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Sidwell 3rd grade
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Anonymous
| Looking for any feedback on how the experience has been for kids entering 3rd grade. Is it welcoming, do the kids fit right in, do they divide the kids up so all 3 classes have new kids, do they have activities for new parents to meet the others. What has been your experience. Also how difficult is it to get in at this year, what kind of WISC IV results are needed? |
Anonymous
| Only answering part of your questions - they do divide the new 3rd graders among the 3 classes. To welcome the new students and parents, there are grade wide 'play dates' over the summer and other 'orientation' events. New students were also invited to join the recreational sports teams (e.g., soccer, basketball, etc.). |
Anonymous
| The rec sports teams are outside of school and not run by Sidwell. As a result, they are often closed to new students due to numbers limitations. These teams are organized by parents, leaving you at their mercy as to wethere to include you or not. Sometimes they will open up a second team. It is too bad that Sidwell doesn't have built in sports teams at this level with their own coaches and be able to practice at school regularly. There is no shortage of interest. |
Anonymous
Are you are Sidwell parent? |
Anonymous
Yes. |
Anonymous
I would say, if the interest is there, get on Facebook or a listserv or put out flyers and start another outside team yourself. Why should everything be the school's responsibility, and why should everything about school devolve into a focus on sports? Among other points, schools, even successful ones like Sidwell, probably should think twice about adding programs ("built in sports teams") and personnel ("their own coaches") with how much tuitions cost and how much they continue to go up. |
Anonymous
|
The point she is making is that the current system not only makes it hard for new students to integrate, it can make them feel excluded.
Sports are a great way to get people involved and build cohesion and relationships. Let's please not get into a discussion of Sidwell and sports (thee's a horrendous thread for that already). If Sidwell can have chess and early morning math as an extra curricular acitivities, I think they can offer a sports team without much difficulty. Parents aren't being lazy when suggesting these things. It doesn't seem unreasonable when you are paying private school tuition. My experience has been that the parents do pick up the slack in the system and organize their own teams in the end. These were always good ways to involve our sons. I also found that the community service outings and field trips early in the year provided a great envrionment for the kids to interact outside of class without having forced palydates. |
Anonymous
|
I agree with PP. Also, as a Sidwell parent, I have never found my child closed out of any activities organized outside school. Indeed, I see the opposite problem. Groups of parents have organized so many different activities (sports, choir, etc) that we are forced to turn down many people because we don't want to overload our kids with so many activities. I must admit, however, that our child is not currently in 3rd grade, so I cannot speak first-hand to the experience in that grade.
I think PP has it exactly right though. If your child is interested in an activity, there's no reason you cannot organize a class/program, and invite others to join. In 3rd grade, 25% of the class will be new students, so there is a substantial mass of new families. When you are applying, you might consider asking to talk to another family that entered at 3rd grade, to ask directly about their experience. Best of luck in your search. |
Anonymous
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Correction from 9:49 to avoid confusion from the cross-post. I agree with 9:31. I do not agree with 9:47's suggestion that the current system makes it hard for new families to integrate or that the school needs to organize and run teams. I do agree with several others points from 9:47's post though.
9:47, what specifically about the current system made it hard for your family to integrate? We did not experience any difficulty, so I'm curious about your experience. Is it just that you wish the school organized more outside activities for parents and students? Or something else? |
Anonymous
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I agree, the current third grade parents have been incredibly open and hospitable in terms of including the new kids in various activities.
I disagree that the school should have organized sports teams as part of the daily curriculum. Which sports would you pick? As it is, the kids have daily gym/fitness, and most of the kids participate in a variety of outside sports: swimming, karate, football, hockey, soccer, basketball, baseball, etc. There is only so much a kid can do in a day, and only so much a school can offer. I think the current system is fine, and once they get to middle school, they will be starting with the rotation of sports, and eventually interscholastic play. |
Anonymous
| bump |