Reviews of Thomson Elementary School for PK3?

[Anonymous]

Hello-

We got waitlisted at Peabody but matched at Thomson for PK3.

Thomson is an easy commute for us and we are thinking we will just enroll.

Any good/negative experiences at Thomson?

Thank you

[Anonymous]

This is anecdotal but we had Thomson on our list because we live nearby and didn’t like our IB school. Anyway, we walked by to check it out and it happened to be during a fire drill. The kids and teachers seemed orderly. It seemed like a decent mix of kids. I know others on here have posted positive things. It’s just an older building but they do have outdoor space.

[Anonymous]

pk has been pretty excellent for us! because of demographics many of the classes are accidentally bilingual spanish/english-- all of my kiddos teachers have seemed to try to meet the kids where they are.

i know some parents have had more concerns in upper elementary, but the vibe feom my persuasive over the last years has been one of a nice community and decent kids.

[Anonymous]

some parents dont like the fact that they don't have fields/uncovered playgrounds. but basically there are outdoor lanai's on each floor with the result that kids can get outdoor time even when it's raining and they don't have to worry about keeping ages separated for safety. i think ultimately the kids get more outside time than they would at say, seaton.

[Anonymous]

Great experience PK3, just enrolled for PK4!

[Anonymous]

Thomson is a fantastic, underrated school.

It is IB (International Baccalaureate) and was written up as global model for teaching critical thinking in ECE by the IB org, which looks at schools over all the world.

My little learned to question and analyze as much as any 4 year old can, but also had plenty of time to play and do fun projects.

It has one of the best principals in the district who knows every kid and most parents' names inside of a few weeks. She also had a GREAT eye for hiring high-flying teachers. The defacto bilingual status is awesome. About half the kids are ELs, hence the somewhat lower test scores despite the amazing staff. School some of the highest academic growth in the district last year.

Super well managed and warm. Small but great parent community.

Downsides: The building is old. The playgrounds are indoors. The kids don't mind and hey, no dirty needles or beer bottles on those playgrounds, but I wish they had better play space.

Also, two friends with super high achieving kids who've stayed into upper grades have said their kids grew academically and were in calm, supportive classrooms, but weren't challenged as much as they'd like beginning around 4th. That's not ideal, but in both cases we are talking kids who scored in the 99th percentile and 5's on the CAPE so they may have been a little bored almost anywhere.

In short, go for it!

[Anonymous]

To tack onto this post, we got a spot at Seaton for PK. Thomson would be a slightly better commute so considering trying to get on the list to switch. Any insight if keeping our Seaton spot is worth a slightly worse commute? Feels kind of a toss up between the two.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To tack onto this post, we got a spot at Seaton for PK. Thomson would be a slightly better commute so considering trying to get on the list to switch. Any insight if keeping our Seaton spot is worth a slightly worse commute? Feels kind of a toss up between the two.

hard to say how things will go in the swing space for seaton at 300 Bryant, though they are apparently providing buses from the seaton school to bryant. i didn't want to deal with the swing space commute plus switching locations multiple times in elementary, so just went with thomson.

historically thomson has always cleared its waitlist so you should be able to get in even post lottery.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To tack onto this post, we got a spot at Seaton for PK. Thomson would be a slightly better commute so considering trying to get on the list to switch. Any insight if keeping our Seaton spot is worth a slightly worse commute? Feels kind of a toss up between the two.

hard to say how things will go in the swing space for seaton at 300 Bryant, though they are apparently providing buses from the seaton school to bryant. i didn't want to deal with the swing space commute plus switching locations multiple times in elementary, so just went with thomson.

historically thomson has always cleared its waitlist so you should be able to get in even post lottery.

Yeah, if you just move Thomson onto your list, you'll get in though it may take a little while.

Thomson is great, even if it doesn't get a ton of love on DCUM. We feel lucky to be there.

[Anonymous]

Long-term, Seaton is the better option (brand new building by the time your kiddo is in K and a lot of community buy-in, plus feeder rights to a new school), so it depends on your appetite for the commute, which is aided by busses. Even the swing space has far superior outdoor space to Thomson, including a new playground, if that matters to you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To tack onto this post, we got a spot at Seaton for PK. Thomson would be a slightly better commute so considering trying to get on the list to switch. Any insight if keeping our Seaton spot is worth a slightly worse commute? Feels kind of a toss up between the two.

Thomson is half the size of Seaton. Everyone knows each other. I really nice environment.

Also amazingly small classes in the upper grades. Not sure if that is due to overall small size or being not as popular in the lottery, but has been a huge benefit for my children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hello-

We got waitlisted at Peabody but matched at Thomson for PK3.

Thomson is an easy commute for us and we are thinking we will just enroll.

Any good/negative experiences at Thomson?

Thank you

We enjoyed Thomson for location, small-size of school, and had some fantastic teachers. Also possibly on the upswing given the number of at-risks students is dropping and it is leaving title I.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hello-

We got waitlisted at Peabody but matched at Thomson for PK3.

Thomson is an easy commute for us and we are thinking we will just enroll.

Any good/negative experiences at Thomson?

Thank you

We enjoyed Thomson for location, small-size of school, and had some fantastic teachers. Also possibly on the upswing given the number of at-risks students is dropping and it is leaving title I.

It is???? That's actually not good for Thomson. So many ELs. They need the resources.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Long-term, Seaton is the better option (brand new building by the time your kiddo is in K and a lot of community buy-in, plus feeder rights to a new school), so it depends on your appetite for the commute, which is aided by busses. Even the swing space has far superior outdoor space to Thomson, including a new playground, if that matters to you.

Thomson has feeder rights to Francis. I'd personally prefer that to the new middle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hello-

We got waitlisted at Peabody but matched at Thomson for PK3.

Thomson is an easy commute for us and we are thinking we will just enroll.

Any good/negative experiences at Thomson?

Thank you

We enjoyed Thomson for location, small-size of school, and had some fantastic teachers. Also possibly on the upswing given the number of at-risks students is dropping and it is leaving title I.

It is???? That's actually not good for Thomson. So many ELs. They need the resources.

Both Thomson and Seaton show Title 1 schoolwide funding for next year, but with Thomson at-risk percentage decreasing it is hard to know if that will last.

ESOL teacher funding is separate.