6th Grade at Deal - Current Parent Reports Please...

[Anonymous]

My dd is a 6th grader at Deal. She’s having a wonderful year. It’s a big school so there may be some teams, groups, etc that have issues but she’s reported nothing alarming.

She does not require any accommodations, so I have no experience with that, but I’ve found that moving from elementary to middle school has been tougher for me than for her. She’s expected to show independence, be organized and in charge of her own experience in a way that she hasn’t been before. And she has risen to the challenge! She’s doing great and learning lots of life skills. I’ve had to learn to let go of a lot of control. It’s been good for both of us.

We came from a non-feeder school so she has had to make all new friends. Luckily, she’s found a good group and she’s doin fine there. Be sure to encourage your child to reach out beyond their elementary school friends.

[Anonymous]

My kid just started at Deal (6th) and loves it. She is being challenged and placed into math 7 and is also taking Chinese for the first time and loves it. Clubs are great too. Can’t speak to the 504.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thought they were phasing out Chinese, since Jackson Reed canceled their program? Maybe that all got reversed and I just don't know (my kids are at other schools). But just double-check, if that's a priority for you.

Deal had to reduce foreign language by one position, which they chose implement by reducing Chinese from two to one teacher. May or may not have been influenced by decisions at Jackson-Reed, but it sounded like it was based on demand. Mr. Zhi co-taught with the new teacher for a couple months before officially retiring. Seemed like a reasonable transition. Some incoming sixth graders that selected Chinese as first choice were not able to get in, but I don't know how many that affected.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My dd is a 6th grader at Deal. She’s having a wonderful year. It’s a big school so there may be some teams, groups, etc that have issues but she’s reported nothing alarming.

She does not require any accommodations, so I have no experience with that, but I’ve found that moving from elementary to middle school has been tougher for me than for her. She’s expected to show independence, be organized and in charge of her own experience in a way that she hasn’t been before. And she has risen to the challenge! She’s doing great and learning lots of life skills. I’ve had to learn to let go of a lot of control. It’s been good for both of us.

We came from a non-feeder school so she has had to make all new friends. Luckily, she’s found a good group and she’s doin fine there. Be sure to encourage your child to reach out beyond their elementary school friends.

Thank you so much! She definitely will reach out to make new friends. She has friends from other sports she is in. You're not hearing about any classroom disruptions or fights in 6th? It sounds like if there is a problem, it's grade based, perhaps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid just started at Deal (6th) and loves it. She is being challenged and placed into math 7 and is also taking Chinese for the first time and loves it. Clubs are great too. Can’t speak to the 504.

Thank you... my daughter is 98 percentile for math and does math enrichment in elementary and math olympiad so I suspect she will be pulled in to accelerated math at Deal too. I will have to talk to the school directly about the 504 and their planners. We will continue to supplement with her tutor for her ELA as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My dd is a 6th grader at Deal. She’s having a wonderful year. It’s a big school so there may be some teams, groups, etc that have issues but she’s reported nothing alarming.

She does not require any accommodations, so I have no experience with that, but I’ve found that moving from elementary to middle school has been tougher for me than for her. She’s expected to show independence, be organized and in charge of her own experience in a way that she hasn’t been before. And she has risen to the challenge! She’s doing great and learning lots of life skills. I’ve had to learn to let go of a lot of control. It’s been good for both of us.

We came from a non-feeder school so she has had to make all new friends. Luckily, she’s found a good group and she’s doin fine there. Be sure to encourage your child to reach out beyond their elementary school friends.

Thank you so much! She definitely will reach out to make new friends. She has friends from other sports she is in. You're not hearing about any classroom disruptions or fights in 6th? It sounds like if there is a problem, it's grade based, perhaps.

To be fair, every MS has these issues. It's pretty standard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought they were phasing out Chinese, since Jackson Reed canceled their program? Maybe that all got reversed and I just don't know (my kids are at other schools). But just double-check, if that's a priority for you.

Deal had to reduce foreign language by one position, which they chose implement by reducing Chinese from two to one teacher. May or may not have been influenced by decisions at Jackson-Reed, but it sounded like it was based on demand. Mr. Zhi co-taught with the new teacher for a couple months before officially retiring. Seemed like a reasonable transition. Some incoming sixth graders that selected Chinese as first choice were not able to get in, but I don't know how many that affected.

Jackson Reed did not cancel their Chinese program. Walls did when their budget was cut but then added it back when part of the budget was restored. In fact, Walls hired Deal’s other Chinese teacher, and Deal hired a new teacher from DCI to replace Mr. Zhi, who retired in October. Last year the class sizes were around 15-18, and now they’re 30.