APS- Nottingham

[Anonymous]

Considering buying in Nottingham distract. We had friends who were extremely unhappy there 5 years ago but it looks like much has changed in terms of staff and administration. Would welcome any feedback! One kid with an IEP and two without (at least right now).

[Anonymous]

stay away

[Anonymous]

I never understand these posts. No school is all bad or all good.

The fact is that Nottingham is 75% white and 95% middle to upper class families.

If that's something you value in a school for your children, well you've found it. It's still a public school. So it will have some drawbacks that rich people really hate in public schools (mainly, needing to consider everyone's needs, not just their snowflake's needs) and there will be wonderful things about it.

[Anonymous]

I don’t know how much this is worth, but I have heard several stories of Nottingham being an unfriendly place for kids with special needs. I have no idea whether that’s under this administration or a prior administration. Also, I think Nottingham feeds into Williamsburg, and I have similarly heard that’s not the place to go if you have special needs. This is all 3rd and 4th hand so take it with a grain of salt. But it was enough to scare me away.

[Anonymous]

One of my kids has special needs and received great supports at Nottingham. We are very happy at the school and I think it's as good, if not better, than the other elementary schools. If you don't want to buy a house zoned for Nottingham, you might want to reconsider living in Arlington.

[Anonymous]

We are in our 2nd year at Nottingham and love it. 2 kids, no IEPs, but we were happy with some of the specialized supports when one of ours was behind in reading.

[Anonymous]

Depends on the iep. If dyslexia, go private. If autistic or something more serious, then you’ll get a 1:1 aide. It was terrible for one of my kids (lots of long term subs) and ok so far for another. A bunch of really great teachers left after last school year. Not sure why. 2 second grade teachers actually quit teaching entirely. Another teacher went to Jamestown which seemed odd to me. Another went to Swanson. They have much higher teacher turnover than Williamsburg.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One of my kids has special needs and received great supports at Nottingham. We are very happy at the school and I think it's as good, if not better, than the other elementary schools. If you don't want to buy a house zoned for Nottingham, you might want to reconsider living in Arlington.

Whaaaaat? This poster makes no sense. It’s Nottingham or nothing!

[Anonymous]

My kid with special needs had an excellent experience at Nottingham. We never had trouble getting him the supports he needed, and his teachers were always happy to go beyond what was required to meet his needs. He is now at Williamsburg, and while the administration/sped department there has been miserable to deal with, his individual teachers have been great and receptive to giving him supports informally that the school refused to put into a 504.

[Anonymous]

We love Nottingham, but did not have any special needs to consider. Last year was a rough school year, no thanks to APS policies during the pandemic. The N. Arlington elementaries are all very similar, so not sure I’d agree with the “Nottingham or bust” poster, but it is a nice school with caring teachers and an involved community. Some of the parents can be a little much, but there are all sorts and you can find your people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We love Nottingham, but did not have any special needs to consider. Last year was a rough school year, no thanks to APS policies during the pandemic. The N. Arlington elementaries are all very similar, so not sure I’d agree with the “Nottingham or bust” poster, but it is a nice school with caring teachers and an involved community. Some of the parents can be a little much, but there are all sorts and you can find your people.

Nottingham and Tuckahoe have a better parent community than Discovery. Partly due to Discovery being a newer school (less time to build traditions, community) and partly to COVID putting a halt to most events.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One of my kids has special needs and received great supports at Nottingham. We are very happy at the school and I think it's as good, if not better, than the other elementary schools. If you don't want to buy a house zoned for Nottingham, you might want to reconsider living in Arlington.

Whaaaaat? This poster makes no sense. It’s Nottingham or nothing!

Wrong. The point was that Nottingham is representative of APS public elementary schools. So if you have concerns about Nottingham, you would likely encounter the same issues in the other APS schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We love Nottingham, but did not have any special needs to consider. Last year was a rough school year, no thanks to APS policies during the pandemic. The N. Arlington elementaries are all very similar, so not sure I’d agree with the “Nottingham or bust” poster, but it is a nice school with caring teachers and an involved community. Some of the parents can be a little much, but there are all sorts and you can find your people.

We have two kids in Nottingham and agree with this completely. They love their teachers, love the school and we’ve found a welcoming community after moving to the area 2 years ago. Some on the PTA can be overwhelming, like anywhere else, but we’ve found a fantastic group of families that’s we regularly attend school events and outside social events with.

But my kids are average, not gifted or have special needs. They are just regular elementary school children who are thriving at Nottingham.

The real world is not DC Urbanmom.

[Anonymous]

"one kid with an IEP"

Stay far away. the princi-not-pal resents IEP kids and their parents.

[Anonymous]

FWIW: I haven't heard any of our middle schools are good for the special needs crowd. My SpEd kid is in a private middle school.