Beauvoir v. NPS—please compare the communities

[Anonymous]

DH and I are struggling to compare the vibe/warmth of these two schools. Which is closer knit? More meal trains and the like? Which has more kids having play dates at country clubs? More legacies? Trying to assess how welcome we will feel and any insights are appreciated!

[Anonymous]

I'm sorry; you're looking for a community that will feed you dinners?

[Anonymous]

*Please* tell me which community you belong to. Might be the most useful info of all!

(I used meal train as shorthand for a community banding together if there’s a tragedy or whatever. Sub in whatever gesture you wish).

[Anonymous]

There is no discernible difference. Truly. You are comparing Gala to Honey Crisp to Granny Smith to Fuji. It is the same population. Apply to both and if you get in to both, pick BVR if you want NCS/STA and NPS if you don’t. Don’t struggle so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:*Please* tell me which community you belong to. Might be the most useful info of all!

(I used meal train as shorthand for a community banding together if there’s a tragedy or whatever. Sub in whatever gesture you wish).

Both of them.

Sorry, but this is a truly ridiculous question.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your feedback. Can anyone else compare the communities using any metrics they want? They’re small schools—there must be some discernible difference in “vibe”, no? Unfortunately we don’t know anyone in person at either.

[Anonymous]

Our experience is dated as my kids are in HS now, but I can’t think of a better community than NPS. The families were very warm and down to earth. Were there country club members? Yes, but they were low key about it and my kids never felt excluded bc we aren’t members. DH and I made many friends with other parents. It was a great experience for both our kids and us. I don’t know if it’s bc our kids are older, their school is different, or COVID has changed things, but our current school experience has not been nearly the same. The kids have made many friends but we don’t have the same community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our experience is dated as my kids are in HS now, but I can’t think of a better community than NPS. The families were very warm and down to earth. Were there country club members? Yes, but they were low key about it and my kids never felt excluded bc we aren’t members. DH and I made many friends with other parents. It was a great experience for both our kids and us. I don’t know if it’s bc our kids are older, their school is different, or COVID has changed things, but our current school experience has not been nearly the same. The kids have made many friends but we don’t have the same community.

+1! This is my experience at NPS. My kid is in 4th. I applied to both schools for K and I remember being at an open house and a young teacher at BVR made the opening remarks by saying “Some of your children aren’t probably old enough to join yet but the elite status of Beauvoir has you here today”. Total turn off.

[Anonymous]

Also wondering about the differences between these two schools. We have applied to both for K. I just get a much better vibe from NPS, but BVR is a block from our house which is a big pull!

[Anonymous]

It’s interesting that both have almost the same number of kids (300-325) but one goes to 6th and the other to 3rd. Does anyone know which school “feels” smaller?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is no discernible difference. Truly. You are comparing Gala to Honey Crisp to Granny Smith to Fuji. It is the same population. Apply to both and if you get in to both, pick BVR if you want NCS/STA and NPS if you don’t. Don’t struggle so.

So, this response cracks me up because honey crisp and Granny Smith taste nothing alike.

[Anonymous]

A school's "vibe" isn't a bottle of ketchup. It's not a single flavor that will taste the same yesterday, tomorrow, and next year, much less taste the same to everybody.

We had two kids at the same small K-8, a warm one, and the families weren't that different but one class felt warm to us and the other less.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is no discernible difference. Truly. You are comparing Gala to Honey Crisp to Granny Smith to Fuji. It is the same population. Apply to both and if you get in to both, pick BVR if you want NCS/STA and NPS if you don’t. Don’t struggle so.

So, this response cracks me up because honey crisp and Granny Smith taste nothing alike.

Narcissism of small differences.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s interesting that both have almost the same number of kids (300-325) but one goes to 6th and the other to 3rd. Does anyone know which school “feels” smaller?

Have you toured the schools? NPS has smaller class sizes and is a much smaller community. There are pros and cons to being in a smaller environment.

[Anonymous]

I think BVR does 20-24 in a class with two teachers and NPS does 13-14 kids per class with one teacher and a rotating teacher.