Advice on Schools - moving from Ireland

[Anonymous]

New Poster (NP). OP, I’d recommend that you post on the DC Schools Forum if you want to know about DC schools. People who live in Virginia and Maryland often look down on DC schools. Parents with kids in DC schools are usually happy with and prefer their schools.

Different strokes for different folks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Based on your wish list, you'll want to look to private first. Middle school here splits off in either 6th or 7th (on the Virginia side so not sure which it is in MD/DC - in VA it depends on your address) and you will never find a 5th grader on the same campus as a 7th grader in this area. Same with class sizes - small class sizes by law don't have to exist in public schools so they are never guaranteed.

You can find good inclusive community in both public and private. A balance between academics and sports will be almost entirely family and kid-driven as opposed to the school at public. Privates vary in their focus a lot but it is easily possible to find the one you describe.

Nonsense. Feel free to ignore this poster.

The DC public schools are fine. No reason to waste all that $$ on snobby privates.

Bull shit. Do not crucify someone else’s kids with your political agenda. DC public schools are on a good day highly uneven and in a bad day physically dangerous. There are many reasons that DC public schools rank so very poorly. I would be wildly more likely to send my kids to public in Mississippi than DC.

There are a wide range of privates. Some might have many wealthy parents. Others are not so wealthy. Catholic schools are worth looking into if one is Catholic or can tolerate the religious aspect of those schools.

Another option, honestly, is to live in Montgomery County in MD, immediately north of DC. Those are solid public schools, very unlike in DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Thank you.
Have been recommended Tenleytown/ AU park / Chevy Chase as potential areas to live. Ideally with a metro line into the city to avoid traffic 😅

Consider Chevy Chase, MD (in Montgomery County MD) instead of Chevy Chase, DC to get much better public schools for a nearly identical commute to work.

[Anonymous]

Thank you, I appreciate the responses. We are not ruling anything out at the moment we are open to public and private and we are very lucky our organisation will pay school fees if required. We envisage we will be in the American school system for 5 years or more.
I do have to consider the return to Irish education system and want to avoid big gaps/differences but my immediate concern is for the kids to settle well as enjoy school.
We have looked at British International School, Sheridan School and Janney Elementary and Alice Deal Middle School. We will now also look at Maryland and Virginia. Keep the suggestions coming , thanks !

[Anonymous]

I would also look at Washington Episcopal School, St. Patrick’s, and the public schools in MD just over the border (Pyle and Westland MS and their associated elementary schools). They are heavily international and great schools.

FYI, my kids attend a wonderful DCPS elementary (Mann) but given your children’s ages I probably would opt to allow my employer pay for private middle school rather than DCPS.

[Anonymous]

The public schools in AU Park are pretty good. Most people in the neighborhood send their kids to public school and these are highly educated families. I think you will enjoy living there

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Based on your wish list, you'll want to look to private first. Middle school here splits off in either 6th or 7th (on the Virginia side so not sure which it is in MD/DC - in VA it depends on your address) and you will never find a 5th grader on the same campus as a 7th grader in this area. Same with class sizes - small class sizes by law don't have to exist in public schools so they are never guaranteed.

You can find good inclusive community in both public and private. A balance between academics and sports will be almost entirely family and kid-driven as opposed to the school at public. Privates vary in their focus a lot but it is easily possible to find the one you describe.

Nonsense. Feel free to ignore this poster.

The DC public schools are fine. No reason to waste all that $$ on snobby privates.

Bull shit. Do not crucify someone else’s kids with your political agenda. DC public schools are on a good day highly uneven and in a bad day physically dangerous. There are many reasons that DC public schools rank so very poorly. I would be wildly more likely to send my kids to public in Mississippi than DC.

There are a wide range of privates. Some might have many wealthy parents. Others are not so wealthy. Catholic schools are worth looking into if one is Catholic or can tolerate the religious aspect of those schools.

