WIS - Middle and Upper School spirit and community

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP as with any school that you want to know about on this forum, you are going to either hear what you want to hear, encounter people who post with a personal vendetta, or whatever…

+1. The DCUM resident anti-WIS poster has already made at least two comments on here (we can always tell it’s you…).

[Anonymous]

Doesn’t mean it ain’t true.

[Anonymous]

I polled high ranking diplomats at a dinner. No WIS. Rochambeau for those wanting French, and German school for those wanting German. Some in the British school (not so much for the language but the feel of it and it being a part of a $15bn international school system). Obviously, Big 3 and Maret.

I don’t mean to anger anyone, and you could say at least some of these are for the half price of tuition, but the consensus was that WIS is not on the radar as an “international” school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I polled high ranking diplomats at a dinner. No WIS. Rochambeau for those wanting French, and German school for those wanting German. Some in the British school (not so much for the language but the feel of it and it being a part of a $15bn international school system). Obviously, Big 3 and Maret.

I don’t mean to anger anyone, and you could say at least some of these are for the half price of tuition, but the consensus was that WIS is not on the radar as an “international” school.

Not to nitpick, but parents of 1st gen kids and expats vs. diplomats are hard to compare. They are operating from very different points of view, and often diplomats have specific pressures or expectations from their peers about schooling.

I see WIS as an independent school with an international school mindset, which is the best or worst of both worlds depending on what you’re looking for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I polled high ranking diplomats at a dinner. No WIS. Rochambeau for those wanting French, and German school for those wanting German. Some in the British school (not so much for the language but the feel of it and it being a part of a $15bn international school system). Obviously, Big 3 and Maret.

I don’t mean to anger anyone, and you could say at least some of these are for the half price of tuition, but the consensus was that WIS is not on the radar as an “international” school.

I was upset to learn (very late in the process) that it isn’t actually an international school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I polled high ranking diplomats at a dinner. No WIS. Rochambeau for those wanting French, and German school for those wanting German. Some in the British school (not so much for the language but the feel of it and it being a part of a $15bn international school system). Obviously, Big 3 and Maret.

I don’t mean to anger anyone, and you could say at least some of these are for the half price of tuition, but the consensus was that WIS is not on the radar as an “international” school.

I was upset to learn (very late in the process) that it isn’t actually an international school

Out of curiosity, what in your view is an international school?

[Anonymous]

DP. WIS meets all the IASL Criteria for International Schools
1. Transferability of students’ education across international schools
2. A moving population (higher than in national public schools)
3. Multinational and multilingual student body
4. An international curriculum (i.e. IB - DP, MYP, PYP)
5. International accreditation (e.g. CIS, IBO, North Eastern ASC, Western Ass. of Schools and colleges, etc.)
6. A transient and multinational teacher population
7. Non-selective student enrollment
8. Usually English or bi-lingual as the language of instruction

[Anonymous]

I’ve never heard of a general complaint that WIS isn’t an international school. Curious why posters who think it isn’t say that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I polled high ranking diplomats at a dinner. No WIS. Rochambeau for those wanting French, and German school for those wanting German. Some in the British school (not so much for the language but the feel of it and it being a part of a $15bn international school system). Obviously, Big 3 and Maret.

I don’t mean to anger anyone, and you could say at least some of these are for the half price of tuition, but the consensus was that WIS is not on the radar as an “international” school.

I was upset to learn (very late in the process) that it isn’t actually an international school

Out of curiosity, what in your view is an international school?

That person is the WIS troll, you just have to ignore them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I polled high ranking diplomats at a dinner. No WIS. Rochambeau for those wanting French, and German school for those wanting German. Some in the British school (not so much for the language but the feel of it and it being a part of a $15bn international school system). Obviously, Big 3 and Maret.

I don’t mean to anger anyone, and you could say at least some of these are for the half price of tuition, but the consensus was that WIS is not on the radar as an “international” school.

Not to nitpick, but parents of 1st gen kids and expats vs. diplomats are hard to compare. They are operating from very different points of view, and often diplomats have specific pressures or expectations from their peers about schooling.

I see WIS as an independent school with an international school mindset, which is the best or worst of both worlds depending on what you’re looking for.

Yeah, diplomats are also here temporarily so the French, German, and British schools have appeal because they are designed for more of a seamless transition across countries (assuming you stay in the same school system).

[Anonymous]

The anti-WIS poster is so annoying and predictable. I wonder if it’s the same person who now sh*tposts about Maret.

