Beauvoir parents: would you choose Sidwell or Maret over STA/NCS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Vastly different schools - Beauvoir is a traditional school leading into a single sexed environment; whereas maret and Sidwell are coed and much more progressive in their way of teaching.......

Beauvoir parent here posting to correct misinformation above. Beauvoir's uses just as much project based, experiential learning as Maret, Sidwell and GDS. There is no grading, sitting in rows, or learning through memorization at Beauvoir, only experiential, project based learning, math using manipulatives, etc.. Kids wear T-shirts and jeans to school, little girls often in too-toos and Uggs. The place is kid's wonderland, and that is before we even begin to talk about the new play ground , the green house and the Olmstead woods and how the kids benefit from attending a school with such incredible outdoor resources.

Beauvoir does have a moral curriculum, but I don't equate that with progressive vs traditional, but rather a natural outgrowth of Beauvoir's focus which is early childhood. I think its actually very supportive to kids moral development that social expectations are reinforced regularly. After all, all they are talking about is how to be kind, and caring to their classmates. For 4 year olds joining a bigger community than their home( and their parents) this helps everyone transition well

[Anonymous]

Academically StA/NCS/Sidwell/Maret and GDS are far more similar than different (based on two kids and two stepkids at a majority of these schools), and looking at college admits, NMSFs/Presidential Scholars etc supports this similarity. So should really come down to an individual kid and where they feel most comfortable (and would really seem important to have a B kid visit other schools and not just assume they will go onto NCS/StA, or consider again switching tracks at HS level if seems reasonable then). Factors would be single sex vs coed, teaching and discipline styles, interest in arts (maybe favoring GDS), a specific sport where one of the 5 schools has a real tradition of excellence (girls soccer NCS or Sidwell, track GDS, baseball Maret or StA, football StA etc), but more important in a small school the particular character of a class to be joined (difficult to know for 4rth at NCS or StA but very relevant and easier to find out about for MS or HS). These factors/decisions are much easier to judge in another few years and easiest to judge for HS, so really realize that lots of kids move between these schools for HS for all these reasons, and the schools support it, it works, and if anything getting in seems to be quite easy for these "lateral moves" (I think the schools one the receiving end like on some level having a kid choose to leave NDS for Sidwell, or GDS for St Albans or whatever). So do what feels comfortable for the kid and hope they have choices, but later on can always reassess.