Another option, honestly, is to live in Montgomery County in MD, immediately north of DC. Those are solid public schools, very unlike in DC.

Ok, MAGA / supremacist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would also look at Washington Episcopal School, St. Patrick’s, and the public schools in MD just over the border (Pyle and Westland MS and their associated elementary schools). They are heavily international and great schools.

FYI, my kids attend a wonderful DCPS elementary (Mann) but given your children’s ages I probably would opt to allow my employer pay for private middle school rather than DCPS.

PP gave you good advice. I’d suggest WES (Washington Episcopal). They have a lot of international families, yet it is more down-to-earth than St. Patrick’s. My kids have been out for a few years, but there used to be several teachers who taught overseas at international schools. It’s a nice community and great education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:AU is good choice. The closest school system for Ireland would be - I’m sorry to say - British

Thus, British School of Washington in Tenleytown should be on the list.

My fear for you - US educational system is really remedial compared to Ireland’s 98% literacy rate and kids wont be able to go back to University in Ireland at, say, TrinityCollege level.

Likely your company pays or gov - if you are civil servant so cost isn’t or shouldn’t be factor. Good luck!

-former expat

Actually I’d say the opposite. DH is Irish and we’ve done back and forth. The Irish system is more like how schools were here in the 50s. You can do quite well just with memorization. There’s not a lot of thinking outside of the box or challenges or group projects. In a nutshell it’s easy to do well.
OP your best bet for private at this point would be a small private k-8 bc kids start to leave those around 4th or 5th so they often have openings. I wouldn’t recommend the British school - it’s for profit and doesn’t have great uni placements.

[Anonymous]

If your kids might be in 10th to 12th grade, when you return, it might be worth loosely considering high school options to keep options open. You could live somewhere near the red line in Maryland which is zoned for BCC high school as it also offers the IB program for those who choose it. That might make the move back to high school and applications to European universities easier. The feeder schools should all be good and you can walk to the Metro. If you live in DC, I am not sure there are IB options except for privates like WIS or BIS (somebody else could chime in on this). Be aware that 9th Grade private school admissions can be extremely competitive. In hindsight, I wish we had stayed in the BCC zone as the privates offering the IB have very small cohorts and few facilities.

It’s great your organisation fully covers private school costs. Some international organisations (e.g. the IMF) only contribute a diminishing percentage, which has fallen way behind the tuition increases.

Worth considering staying on the red line as it means that, if your kids go into private schools, there are quite a number that can be reached via the Metro. That’s great when your kids become more independent and can commute to school on their own.

If you are looking at a K-8 private option, if your eldest goes into 7th grade, they are potentially only in the same school for two years before your eldest moves on. The private school vacation periods and school closures often do not align with each other or with the public options, so you could find yourself with misaligned calendars.

[Anonymous]

Listen to all the ultra progressive loud mouths here steering OP's kids away from majority-minority schools! The best way to end racism is to get white kids into brown schools.

Buy or rent in Silver Spring and send your kids to the Blair cluster schools. That's the real America. We live here and it's fantastic.

[Anonymous]

Another option is the British International school in Georgetown. My kids ( American) went there about 10 years ago. Yes, it isn't perfect but, if you hope to return to Ireland it might closely fit your academic goals. It is worth a look.

https://www.nordangliaeducation.com/bisw-washington

[Anonymous]

European, but not Irish, neighbor was happy with Washington Intl School. Worth a look-see.

Montgomery County public schools are generally good. Several Red Line metro stations are in Montgomery County just north of DC. Look at those neighborhoods also.

[Anonymous]

As someone else said, if IB would useful (and even if it might not be) I’d look at the BCC cluster (Westland or Silver Creek MSs)

[Anonymous]

You'll note that the people calling everyone racist for suggesting you avoid DCPS send their kids to the whitest of DC public schools and llive in the whitest areas of DC.

But it is accurate that "the best" DCPS middle/high school are middling at best. You are definitely better off in private or some of the burbs, if you are indeed concerned about education.