Advice on 3 schools

[Anonymous]

Hi everybody—

We are lucky to have offers from: Beauvoir, St Patrick’s, and WIS. We appreciate that all are good schools, but would like to hear from some families who had to make similar decisions.

A few considerations on our mind:

We liked BVR a lot on many dimensions but are a little bit concerned that transitioning to another school at grade 4 will be challenging. We understand that BVR has a strong link with NCS/St Albans but DH is not very comfortable with the idea of single sex education. He is concerned that it doesn’t prepare kids for a society with both genders and also that a single sex school could be a challenging social environment.

We also liked St Patrick’s but are not sure how easy outplacement would be. High school seems like a more natural transition point perhaps, but could also be difficult if you are only considering DC privates.

WIS is the only K-12 school we are considering. DH really likes the bilingual aspect of it though neither of us speak French/Spanish. We are concerned about the curriculum in early years and whether an extra language would slow academic progress and the social-emotional skills development. The school didn’t come across as nurturing as BVR and St. Patrick’s. We would love to hear from those who have spent some years in WIS - how helpful has the school been to deal with any issues, etc.

[Anonymous]

Out of that list, I'd choose Beauvoir. I don't know much about WIS so my recommendation is purely based on applying out at 3rd vs. potentially 8th. At Beauvoir, everyone has to leave after 3rd and 4th is an entrance year at many schools. The child would have a leg up at NCS/St Albans but if they don't want to go there - the school is good enough to have options.

[Anonymous]

Our kids are/were at BVR and we have friends at WIS. Both schools are great. Most kids from BVR end up at STA and NCS, but 1/3-1/4 applies out and gets in at any other school (Sidwell, Hilton, Maret, etc.).

Our friends at WIS joined in K and in late elementary/middle schools. They all love it and crowd seems to be a little less fancy and more down to earth than BVR.

[Anonymous]

We made this same decision last year and ended up choosing Beauvoir although it came down really hard between Beauvoir and WIS. Given the challenges I’d heard about ninth grade admissions, we weren’t willing to risk a k-8. Even if the school we ended up at wasn’t a perfect fit, we wanted to be able to choose a different school with a path through HS already there. Even if our child doesn’t end up at NCS or STA, 4th grade admission is much easier than middle school or high school. We loved WIS. Love the idea of language immersion and the parents were our people, down to earth, normal, nice, non pretentious. Ultimately, we were honest with ourselves and realized as only English speakers we weren’t really going to commit to supporting Spanish acquisition for our child outside of school. Other English speaking parents we spoke with talked about trips to Spain or Mexico, hiring a Spanish speaking nanny or au pair, etc. I wish we were that committed in terms of time and money we were aren’t and we didn’t want to half ass it. We also loved Beauvoir and are so happy we are there. We have found our people, there are certainly people we don’t have much in common with and that’s fine. Our DC is happy.

I really don’t think you can make a bad choice here which is why it’s so hard. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Im a parent of a now-eighth grader at none of the three schools you mention, but with multiple friends at each.

The only school I have heard a lot of complaints about over the years is St Patrick’s. Have known three families who bailed on it, and one who had one of their two kids leave and the other stay. Complaints seemed to range from not rigorous enough, to concerns about outplacement to concerned that they admitted new kids in the upper grades who were problematic.


No skin in the game for me, but that’s just what I have understood.

[Anonymous]

My DC went to St Pats and loved it. It has been a few years when there was a different HOS who was known for making sure every kid was placed with incredible schools. I would double check on how outplacement went and if still great then would seriously consider this school. Oh DC went on to be a top student as a coveted hs so we felt they were more than well prepared.

[Anonymous]

St. Patrick’s is now under the leadership of a former Beauvoir administrator who was also the Head of SSSAS’s Lower School. She’s a terrific leader and administrator.

WIS is not in the same league as St. Pat’s and Beauvoir. They spend a lot of time and energy on bilingualism and the rest of the curriculum suffers, especially in the lower grades. Checkout WIS’ outplacement for the grades you’re interested in. Their track record is not great.

Between St. Pat’s and Beauvoir, I’d choose Beauvoir and did. It’s a better resourced school, and the emphasis on preK to 3rd means that young kids are getting the school’s full attention. In a K-12, the earlier years get short shrift because the resources go to the upper school.

3 kids at Beauvoir and they all were accepted to the top schools, GDS, Sidwell, and NCS/STA. Outplacement does depend on how bright your kid is and how well-behaved. In preK differences between kids are not as apparent. By 3rd the brighter kids begin to stand out and WISC is considered a more reliable test than WPPSI for assessing IQ.

Even with the Beauvoir advantage, some kids did not get accepted into NCS/STA. They were the ones with behavioral or learning issues, or the kids just weren’t bright enough. NCS/STA is grueling in the upper grades. The schools would be doing no favors to admit kids who couldn’t handle a workload that even bright kids struggle with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:St. Patrick’s is now under the leadership of a former Beauvoir administrator who was also the Head of SSSAS’s Lower School. She’s a terrific leader and administrator.

