SSSAS, Burgundy Farm or Browne?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a Burgundy parent, I am surprised by the previous post's tenor regarding other schools in Alexandria. As a Burgundy parent one of the aspects I value most is the sense of community for all and respect for everyone. The tenor displayed in the previous post is certainly not what I would expect from a fellow parent and most definitely not an attitude taught by the school. For any considering or accepting a spot at Burgundy, my family's experience has been wonderful and I would recommend it.

Hee Hee...I have to agree ...these kind of things would not be said out loud at school and you would be very cautious outside of school as to what parents you would make these statements too. That being said, I have to agree with that PP on both accounts of the other schools.

On the other hand, I bet there are plenty of parents who in fact would not have such nice things to say about Burgundy and I am ok with that. I love the school, the community and culture and don't mind if others don't embrace it. Their choice...

[Anonymous]

Have any other Burgundy families out there noticed that there seem to be many more cars with both Burgundy and SSSAS stickers on them? Interesting, as the school cultures seem quite different (or at least did so -- maybe families with younger children at Burgundy are less "progressive" than old-timers like me).

[Anonymous]

I am an African American mom whose son, now in 11th grade, has been a student at SSSAS since kindergarten. He has thrived at the school throughout the years because of its nurturing, diverse community. It is one of St. Stephens/St. Agnes’ greatest assets.

[Anonymous]

Our family just participated in Multicultural Week at the Lower School at SSSAS. I was amazed at the variety of programs offered (rice tasting, Irish dancing, book discussions, Mandarin reading, Karate demonstration, Native American blessing) and the high community involvement. SSSAS is much more diverse now than it was 10 years ago. TOUR the school and see for yourself. We have a full-time Multicultural Director who can answer any questions you may have.

I am an Asian mother of 2 students at SSSAS; my husband and I are graduates of the MIT. We have been very impressed with the math program. We are one of very few schools that separate boys and girls in math and science in Middle School. I recently met one of the middle school math teachers and was blown away by her skills and enthusiasm.

[Anonymous]

I am an African American parent and I have two children that have been at SSSAS since Kindergarten. Just within the past few weeks I had the pleasure of attending the Martin Luther King Assembly as well as Multicultural night. I was very impressed by the fact the school employs an anti bias and stereotype curriculum. However, one of the things I enjoy most is worshipping with my children on Tuesday at chapel, where I am reminded weekly of the SSSAS commitment to seeing everyone as a child of God.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have any other Burgundy families out there noticed that there seem to be many more cars with both Burgundy and SSSAS stickers on them? Interesting, as the school cultures seem quite different (or at least did so -- maybe families with younger children at Burgundy are less "progressive" than old-timers like me).

I know families with children at both SSSAS and Burgundy. As mentioned by a pp, it is about the best fit for the children, not the parents.

And, to respond to another pp, I'm a SSSAS parent with a dc who loves his school. We looked at all the Alexandria schools, and thought they were all fine schools in which we would be pleased to enroll our child. They do represent a spectrum of educational philosophies, and we picked the one that we thought was best for our child. However, I really have nothing critical to say about the other schools -- they just weren't best place for for my child, as far as I could tell at the time.

[Anonymous]

I am a mother of 2 girls at SSSAS and we are of the Asian Indian heritage. Our experiences at our school have been profound. The school has not only embraced our culture but has given the girls numerous opportunities to learn and celebrate the cultures of their peers. Our school creates events and curricular classroom activities to welcome all faiths and educate children on tolerance. My children also have time to be heard and learn about multicultural topics during the "lunch bunches" small group discussions with our full-time Multicultural Director. Because of all of our diversity and cutting-edge educational initiatives, I have seen the girls (3rd & 5th) prepared to immerse themselves in our complex, changing and very diverse Washington community - and this preparation for the real world was nurtured in this school community.

[Anonymous]

Regarding families with children with multiple school affiliations ... I think it's true that siblings often arrive with differing temperaments, learning styles, and interests. The very few children I have observed at Burgundy who were NOT very happy were younger siblings who were sent to the school because that's where the older sibling(s) attend. And while the older kids thrived, these particular younger ones did okay academically but never really seemed enthusiastic and involved learners and participants. At Burgundy, this is a very rare thing to see. So having children at different schools is actually a positive statement about each of the schools being an excellent choice in their own right.

The second thing I would say is that children do not stay the same over time, obviously. As parents, we do the best we can to select a school that will meet our childrens needs and dreams ... hard to determine for a 3 year old (the age they are when you are applying for JK.) So even if you made the absolute correct decision for the early years and LOVED the school, some families discover that their child needs something different at some future point in their schooling. It says nothing bad about the school at all ...

I always think we are incredibly lucky to have such a wealth of interesting schools to choose from in this area ... and that certainly includes the public schools as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Burgundy parent here. We did not even consider applying to Browne. We considered but decided not to apply to SSSAS. SSSAS seemed overly country-clubby. Browne just seemed... uninteresting. Nice enough, but nothing special academically or socially. We've been very happy with Burgundy.

PP, everyone else was able to point out the good things about the schools they chose without insulting the others. In fact, many posts on this pleasant-until-you-joined thread noted that ALL the schools have their strengths and weaknesses, and all are different. But no one bashed the other schools except you. Clearly, we all ended up choosing one school over the others --- but the rest of us didn't need to put the others down.
If you are representative of Burgundy, I'll go elsewhere, thank you very much.
I have a feeling the other Burgundy parents would rather have a different representative than you.

Whoa, a little touchy.... is saying a school seemed "country-clubby" really a mortal insult? Or "uninteresting"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have any other Burgundy families out there noticed that there seem to be many more cars with both Burgundy and SSSAS stickers on them? Interesting, as the school cultures seem quite different (or at least did so -- maybe families with younger children at Burgundy are less "progressive" than old-timers like me).

Not at all surprising: Burgundy only goes through 8th grade, so all the kids have to go elsewhere for high school. SSSAS is more or less the only Alexandria private school that has a high school (not counting episcopal, which is solely a boarding school). For that reason alone, a fair number of Burgundy kids go on to SSSAS for high school. Not a lot of private options for local parents who don't want to end of with a long drive.

[Anonymous]

All the Burgundy kids I know of (and there have been quite a few) end up at TC Williams.

[Anonymous]

The Burgundy kids who choose to attend TC Williams don't "end up" there because they had no other options ... they CHOSE to go there for a large variety of reasons. Semantics, I know ...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our family just participated in Multicultural Week at the Lower School at SSSAS. I was amazed at the variety of programs offered (rice tasting, Irish dancing, book discussions, Mandarin reading, Karate demonstration, Native American blessing) and the high community involvement.

Rice tasting and karate demonstrations for multicultural week? Is that what happens when a school is full of kids whose parents don't have any friends of another race/ethnicty? I don't mean to single out St Stephens, but I really didn't think schools still did these kinds of shallow "awareness" events. It reminds me of when my elementary school principal (back in the 70s) asked my father to cook for "Tolerance Night" since she assumed he worked in a Chinese restaurant. I am fascinated about the inclusion of Irish dancing. I thought the Irish have been considered white since JFK.

[Anonymous]

^ Don't feed the troll. ^

[Anonymous]

Most schools offer a multiple-cultural night. I wonder what dishes trolls might bring?