids and no hot lunch program.

[Anonymous]

If you are considering any of the schools I would recommend you attend Mass at the Churches for a few Sundays. You will quickly get a feel for the type of families who attend. I will leave it at that

[Anonymous]

My DC is at St. Marys in OT, and it's VERY conservative, however, I'm meeting more and more quiet Liberals - gives me hope

My DC is in K, and reading on a 5th grade reading level, and has a tailored curriculum for his needs. There aren't gifted programs at SMS, so I really have to rely on both his teachers to keep him focused, and we have some fun enrichment games at home. I like the school, the staff, and particularly his teachers for testing him and knowing his needs. I knew going in that he would be bored in K.

[Anonymous]

St. Marys is HUGE. 3 and 4 classes per grade k-5. Very little in the way of "differentiated" learning is done. If your child is too far on eeither end of the spectrum (gifted ; special needs) he/she will not be accomodated. Lots of families leave after 2nd grade (sacrament year) to attend the local gifted center. There is zero diversity at St Marys. Math curriculum is somewhat of a disaster there...many students get tutoring. St Marys uses Sadlier Oxford texts.
St Rita is a lovely small school, with lots of diversity and very small classes (which can be a negative as well - with only 30 kids per grade). The faculty and admin take a real interest in each individual student's needs. Math is Singapore math.

[Anonymous]

PP, can you provide any more information on St. Rita's? What are the extracurricular programs like? Social opportunities? Does 30 kids per grade mean 30 kids per class?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't have direct experience but I recently attended an Open House for both schools.

St. Mary's was quite impressive in terms of facilities (for example state-of-the-art science lab for MS, separate cafeteria and gymnasium), administration (very professional and well-run open house presentation), and technology integration (I saw tablets being used by some middle school math students). The middle school students who gave the tour belonged to the National Junior Honor Society and were well-spoken. The overall environment in the school was very traditional, strict, disciplined and structured. I wasn't sure if that would be a good fit for my active child but maybe the structure would be just what she needs. Class sizes were about 26 kids. The school has a wide range of extracurricular and enrichment opportunities, definitely more than Blessed Sacrament but given the large school size that makes sense. From what I understand, St. Mary's has a lot of kids whose parents and grandparents attended the school.

Blessed Sacrament is very different from St. Mary's. It is much smaller with only 1 class per grade and had a warmer, more intimate community feel to it that I liked very much. It's still a traditional school. There is a lovely playground and turf field - it was nice to see the green space which is something St. Mary's doesn't have. The students also have very high standardized test scores which parents on the open house tour were invited to review. The principal said that area high schools report their kids are well-prepared for the rigors of high school academics. The principal also reported that kids go on to many schools including not only Bishop Ireton and Bishop O'Connell but also TC Williams, SSSAS, Gonzaga, Visitation, Holy Child, Madeira, Episcopal HS and even NCS. I preferred Blessed Sacrament but was worried about the large class sizes with 28 kids per class (1 teacher plus with 1 assistant for K-4). The principal said the teachers practice differentiation to address the students' different needs and I did see kids broken out into smaller groups for activities but it still seemed like a lot! I would worry about my child getting lost in the shuffle. Other minor things that bothered me - small library, no lockers for MS kids and no hot lunch program.

This poster sums it up nicely, and I agree with much of it, except we preferred St. Mary's to BS. DC is in K at St. Mary's; there are 4 K classes this year (usually 3), and his has 24 students. We are not parishioners at either. DC obviously got into St. Mary's but I'm sure only because they went to 4 K classes this year and we applied the day applications were released. DC was wait listed at BS, and DH was the first non-parishioner to turn the application in. They seemed to be considering going to two classes next year (mentioned in the waitlist letter) but later decided against it. We preferred St. Mary's because of all the things PP mentioned. We considered the size of St. Mary's as a plus, and the small size of BS to be a minus (different strokes for different folks). I worried about the lack of green space at St. Mary's, but the kids seem to make up a lot of fun games playing on the large black top (plus bball, kickball, soccer, etc), plus they also play on the small playground. St. Mary's has lots of extracurriculars, even for K students--kindergarteners can participate in chess club, Girl Scouts, Odyssey of the Mind, etc, and the options just expand as they get older. My DC is quite active and on the younger side, and DC's teacher has found ways to expend energy in the classroom by helping with small tasks and other ways to channel energy.

I don't know anything really about St. Rita's, though I've run into a couple families at St. Mary's that left St. Rita's for St. Mary's.

[Anonymous]

This is the OP, and I have been tracking these posts closely. Thank you to everyone for the insights about each school. I had no idea that St. Marys was so large, and that St. Rita's was so small. I have heard that St. Mary's is the most conservative, and I just wanted to confirm that was the case. What are the after care programs at each school like?

[Anonymous]

OP again. What is the average class size at each of these schools? Did a PP say that Blessed Sacrament had 28 children in a Kindergarten class? That seems awfully high. We have toured the local publics and they are at 22.

How many children are in a class at St. Rita's or St. Mary's? Around 25?

[Anonymous]

Blessed Sacrament has 28 students per class (with 1 aide per class for K-4).
St. Mary's has a target of 26 students per class (with aides for K-3).
St. Rita's is the smallest of the three schools but I don't know the class size.

OP, Open House season is over but I suggest you try to arrange a tour of each of the schools to get a good sense for the respective atmospheres. They are so different from each other.

[Anonymous]

There are 24 in DC's K class at St. Mary's with the teacher and a full time aide. I believe the aide in his class was previously a teacher at a different school, so very qualified. We've been very pleased with both of them. Our public was 23 in K so 25 doesn't bother me.

St. Mary's doesn't have before care (I know you didn't ask). Aftercare runs until 6pm. It is open on most early release days, like prof development, but there is no coverage for breaks like you would find in public school. K and 1st do their own thing in aftercare. They have snack, free play in the gym, or outside, play board games, Legos, read in the reading corner, do simple arts & crafts, etc. It's mostly free play, which has been exactly what my DC needs after school. I think the older grades have study time. If your child has an extracurricular, they go to their activity and are then signed into extended day when it's over.

[Anonymous]

Class sizes at St Mary are reasonable...22-26, depending on grade and whether your grade has 3 classes or 4. All classes through 2nd have their own aide, and 3rd grade has a floatiing aid. Despite the decent-sized classes, the fact that there are nearly 800 students in the aging facility cannot be discounted. School mass and assemblies in the gym are dangerously full; and lunch is extremely short in order ot accomodate all those kids through the lines in 2 hours. I wish the principal would stop expanding the # of classes per grade (bubble classses) just to accomodate wealthy parishioners who complained that they were waitlisted.