Please tell me about Lake Braddock, South County, and Robinson HS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All fine. Choose based on: #1 commute. #2 house.

OP here - all are good for our commute, and that's what we narrowed down on. Living options are equal in all, and we are not buying, so it's easier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Robinson is close to the average size for high schools in Northern Virginia, at about 2,500. High schools in general are increasing in size but should remain below 3,000, except for the mega schools like Alexandria HS.

Robinson at 2,500 high school students sounds reasonable to me.

Regarding sport, I always thought swim was no cut, but I could be wrong. The summer swimming leagues are very competitive and thus the high school teams are ultra competitive. But do enquire with the school’s athletic director or the coach via email.

Dive teams are small on purpose, so I’m not sure what it would take to make the cut.

Swimming at Robinson is not no-cut. It's very difficult to get on the team. Same for swim in most schools, except those with teams too small to cut (South County might be one, but I'm not sure).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are looking at next year and for various reasons these are the main choices we have. Based on simple academic rankings, it looks like Robinson is best, and we don't mind the IB program (but don't care one way or another really). BUT, we have a very introverted child with severe social anxiety and are concerned about the size of Robinson. Moreover, DC has only two interests - Japanese language and swim/dive - and Robinson doesn't have Japanese (or many world languages at all) and we've heard swim/dive there is unusually competitive to even be on the team, especially freshman year. LB and SC offer Japanese (according to the fcps website), but LB is also very large, and SC has low rankings. Any thoughts from people with some real-life experience with these schools?

If it matters, DC is into computer science and will probably have a stem major in college, and currently takes all honors and has an unweighted 4.0 (but I don't want to imply DC is a super student or really advanced, as it's just more that the current school isn't very demanding).

Robinson doesn't have Japanese, but it does offer quite a few world languages: Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Korean, Latin, Spanish and Vietnamese. As well as ASL. Its German program is really, really strong--kids will study it just because the teachers have such a great reputation.

I think LBSS offers Spanish, French, Japanese, Latin and Korean--so fewer overall. I'm not familiar with South County.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are looking at next year and for various reasons these are the main choices we have. Based on simple academic rankings, it looks like Robinson is best, and we don't mind the IB program (but don't care one way or another really). BUT, we have a very introverted child with severe social anxiety and are concerned about the size of Robinson. Moreover, DC has only two interests - Japanese language and swim/dive - and Robinson doesn't have Japanese (or many world languages at all) and we've heard swim/dive there is unusually competitive to even be on the team, especially freshman year. LB and SC offer Japanese (according to the fcps website), but LB is also very large, and SC has low rankings. Any thoughts from people with some real-life experience with these schools?

If it matters, DC is into computer science and will probably have a stem major in college, and currently takes all honors and has an unweighted 4.0 (but I don't want to imply DC is a super student or really advanced, as it's just more that the current school isn't very demanding).

Robinson doesn't have Japanese, but it does offer quite a few world languages: Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Korean, Latin, Spanish and Vietnamese. As well as ASL. Its German program is really, really strong--kids will study it just because the teachers have such a great reputation.

I think LBSS offers Spanish, French, Japanese, Latin and Korean--so fewer overall. I'm not familiar with South County.

A number of these languages that you say Robinson "offers" are not offered in-person at Robinson; rather, they are offered on-line or at a different school with an Academy program. For example, a student at Robinson wanting to take Vietnamese wouldn't do at Robinson; rather, they'd have to take a bus to Falls Church.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are looking at next year and for various reasons these are the main choices we have. Based on simple academic rankings, it looks like Robinson is best, and we don't mind the IB program (but don't care one way or another really). BUT, we have a very introverted child with severe social anxiety and are concerned about the size of Robinson. Moreover, DC has only two interests - Japanese language and swim/dive - and Robinson doesn't have Japanese (or many world languages at all) and we've heard swim/dive there is unusually competitive to even be on the team, especially freshman year. LB and SC offer Japanese (according to the fcps website), but LB is also very large, and SC has low rankings. Any thoughts from people with some real-life experience with these schools?

