The Village School in Arlington?
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Anonymous
| Does anyone know about The Village School in Arlington VA? I hear they have 2 hours of playtime/unstructured play for all of their kids and supposedly have really high academic performance scores. Too good to be true? |
Anonymous
| never heard of it |
Anonymous
| ???????? |
Anonymous
Well, it takes a village. |
Anonymous
| I visited and they said all of those things. Definitely an interesting concept, I know one family who goes there and they say they love it. But I don’t know them or their kids well - at the visit the students seemed happy and engaged. |
Anonymous
| Not to good to be true - actually true! We're in our third year there and feel so lucky to have found it. The unstructured play time is really great, yes, but so much else. The teachers - they call them guides - are amazing (with specialists for math, project time, reading, music, and social-emotional wellness) and the leadership is deeply committed and inspiring. Lots of connections with Project Zero (which is out of Harvard)/WISIT and it's the first Khan Academy partner school on the East coast. |
Anonymous
|
Two kids in fourth year for our family, now both at middle school level. Our kids have thrived because The Village School allows them to have agency in their learning and move at their own pace in core subjects, with guidance and guardrails provided by guides (teachers), including a math specialist.
Aside from core subjects, kids work together on projects that are really engaging and help them develop skills like leadership, negotiation, cooperation. Middle schoolers collaborated to develop school’s policy on student use of AI. As part of one project on sustainable city planning, my oldest kid wired an entire model town using electrical circuits. Session on physics= field trip to iFly. And yes, enough downtime (outdoor and park time, longer lunch) to forge really strong peer relationships. Our kids LOVE to go to school. That matters most to us. |
Anonymous
|
Not too good to be true! Our oldest has been at The Village School for 7 years, our youngest for 4. We have been very happy with the program. It has grown a lot in its 7 years. We are most happy with the outdoor play and academic balance. Play time and independent play is very important to our family and it is protected and valued at The Village School. The kids get between 1 - 3 hours of outdoor play every day. You can see your child's academic progress on their online platform and the kids go at their own pace, with support from their guides. This support is necessary. You often will find in the self-directed learning models that the teacher support is lacking - not at TVS! They have a reading specialist, math specialist, and a school counselor.
The kids are happy! I highly recommend The Village School! |
Anonymous
| We’ve been there for years and it has been transformational for my kids. There’s a strong emphasis on community and group projects alongside individualized work that ensures students are being challenged. Kids can advance as far and as fast as they are able—and kids who need more time with a subject get the support they need to fully understand it before moving on to what’s next. The outdoor time is awesome—not just playground time, but hikes and time to connect to nature. |
Anonymous
| I've heard they had some recent leadership changes and staff turnover hasn't been great in the past. |
Anonymous
| This many glowing reviews in such a short time seems sus |
Anonymous
The application deadline is coming up… maybe they realized that there isn’t much about it |
Anonymous
+1000 |
Anonymous
| The trolls on here are THE BEST. Where do y’all find the time? |
Anonymous
| We toured a couple weeks ago. Their campus is in an old church and the kids seemed to be crammed in there. Sounds like they’re outgrowing the space and moving soon. We were told that there’s a waitlist for middle school. |