I have two kids who graduated from WIS. Both are at top 15 colleges. We loved WIS. To respond to the original query: Since we’ve lived here for a long time, we didn’t need our kids’ school to provide us with a new social group (although we made a lot of friends and of course so did our kids). We both travel for work, so we also didn’t need our kids’ school to provide us with heavy-duty volunteer opportunities. We volunteered when we could for one-day events. But you should connect with actual current parents to see if it’s a match for you. Trolls here won’t help.

Varsity soccer is the main draw for spectator sports at WIS since there’s no football team.

If any of the above doesn’t suit you, there are so many other good options. But it was a great school for our kids, and they are thriving at very academically challenging colleges. My main complaints were that lunch wasn’t covered in tuition (I think that may have changed?) and that one of our kids had a bad teacher who subsequently was hired by Sidwell/GDS/Maret. (I’m intentionally not specifying since it’s possible that more than one teacher has made that move.)

As for it “not being an international school” and someone “taking a poll” at a dinner, that’s just odd and I don’t know what to say other than that if your kids end up at WIS, you can feel free to Google names in the family directory to prove your companions/speculation wrong. Yes, there are other great options, and WIS is small, so many diplomats have children at other local schools. Not a revelation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I polled high ranking diplomats at a dinner. No WIS. Rochambeau for those wanting French, and German school for those wanting German. Some in the British school (not so much for the language but the feel of it and it being a part of a $15bn international school system). Obviously, Big 3 and Maret.

I don’t mean to anger anyone, and you could say at least some of these are for the half price of tuition, but the consensus was that WIS is not on the radar as an “international” school.

I was upset to learn (very late in the process) that it isn’t actually an international school

Out of curiosity, what in your view is an international school?

Goodness I’m very behind on this comment and those that followed (weekend social plans anyone? No, just this website?) but I was told that WIS is an independent school that does not affiliate/has no unifying factor with other international schools. So to me, at the time, it seemed like international was slapped on to the name.

The points that someone provided above gave more clarity. The WIS parents I spoke with IRL before decisions were due did not. And that’s okay, we were leaning elsewhere anyways.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I polled high ranking diplomats at a dinner. No WIS. Rochambeau for those wanting French, and German school for those wanting German. Some in the British school (not so much for the language but the feel of it and it being a part of a $15bn international school system). Obviously, Big 3 and Maret.

I don’t mean to anger anyone, and you could say at least some of these are for the half price of tuition, but the consensus was that WIS is not on the radar as an “international” school.

I was upset to learn (very late in the process) that it isn’t actually an international school

Out of curiosity, what in your view is an international school?

Goodness I’m very behind on this comment and those that followed (weekend social plans anyone? No, just this website?) but I was told that WIS is an independent school that does not affiliate/has no unifying factor with other international schools. So to me, at the time, it seemed like international was slapped on to the name.

The points that someone provided above gave more clarity. The WIS parents I spoke with IRL before decisions were due did not. And that’s okay, we were leaning elsewhere anyways.

So your definition is that an international school must have an affiliation with other schools in other countries?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I polled high ranking diplomats at a dinner. No WIS. Rochambeau for those wanting French, and German school for those wanting German. Some in the British school (not so much for the language but the feel of it and it being a part of a $15bn international school system). Obviously, Big 3 and Maret.

I don’t mean to anger anyone, and you could say at least some of these are for the half price of tuition, but the consensus was that WIS is not on the radar as an “international” school.

I was upset to learn (very late in the process) that it isn’t actually an international school

Out of curiosity, what in your view is an international school?

Goodness I’m very behind on this comment and those that followed (weekend social plans anyone? No, just this website?) but I was told that WIS is an independent school that does not affiliate/has no unifying factor with other international schools. So to me, at the time, it seemed like international was slapped on to the name.

The points that someone provided above gave more clarity. The WIS parents I spoke with IRL before decisions were due did not. And that’s okay, we were leaning elsewhere anyways.

So your definition is that an international school must have an affiliation with other schools in other countries?

Do you have experience attending international schools around the world? I do and it was a question I had.

To someone’s comment above, it makes sense that one would attend the French, British, and German schools instead. But it wasn’t a sole deciding factor; we picked a Big 3.

[Anonymous]

WIS is not an American school. It does not have American school spirit. This is not a bad thing or a good thing. It is a matter of taste.

There are people at WIS, however, who chose WIS because it is not an American school. This means either that they dislike certain elements of American private school culture or didn’t want it or don’t want it or look down on it.