Stone ridge

[Anonymous]

We are deciding to apply to stone ridge?
Any pro and cons from family that are in lower school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are deciding to apply to stone ridge?
Any pro and cons from family that are in lower school?

Not in lower school but seems to be concern from friends who have kids in high school about the very large size of the 9th grade class and some mean girl behaviors. But this is second hand info.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are deciding to apply to stone ridge?
Any pro and cons from family that are in lower school?

Not in lower school but seems to be concern from friends who have kids in high school about the very large size of the 9th grade class and some mean girl behaviors. But this is second hand info.

NP. Also heard about this - some definite mean moms as well in 9th and a few others in other grades in the upper school as well.... Moms are very overly active in their kids social lives. I hear they are the same way at their son's school...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are deciding to apply to stone ridge?
Any pro and cons from family that are in lower school?

Not in lower school but seems to be concern from friends who have kids in high school about the very large size of the 9th grade class and some mean girl behaviors. But this is second hand info.

What is the normal size and what is current size?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are deciding to apply to stone ridge?
Any pro and cons from family that are in lower school?

Not in lower school but seems to be concern from friends who have kids in high school about the very large size of the 9th grade class and some mean girl behaviors. But this is second hand info.

What is the normal size and what is current size?

LS teachers are very strong. Student body lacks diversity but improving.

[Anonymous]

Stone Ridge has always been known as a kind of dumpy "mean girl" school with a bullying problem, despite being much lower tier than NCS or Holton. Not really a ton of advantages to make up for the issues

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Stone Ridge has always been known as a kind of dumpy "mean girl" school with a bullying problem, despite being much lower tier than NCS or Holton. Not really a ton of advantages to make up for the issues

This is a ridiculous statement.

To answer OP’s question—DD is a recent graduate so our experience with LS is now dated but we felt the academics were strong and teachers were excellent. Things got a little rocky in MS with some unevenness in teachers and challenges that often arise with tween girls. I honestly think we would have had issues at any k-12 because MS usually gets lost in the middle. US was outstanding. Looking back, I’m not sure we would choose SR for LS or MS again because it was a looong time to be at one school with all girls. I think if we could do it again, we’d go coed through 8th and then apply for 9th because the US IMO is the best part of the school. The 9th grade admit is tough and that’s a dice roll but still…

[Anonymous]

Competitive (socially and academically) atmosphere, inflexible administration, athletes privilege, donors’ children favored, not LGBTQ inclusive, lack of services for children with learning disabilities, high teacher turn over, internationally diverse and transient, pristine campus. Girls unkind. Can be stressful and punitive for some. I had daughters enrolled for several years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Competitive (socially and academically) atmosphere, inflexible administration, athletes privilege, donors’ children favored, not LGBTQ inclusive, lack of services for children with learning disabilities, high teacher turn over, internationally diverse and transient, pristine campus. Girls unkind. Can be stressful and punitive for some. I had daughters enrolled for several years.

Yikes

[Anonymous]

I’ll address those comments one at a time. Daughter and other relatives recently graduated (all but one started in LS).
Competitive socially and academically: Yes. It is a very good school in the DC area, so of course it is competitive academically. But that is at the top of the class. If you are taking less rigorous schedule, it is not crazy competitive. Socially, I observed quite a few big personalities and it was competitive.
Inflexible admin: Not that I observed
Athletes privilege: Well, yes, in lacrosse.
Donors’ children favored: Not that we observed
Not LGBTQ inclusive: Not true, but that is based on limited sample size. Of course, I am sure you would find more inclusivity at some of the non-Catholic schools.
High teacher turnover: Not in our experience, although there were a lot of older teachers retiring.
Lack of services for children with disabilities: no information
Internationally diverse and transient: school seemed fairly diverse internationally. Not as many AA students as Bullis, but some. Did not find it transient.
Pristine campus: With the new building, the campus is much better.
It is a very good school but can be rough socially for certain girls.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ll address those comments one at a time. Daughter and other relatives recently graduated (all but one started in LS).
Competitive socially and academically: Yes. It is a very good school in the DC area, so of course it is competitive academically. But that is at the top of the class. If you are taking less rigorous schedule, it is not crazy competitive. Socially, I observed quite a few big personalities and it was competitive.
Inflexible admin: Not that I observed
Athletes privilege: Well, yes, in lacrosse.
Donors’ children favored: Not that we observed
Not LGBTQ inclusive: Not true, but that is based on limited sample size. Of course, I am sure you would find more inclusivity at some of the non-Catholic schools.
High teacher turnover: Not in our experience, although there were a lot of older teachers retiring.
Lack of services for children with disabilities: no information
Internationally diverse and transient: school seemed fairly diverse internationally. Not as many AA students as Bullis, but some. Did not find it transient.
Pristine campus: With the new building, the campus is much better.
It is a very good school but can be rough socially for certain girls.

+1 This matches our experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are deciding to apply to stone ridge?
Any pro and cons from family that are in lower school?

According to the other thread, JD Vance toured. The thought of dealing with his family while attending for the next 4 years is enough for a turnoff to me that our daughter won't be applying

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are deciding to apply to stone ridge?
Any pro and cons from family that are in lower school?

According to the other thread, JD Vance toured. The thought of dealing with his family while attending for the next 4 years is enough for a turnoff to me that our daughter won't be applying

Oh, sweetie, bless your heart that you think JD will be around for only four years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are deciding to apply to stone ridge?
Any pro and cons from family that are in lower school?

According to the other thread, JD Vance toured. The thought of dealing with his family while attending for the next 4 years is enough for a turnoff to me that our daughter won't be applying

His daughter is two years old. Exactly how much do you think you'd be "dealing with them"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ll address those comments one at a time. Daughter and other relatives recently graduated (all but one started in LS).
Competitive socially and academically: Yes. It is a very good school in the DC area, so of course it is competitive academically. But that is at the top of the class. If you are taking less rigorous schedule, it is not crazy competitive. Socially, I observed quite a few big personalities and it was competitive.
Inflexible admin: Not that I observed
Athletes privilege: Well, yes, in lacrosse.
Donors’ children favored: Not that we observed
Not LGBTQ inclusive: Not true, but that is based on limited sample size. Of course, I am sure you would find more inclusivity at some of the non-Catholic schools.
High teacher turnover: Not in our experience, although there were a lot of older teachers retiring.
Lack of services for children with disabilities: no information
Internationally diverse and transient: school seemed fairly diverse internationally. Not as many AA students as Bullis, but some. Did not find it transient.
Pristine campus: With the new building, the campus is much better.
It is a very good school but can be rough socially for certain girls.

Agree it’s for a certain type of girl. If you aren’t that type, it is rough. And the admin is no help.