If it matters, DC is into computer science and will probably have a stem major in college, and currently takes all honors and has an unweighted 4.0 (but I don't want to imply DC is a super student or really advanced, as it's just more that the current school isn't very demanding).

Robinson doesn't have Japanese, but it does offer quite a few world languages: Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Korean, Latin, Spanish and Vietnamese. As well as ASL. Its German program is really, really strong--kids will study it just because the teachers have such a great reputation.

I think LBSS offers Spanish, French, Japanese, Latin and Korean--so fewer overall. I'm not familiar with South County.

We go to Robinson now and most of those languages are not actually offered.

[Anonymous]

I went to Lake Braddock (a long, long time ago lol) but my parents stayed in the neighborhood and lived there happily for 50 years. I know you're asking about the school itself, and others have more relevant info than I do. But in terms of neighborhood, I loved and will always love Lake Braddock. It's such a nice community. We have 2 pools, tennis courts, a nice lake with a walking path and tons of diversity in age, etc among the residents. My parents had the BEST neighbors over the years - people who they considered some of their closest friends. As my parents got older, their neighbors helped out (shoveling the driveway if it snowed, helping bring in packages etc). We recently sold their house, so I can't direct you towards that home, but if you can find a nice home in Lake Braddock, go for it!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went to Lake Braddock (a long, long time ago lol) but my parents stayed in the neighborhood and lived there happily for 50 years. I know you're asking about the school itself, and others have more relevant info than I do. But in terms of neighborhood, I loved and will always love Lake Braddock. It's such a nice community. We have 2 pools, tennis courts, a nice lake with a walking path and tons of diversity in age, etc among the residents. My parents had the BEST neighbors over the years - people who they considered some of their closest friends. As my parents got older, their neighbors helped out (shoveling the driveway if it snowed, helping bring in packages etc). We recently sold their house, so I can't direct you towards that home, but if you can find a nice home in Lake Braddock, go for it!

This is true for Robinson too. Both these areas have a strong sense of neighborhood community feel--lots of people walking around, using the trails and playgrounds around their lakes, neighborhood events for holidays etc. People know their neighbors and help each other out. It's a very diverse community ethnically and in terms of age. I really think you can't go wrong with either of these options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are looking at next year and for various reasons these are the main choices we have. Based on simple academic rankings, it looks like Robinson is best, and we don't mind the IB program (but don't care one way or another really). BUT, we have a very introverted child with severe social anxiety and are concerned about the size of Robinson. Moreover, DC has only two interests - Japanese language and swim/dive - and Robinson doesn't have Japanese (or many world languages at all) and we've heard swim/dive there is unusually competitive to even be on the team, especially freshman year. LB and SC offer Japanese (according to the fcps website), but LB is also very large, and SC has low rankings. Any thoughts from people with some real-life experience with these schools?

If it matters, DC is into computer science and will probably have a stem major in college, and currently takes all honors and has an unweighted 4.0 (but I don't want to imply DC is a super student or really advanced, as it's just more that the current school isn't very demanding).

Robinson doesn't have Japanese, but it does offer quite a few world languages: Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Korean, Latin, Spanish and Vietnamese. As well as ASL. Its German program is really, really strong--kids will study it just because the teachers have such a great reputation.

I think LBSS offers Spanish, French, Japanese, Latin and Korean--so fewer overall. I'm not familiar with South County.

We go to Robinson now and most of those languages are not actually offered.

Ah, too bad!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Doesn't Lake Braddock have more than 4,000 students now? I read that somewhere. I wouldn't want my kids in a school that big, personally.

Yes - LB has more students than Robinson.

- Robinson parent

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Robinson is close to the average size for high schools in Northern Virginia, at about 2,500. High schools in general are increasing in size but should remain below 3,000, except for the mega schools like Alexandria HS.

