School clusters where kids stay together?

[Anonymous]

Maybe you should look at the Poolesville or Richard Montgomery cluster. Poolesville has a STEM magnet program roughly equivalent to Blair’s and a number of other programs.

Richard Montgomery has the countywide magnet program for IB, which might attract students from other clusters.

Students from Richard Montgomery might still go to Poolesville for Global Ecology or Blair for a STEM magnet. Students from Poolesville might still go to Richard Montgomery for IB. Students from both schools would be eligible to attend other schools for programs in art, vocational training, ROTC, etc.

Here is a document that lists which high school specialty programs students from each cluster are eligible for:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EMSIiUPXlX4WzrKHGcfQId2JyF5_keN5-gc6IgwbBv0/mobilebasic

Here’s the MCPS page for all application programs that can provide more information:
https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/specialprograms/

[Anonymous]

My child has primary school friends from Rosemary Hills (K-2) and North Chevy Chase (3-5) and then 3 elementary schools feed into Silver Creek (RCFES, NCC, CC) and then it merges with Westland for BCCHS. It's nice!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Considering moving to Montgomery County from DC, where my elementary aged kids are often losing friends because of the lottery, especially as middle school approaches. In an ideal world I’d love to move to a school cluster where kids generally stay together for middle and high school, even if they’re advanced students (currently kids are way above grade level). With the magnet programs does that mean kids don’t stay together? Or are there middle-high school paths in the county where kids go though middle and high together (Einstein?)?

OP, just consider the possibility that kids don't always want to stay with the kids they went to elementary school with.

[Anonymous]

Just not DCC, NEC. If you're okay with with other kids outside of the boundaries coming to your high school so there's change and more kids in the mix Poolesville and RM are good. If not, stick to Churchill, Whitman, BCC, Wootton, WJ

[Anonymous]

Very few kids go to magnets even the highest of the high performers from the Whitman cluster. It's just too far from the magnets and there's a great cohort locally so many families have no interest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Rockville HS cluster has five elementary schools all feeding to the same middle and high school.

Elementaries:
Barnsley
Flower Valley
Maryvale
Meadow Hall
Rock Creek Valley

All feed to Wood Middle School and Rockville High School, which is one of the smaller high schools in MCPS.

This. And it's the only cluster that is not impacted by any known future boundary studies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Whitman would fit this, as would BCC (though some kids will peel off for private school in MS or HS). Fewer lottery and money options as far as I know (we are in ES in BCC cluster).

We are in B-CC cluster, and there are quite a few families who are doing private starting in MS. Some others are doing magnet middle schools (Eastern, Takoma). But I do think that because B-CC has the IB program, fewer people who are in the feeder schools peel off for HS. And some kids who went to magnets for MS often come back for HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:With the two big boundary studies coming, there are bound to be more split articulations from middle to high school. They're building two new high schools but no new middle schools, so it's inevitable.

I don’t think that OP is just asking about split articulation. She also wants to know about whether students are likely to leave for privates or magnets, which happens more in some parts of the county than in others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Whitman would fit this, as would BCC (though some kids will peel off for private school in MS or HS). Fewer lottery and money options as far as I know (we are in ES in BCC cluster).

Don’t the BCC feeders split up and come back together at assorted points in ES and MS?

Not all the feeders. Only Rosemary Hills (K-2) has split articulation. About 3/5 go to CCES for 3-5, with about 2/5 going to NCC. They come back together (along with the English program at RCF) for MS at Silver Creek.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Rockville HS cluster has five elementary schools all feeding to the same middle and high school.

Elementaries:
Barnsley
Flower Valley
Maryvale
Meadow Hall
Rock Creek Valley

All feed to Wood Middle School and Rockville High School, which is one of the smaller high schools in MCPS.

This. And it's the only cluster that is not impacted by any known future boundary studies.

Magruder and Sherwood are also not included in the boundary studies. Neither are Blake, Paint Branch, or Springbrook, though they are the Northeast Consortium, so would not meet OP's criteria.

[Anonymous]

I would say a RM school because RMIB is great and neighborhood kids can participate if they want.

But if you go to avoid school cluster generally, most kids will stay in the cluster. Only a small percentage of the gifted kids will peel off for a magnet option. There were about 125 kids in my daughter’s K class and only about a half dozen went to magnet HS. Some kids leave for private of course.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Rockville HS cluster has five elementary schools all feeding to the same middle and high school.

Elementaries:
Barnsley
Flower Valley
Maryvale
Meadow Hall
Rock Creek Valley

All feed to Wood Middle School and Rockville High School, which is one of the smaller high schools in MCPS.

This. And it's the only cluster that is not impacted by any known future boundary studies.

Magruder and Sherwood are also not included in the boundary studies. Neither are Blake, Paint Branch, or Springbrook, though they are the Northeast Consortium, so would not meet OP's criteria.

Sherwood is a tricky cluster. Kids from schools like Olney ES all move on to Rosa Parks MS and then Sherwood HS (assuming they aren’t peeling off for Sandy Spring and Good Counsel), but then you’ve got kids at other Olney area elem that go to Farquhar but then go to the NEC. Or kids that matriculate to Farquhar and then Sherwood.

[Anonymous]

We are DCC and our kids have done immersion, middle school magnet, and now high school magnet so they’ve been to different schools and none of them were our home school. I would just say that although there are some downsides to this I’ve looked at it generally as a positive thing, and they’ve made new friends along the way and I think it’s really taught them some helpful social skills. And there’s plenty of other kids doing the same.

[Anonymous]

Look at Walter Johnson. It has an in-house accelerated program called Apex which keeps a high performing cohort together.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Whitman would fit this, as would BCC (though some kids will peel off for private school in MS or HS). Fewer lottery and money options as far as I know (we are in ES in BCC cluster).

Don’t the BCC feeders split up and come back together at assorted points in ES and MS?

Not all the feeders. Only Rosemary Hills (K-2) has split articulation. About 3/5 go to CCES for 3-5, with about 2/5 going to NCC. They come back together (along with the English program at RCF) for MS at Silver Creek.

Most of the other elementaries in BCC don't split - they are K-5 and then MS.