Moving to DC - Need Catholic School Rec for Early Elementary

[Anonymous]

We are looking for 3rd grade. Our DC was in Catholic through 1st grade; we tried public this year for 2nd and are not happy. We are moving to DC and are looking for a Catholic elementary school or K-8. We will be in the Foxhall neighborhood and are looking for something close to that area.

The public school we were in had large classes, lots of behavioral issues and rote teaching methods (bringing home 10-15 worksheets per day, so DC was very bored), no writing exercises and too much time online. So we are looking for a Catholic school that has smaller class sizes (12-20 kids), more creative teaching methods and very little, if any, online activity.

Diversity would be a plus, as we are a mixed race couple. Also, looking for somewhere that is really warm and friendly - does not have to be at all fancy, just a place our DC will want to go in the morning and feel as though it’s a second home and they are not just a number, if that makes sense.

Thanks.

[Anonymous]

I would look at Our Lady of Victory, Annunciation, and Holy Trinity.

[Anonymous]

Our Lady of Victory is in the Palisades and hits all of those points. Small class sizes and very low tech at that age. Very strong academics, as it’s a 3-time Blue Ribbon school with consistently high test scores. Great community with families really getting to know each other through school events and CYO sports. Diverse, with white, Black, Hispanic and Asian kids in pretty much all the classes. The application deadline just passed, but it’s worth a call to see if there is still space in next year’s third grade or get on the waitlist.

The other Catholic school in the area is Holy Trinity. It’s bigger, but I’ve also heard good things about it. Probably best to apply to both at this point.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like OLV would be a great fit and it’s convenient to Foxhall.

[Anonymous]

Are you looking to stat this fall, 2026? You’ll need to call around and see who still has space, as you’ve missed all the deadlines.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our Lady of Victory is in the Palisades and hits all of those points. Small class sizes and very low tech at that age. Very strong academics, as it’s a 3-time Blue Ribbon school with consistently high test scores. Great community with families really getting to know each other through school events and CYO sports. Diverse, with white, Black, Hispanic and Asian kids in pretty much all the classes. The application deadline just passed, but it’s worth a call to see if there is still space in next year’s third grade or get on the waitlist.

The other Catholic school in the area is Holy Trinity. It’s bigger, but I’ve also heard good things about it. Probably best to apply to both at this point.

How are OLV’s teaching methods? Are they creative in their approach?

[Anonymous]

You’ll probably love Holy Trinity but it’s tough to get a spot and the process is well underway (or done) for next school year. But good luck! It’s a wonderful place, just the right size, great community, low tech, lots of enthusiastic young teachers. We love it.

[Anonymous]

Not Catholic but WWS is nearby, fits many of your criteria and has a tour coming up this week. I don’t know if that class has space but might be worth a call/visit. We are really happy there.

[Anonymous]

I think it's bizarre that you're writing off public school in DC because you had a bad experience in public school elsewhere. Especially in Foxhall which is not exactly underprivileged. Do what you want but I think your reasoning is strange.

[Anonymous]

OLV is a good option, if you're looking for a Parish as well. If that's less important, you may also want to check out Woods Academy in Bethesda.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it's bizarre that you're writing off public school in DC because you had a bad experience in public school elsewhere. Especially in Foxhall which is not exactly underprivileged. Do what you want but I think your reasoning is strange.

Is public school in DC better than in Maryland. It seems even worse actually.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it's bizarre that you're writing off public school in DC because you had a bad experience in public school elsewhere. Especially in Foxhall which is not exactly underprivileged. Do what you want but I think your reasoning is strange.

Is public school in DC better than in Maryland. It seems even worse actually.

Not all public schools are the same across a state! Come on, surely you are aware of that. Because nobody could be that oblivious.

In Foxhall, you would likely be zoned for Mann Elementary, which is one of the best public elementary schools in all of DC. I think it's bizarre to assume it'll be the same as whatever other public school you attended in some other place. And it doesn't really matter whether it's better or worse than all public schools in the state of Maryland averaged together.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not Catholic but WWS is nearby, fits many of your criteria and has a tour coming up this week. I don’t know if that class has space but might be worth a call/visit. We are really happy there.

Why would an out of state person know what WWS is. I live in Arlington and have no idea.

[Anonymous]

This is OP. We are in a very well regarded public school district in the DMV area. However, we are Catholic and always intended to eventually end up back in Catholic school. Our move to public was due to my DH’s move to a new job that made our attending our old Catholic school infeasible.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn’t say you should go to Catholic hoping for the type of creativity that some schools (and public gifted programs) market, but you also hopefully won’t get just rote memorization. You probably still will get worksheets though who knows the #. What you will get likely is more structure, more direct instruction, hopefully more explicit writing instruction, etc. Bc privates don’t do as much standardized testing, my experience is they allow for more project type assignments that are good outlets for creativity, like school plays, old fashioned book report + dioramas, etc. that are now hit or miss in public post NCLB. But you’re not going to get say, more progressive education, which is fine with us. Public is supposed to be more progressive (vs traditional style Ed, like Catholic or classical) but it just felt watered down for us when we were in public. Would rather have more structure, done well, vs my kid put on a laptop with too much free choice.