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Private & Independent Schools
Reply to "Academically challenging but socially supportive school?"
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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous] This is not intended as a slam at Lowell -- it is a fine school in many ways -- but in this case I would tell OP based on her description of her child socially that they should really avoid Lowell. Based on our experience, it would not be a good fit. Our child needed very slight social structure at Lowell --some sort of option for an organized activity after lunch or some adult supervision for physical games on the ball fields, for example -- and they were really ideologically opposed to making the effort at unstructured times -- recess and lunch. Because of this ideological predisposition, I also think they were structurally not set up to be responsive without reordering faculty lunch periods, etc., which, of course, made it so that when one very young teacher was willing to make some effort he essentially only could do so once per week for a month or so during the year. Raising the issue a few times as parents only made us and our child seem like outliers in the eyes of the administration which probably adversely impacted exit recommendations for our bright child when it was time to move on to the next level school. [b] Just to be clear, what we were looking for was no more than what I recall from public school decades ago -- maybe a teacher participating as a pitcher in a lunch time softball game, or as a referee with a little guidance in how kids can set up their own soccer games, or a teacher who could just facilitate kids playing some socially interactive but non-sports games, etc.[/b] And at a minimum at least another staff person so that all the kids -- some of whom were getting into a bit more troubling mischief than they should have -- could remain within the sight lines of the teachers during lunch recess. OP, I wish you well. [/quote] The likely opposed it because the kids spend all day in adult directed activities and kids need time to be in kid directed only activities. And yes, what you are describing is a teacher led activity. Other parents would not be happy with this. As far as the OP's situation, I have raised this point before on this board but small private schools are great but you need a reality check. Your child needs to enter a very small class of kids who have no likely been together since PreK or K. Even in 3rd grade, this can be tough if your child doesn't fit in very well with the already in place social structure. A shy kid is going to have to try harder socially. Every school will facilitate in class social emotional curriculum but this doesn't mean that a shy child won't still be shy, or still have trouble fitting. It isn't a guarantee that every kid will be his friend or even be friendly with him outside the classroom. When checking out schools, ask to see the class that your child would join and observe for a while. Can you really see your child fitting into that class?[/quote]
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