Trying to choose between St Patrick's and National Presbyterian School for my son. Any thoughts?

[Anonymous]

PP here -- by "they" I meant NPS. I know St. Pats is similarly committed.

[Anonymous]

I really do not see how a school can say they are committed to diversity and not have any diversity on faculty. The only diversity I saw were the servers and maintenance workers! Talk about a message. I saw very little in the classrooms either, perhaps that is why. I think it is easy for a school to talk the talk about their commitment to diversity , but much harder for them to walk it!

[Anonymous]

I thought facilities at NPS were a bit better and loved the head of school. Outplacements at both schools are pretty equivalent, so I think they are even academically. Warm, friendlier feel at NPS, emphasis on keeping kids age appropriate and polite, respectful, caring of others.

[Anonymous]

We will be at NPS for nursery. We chose it for the warm nurturing environment. I have to say compared to the public schools we we live in Virginia it is incredibly diverse so I don't get that comment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We will be at NPS for nursery. We chose it for the warm nurturing environment. I have to say compared to the public schools we we live in Virginia it is incredibly diverse so I don't get that comment.

You must not live in Arlington.

[Anonymous]

PP it is pretty obvious you have never really seen a diverse environment. You should visit Sidwell, GDS, or Holton these schools are diverse! If you consider NPS diverse you must live in a pretty bland world.

[Anonymous]

There are a few mixed race children at NPS (asian-american), but the most diversity is curly vs. straight hair or blond vs. brunette. Very little diveristy in color or politics or socio-economic group.

[Anonymous]

Attempting to return to the op's , imho, both have strong academics and their graduates go on to the top area schools. The largest group from each school goes on to NCS/StA. The remainder spread across, in no particular order, Holton, Sidwell, GDS, Potomac, Madiera, etc. A few go on to Mont. Cty schools. Not clear to me that such exmissions in turn produce "name" colleges, but plenty other places on this board to contest that detail. Both are warm places, and both work hard to produce "good" people. Slight nod to NPS for emphasis on balanced, rounded person, slight nod to St. Pat's for focus on writing/speaking. As geographic proximity equals time, hard to ignore that as a factor - especially as you look forward to possible playdates, attendence at sports events at school and at the other schools in the conference.

[Anonymous]

OP, first, my children are at St Patrick's so I am biased. I do have friends with children at NPS who are very, very happy with their choice and I have the impression that it is an excellent, warm, wonderful school. We did not look at or apply to NPS. When we were appying our child to schools, I was told by a friend who is an educational expert in Washington, as well as a born and raised Washingtonian, that academically NPS would not challenge my child. She named schools that would and St Pats was one of them. It ended up our first choice and we have been very pleased and our child/ren are doing well. Thus far the academics seem to be excellent based on work s/he is doing and Otis/Lennon and ERB results.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are a few mixed race children at NPS (asian-american), but the most diversity is curly vs. straight hair or blond vs. brunette. Very little diveristy in color or politics or socio-economic group.

Oh yes, and you REALLY get that at St Pat's ... (hardy har har)...

[Anonymous]

OP, you visited both, saw teachers in action in the classrooms, know from the ADs or materials where their kids next attend. Probably best to base decision on that info vs. postings here.

[Anonymous]

We were faced with the same decision and opted for St. Pats. Obviously, we liked NPS or wouldn't have applied there in the first place. Some of the factors that we considered when arriving at our decision were conversations with friends who teach at other prominent area privates and a conversation with an educational consultant we retained after our child's admission at both schools. After our conversations, we concluded that St. Pats had the edge in terms of academics and physical infrastructure. We also noticed, despite the misconception that many have, that St. Pats was a very diverse community - not just in the student body, but in terms of both teaching staff and school administration. We did see some diversity within the NPS student body, but that was it. In addition, St. Pat's had multiple outdoor play spaces, airy and full-sized gymnasium, and grassy fields were superior to NPS' compact feel and limited outdoor areas. While the curriculum at both schools is similar, there are differences in terms of the mathematics programs and the literacy programs (hat tip to the educational consultant who noted those differences for us). While it would appear that we had an easy decision between the two schools, in reality we did not. NPS had an intangible edge in terms of warmth and tradition. NPS appears to be a smaller local school where families drawn to a smaller clubby atmosphere would be happy. St. Pats is a much larger school with far greater resources and academic options for its students. In our opinion, when looking at the cold facts, the schools really do not match up well - even though they probably pull from a similar demographic. We also turned down admission to one of the big3 due to some unpleasant news circulating at the time and weird vibe during visits. Good luck with your decision and, since you’re already admitted, I woudn’t hesitate to go back and ask Jen Danish and Katy Harvey some tough questions.

[Anonymous]

PP clearly convinced self. And as many do here, writes a carefully assembled brief to support his/her action.

Others may approach it a bit differently. Perhaps asking what will work best for my child. The actual child I have.

We sought advice prior to school visits not from "educational consultants" but from Ph.d level experts in the development of so-called gifted children.

We and those we consulted with are of the view children that are appropriately so categorized will have essentially zero problem with academics. They will find places to apply their gifts in any setting. But... they may well have difficulties of one sort or another down the road if their foundations in interpersonal interactions are less than ideal.

From this perspective, only two DC independent programs were suggested to us for the early years. NPS and another that doesn't go beyond PK.

FWIW.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP clearly convinced self. And as many do here, writes a carefully assembled brief to support his/her action.

Others may approach it a bit differently. Perhaps asking what will work best for my child. The actual child I have.

We sought advice prior to school visits not from "educational consultants" but from Ph.d level experts in the development of so-called gifted children.

We and those we consulted with are of the view children that are appropriately so categorized will have essentially zero problem with academics. They will find places to apply their gifts in any setting. But... they may well have difficulties of one sort or another down the road if their foundations in interpersonal interactions are less than ideal.

From this perspective, only two DC independent programs were suggested to us for the early years. NPS and another that doesn't go beyond PK.

FWIW.


clearly very little...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We were faced with the same decision and opted for St. Pats. Obviously, we liked NPS or wouldn't have applied there in the first place. Some of the factors that we considered when arriving at our decision were conversations with friends who teach at other prominent area privates and a conversation with an educational consultant we retained after our child's admission at both schools. After our conversations, we concluded that St. Pats had the edge in terms of academics and physical infrastructure. We also noticed, despite the misconception that many have, that St. Pats was a very diverse community - not just in the student body, but in terms of both teaching staff and school administration. We did see some diversity within the NPS student body, but that was it. In addition, St. Pat's had multiple outdoor play spaces, airy and full-sized gymnasium, and grassy fields were superior to NPS' compact feel and limited outdoor areas. While the curriculum at both schools is similar, there are differences in terms of the mathematics programs and the literacy programs (hat tip to the educational consultant who noted those differences for us). While it would appear that we had an easy decision between the two schools, in reality we did not. NPS had an intangible edge in terms of warmth and tradition. NPS appears to be a smaller local school where families drawn to a smaller clubby atmosphere would be happy. St. Pats is a much larger school with far greater resources and academic options for its students. In our opinion, when looking at the cold facts, the schools really do not match up well - even though they probably pull from a similar demographic. We also turned down admission to one of the big3 due to some unpleasant news circulating at the time and weird vibe during visits. Good luck with your decision and, since you’re already admitted, I woudn’t hesitate to go back and ask Jen Danish and Katy Harvey some tough questions.

Wow