WIS is not in the same league as St. Pat’s and Beauvoir. They spend a lot of time and energy on bilingualism and the rest of the curriculum suffers, especially in the lower grades. Checkout WIS’ outplacement for the grades you’re interested in. Their track record is not great.

Between St. Pat’s and Beauvoir, I’d choose Beauvoir and did. It’s a better resourced school, and the emphasis on preK to 3rd means that young kids are getting the school’s full attention. In a K-12, the earlier years get short shrift because the resources go to the upper school.

3 kids at Beauvoir and they all were accepted to the top schools, GDS, Sidwell, and NCS/STA. Outplacement does depend on how bright your kid is and how well-behaved. In preK differences between kids are not as apparent. By 3rd the brighter kids begin to stand out and WISC is considered a more reliable test than WPPSI for assessing IQ.

Even with the Beauvoir advantage, some kids did not get accepted into NCS/STA. They were the ones with behavioral or learning issues, or the kids just weren’t bright enough. NCS/STA is grueling in the upper grades. The schools would be doing no favors to admit kids who couldn’t handle a workload that even bright kids struggle with.

Current BVR parent and this is all true except that the WISC is not required anymore, but kids take the ERB in 2nd and 3rd grade. We went with NCS for one kid and she is thriving there as well.
We are not 100% sure what to do with other kid. She is possibly brighter than the first.

Outplacement at BVR works with you and basically tell you if your kid is a good fit for NCS/STA or not. To my eldest they mentioned she would get in at NCS, Sidwell and GDS so I imagine outplacement to other schools is very good. We ended up only applying to NCS early decision. It was really easy since BVR kids visit NCS together during the school day and they take the tests together during the school day as well. Parents basically just have to fill out the application.

[Anonymous]

St. Pats has had great outplacement. WiS is very niche with foreign language. If you don't want single sex, I would look at St. Pats or WIS.

[Anonymous]

Op here, thank you for all the replies! We are intensively talking to people. Just bumping this thread in case it sees a few more views.

[Anonymous]

We are at WIS. If you don't speak a language at home, I think you do need to be committed to doing some follow-through in the summer months especially, ie attending summer camp and/or using the recommended summer resources (cartoons, music etc.) WIS provides to parents. There is A LOT of emphasis on social-emotional skills and helping parents understand child development in the primary years so you can be effective parents and partners in your child's learning and development. It is a down to earth community where parents generally pitch in as time permits and everyone is civil.

If you don't really buy in to the IB and/or bilingualism then it probably is not a good fit for you and your family because you have to be thinking about the long-term and not just the short-term. College acceptances are strong both domestically and abroad. Bright students there go to Ivies, Little Ivies, and top universities abroad etc but their path to get there looks different than other independents because of how the IB program is structured and what it takes to get the child to be proficient in the second language. I hope this helps with your decision-making process.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hi everybody—

We are lucky to have offers from: Beauvoir, St Patrick’s, and WIS. We appreciate that all are good schools, but would like to hear from some families who had to make similar decisions.

A few considerations on our mind:

We liked BVR a lot on many dimensions but are a little bit concerned that transitioning to another school at grade 4 will be challenging. We understand that BVR has a strong link with NCS/St Albans but DH is not very comfortable with the idea of single sex education. He is concerned that it doesn’t prepare kids for a society with both genders and also that a single sex school could be a challenging social environment.

We also liked St Patrick’s but are not sure how easy outplacement would be. High school seems like a more natural transition point perhaps, but could also be difficult if you are only considering DC privates.

WIS is the only K-12 school we are considering. DH really likes the bilingual aspect of it though neither of us speak French/Spanish. We are concerned about the curriculum in early years and whether an extra language would slow academic progress and the social-emotional skills development. The school didn’t come across as nurturing as BVR and St. Patrick’s. We would love to hear from those who have spent some years in WIS - how helpful has the school been to deal with any issues, etc.

Beauvoir for sure. My kids loved it.

[Anonymous]

Son or daughter? I would send a kid to NCS but not STA. The all male environment is a huge negative - sexism, etc. The all girls environment at NCS is a plus IMO. People do seem to love BVR but applying out at third can be inconvenient esp if the kid isn't a good fit for NCS/STA.

St Pats is a back up school for rich kids who can't get in elsewhere. Their 8th grade outplacement is not great - lots of kids to Bullis, for example.

Advantage of WIS is bilingual and it goes through 12th. I'd be inclined to go with WIS - you can always apply out later.

[Anonymous]

Op here! Thanks for more feedback. We are talking about a son here, but there is a daughter behind him too.

[Anonymous]

I would 100% choose Beauvoir. Truly it is not even a contest.

WIS is cold and corporate. They don’t like parents being too involved. Their teachers have a collective bargaining agreement so hard to get rid of bad ones. With so much emphasis on language acquisition, math suffers. Oh and they are like $6/$7K more expensive! Remember although in theory you can apply out before graduation, the school will not help at all because they don’t want you to leave!

St. Pat’s has a social climbing parent crowd. Outplacement at 8th is the most difficult. Kids have a rep for being spoiled brats. Also do you really want your sweet young child on the same campus as middle schoolers?

Choose Beauvoir. You will be so happy you did.