Robinson at 2,500 high school students sounds reasonable to me.

Regarding sport, I always thought swim was no cut, but I could be wrong. The summer swimming leagues are very competitive and thus the high school teams are ultra competitive. But do enquire with the school’s athletic director or the coach via email.

Dive teams are small on purpose, so I’m not sure what it would take to make the cut.

Yeah - my kid didn’t make the cut for swim at Robinson. It’s pretty competitive.

[Anonymous]

Lewis - you want to enroll your student at Lewis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have a kid at Robinson, but have friends with kids at LB and SC. All are happy and fwiw, MS and HS at Robinson and LB are kept largely separate, even though they’re in the same buildings.

The flip side of large size is that all kinds of kids can find their crew. That said, it sounds like lack of Japanese would be problematic for you. I personally would worry less about sports teams, because there are opportunities to pursue that outside of school if necessary.

I also don’t pay much attention to rankings. We zeroed in on Robinson/LB when we were looking based on commute.

Robinson parent here and agree with this PP. There are a diversity of activities at the big schools, catering to all sorts of kids. Lots of strategy game clubs, book clubs, anime, etc. I am guessing LB and SC are similar in this regard.

[Anonymous]

South County has historically had a solid number of students in Japanese courses. They used to offer it at the MS, but it is now only at the high school. The swim team is definitely more low key than Robinson’s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are looking at next year and for various reasons these are the main choices we have. Based on simple academic rankings, it looks like Robinson is best, and we don't mind the IB program (but don't care one way or another really). BUT, we have a very introverted child with severe social anxiety and are concerned about the size of Robinson. Moreover, DC has only two interests - Japanese language and swim/dive - and Robinson doesn't have Japanese (or many world languages at all) and we've heard swim/dive there is unusually competitive to even be on the team, especially freshman year. LB and SC offer Japanese (according to the fcps website), but LB is also very large, and SC has low rankings. Any thoughts from people with some real-life experience with these schools?

If it matters, DC is into computer science and will probably have a stem major in college, and currently takes all honors and has an unweighted 4.0 (but I don't want to imply DC is a super student or really advanced, as it's just more that the current school isn't very demanding).

Expect the quality of FCPS academics to take a nose-dive as teachers and principals alike flee the system. The newly elected, single-party school board does not care. They will make it worse in fact.

Best find a good private school for your child. FCPS is a sinking ship.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are looking at next year and for various reasons these are the main choices we have. Based on simple academic rankings, it looks like Robinson is best, and we don't mind the IB program (but don't care one way or another really). BUT, we have a very introverted child with severe social anxiety and are concerned about the size of Robinson. Moreover, DC has only two interests - Japanese language and swim/dive - and Robinson doesn't have Japanese (or many world languages at all) and we've heard swim/dive there is unusually competitive to even be on the team, especially freshman year. LB and SC offer Japanese (according to the fcps website), but LB is also very large, and SC has low rankings. Any thoughts from people with some real-life experience with these schools?

If it matters, DC is into computer science and will probably have a stem major in college, and currently takes all honors and has an unweighted 4.0 (but I don't want to imply DC is a super student or really advanced, as it's just more that the current school isn't very demanding).

Expect the quality of FCPS academics to take a nose-dive as teachers and principals alike flee the system. The newly elected, single-party school board does not care. They will make it worse in fact.

Best find a good private school for your child. FCPS is a sinking ship.

Hmm, sounds like all the people with kids at these schools are pretty happy with their quality. OP I'd take this kind of alarmism with a grain of salt. I've had kids in the Robinson pyramid since 2006 and I think it's been consistently strong since then and I don't see any signs of 'nose-diving.' Schools across the state and nation -- public and private-- are seeing a shortage of teachers and principals. FCPS is holding up far better than most (about 2-3x fewer attrition than the national average).