Differences Between Alexandria Parochials St. Marys, St. Ritas, Blessed Sacrament?

[Anonymous]

OP, If you are interested in diversity at all, St. Rita's student body is very diverse compared to Blessed Sacrament and St. Mary's which have next to no diversity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Class sizes at St Mary are reasonable...22-26, depending on grade and whether your grade has 3 classes or 4. All classes through 2nd have their own aide, and 3rd grade has a floatiing aid. Despite the decent-sized classes, the fact that there are nearly 800 students in the aging facility cannot be discounted. School mass and assemblies in the gym are dangerously full; and lunch is extremely short in order ot accomodate all those kids through the lines in 2 hours. I wish the principal would stop expanding the # of classes per grade (bubble classses) just to accomodate wealthy parishioners who complained that they were waitlisted.

Parishoners have been waitlisted? When did the number of classes increase? I just remember being told by one of the priests a number of years back that for the first time in his tenure, a parishoner's child wasn't admitted. Maybe alot has changed.

I have to admit, I am surprised to here there are 4 classes per grade. Is that more than Lyles Crouch?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:St. Mary's is significantly larger - 725 students in 2012, vs 328 at Blessed Sacrament and 200 at St. Rita's.

Blessed Sacrament has over 500 students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't have direct experience but I recently attended an Open House for both schools.

St. Mary's was quite impressive in terms of facilities (for example state-of-the-art science lab for MS, separate cafeteria and gymnasium), administration (very professional and well-run open house presentation), and technology integration (I saw tablets being used by some middle school math students). The middle school students who gave the tour belonged to the National Junior Honor Society and were well-spoken. The overall environment in the school was very traditional, strict, disciplined and structured. I wasn't sure if that would be a good fit for my active child but maybe the structure would be just what she needs. Class sizes were about 26 kids. The school has a wide range of extracurricular and enrichment opportunities, definitely more than Blessed Sacrament but given the large school size that makes sense. From what I understand, St. Mary's has a lot of kids whose parents and grandparents attended the school.

Blessed Sacrament is very different from St. Mary's. It is much smaller with only 1 class per grade and had a warmer, more intimate community feel to it that I liked very much. It's still a traditional school. There is a lovely playground and turf field - it was nice to see the green space which is something St. Mary's doesn't have. The students also have very high standardized test scores which parents on the open house tour were invited to review. The principal said that area high schools report their kids are well-prepared for the rigors of high school academics. The principal also reported that kids go on to many schools including not only Bishop Ireton and Bishop O'Connell but also TC Williams, SSSAS, Gonzaga, Visitation, Holy Child, Madeira, Episcopal HS and even NCS. I preferred Blessed Sacrament but was worried about the large class sizes with 28 kids per class (1 teacher plus with 1 assistant for K-4). The principal said the teachers practice differentiation to address the students' different needs and I did see kids broken out into smaller groups for activities but it still seemed like a lot! I would worry about my child getting lost in the shuffle. Other minor things that bothered me - small library, no lockers for MS kids and no hot lunch program.

I have 2 kids at Blessed Sacrament. There at 3 classes per grade with 18 to 20 kids in each class.

[Anonymous]

Do they have sports for the upper grades?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't have direct experience but I recently attended an Open House for both schools.

St. Mary's was quite impressive in terms of facilities (for example state-of-the-art science lab for MS, separate cafeteria and gymnasium), administration (very professional and well-run open house presentation), and technology integration (I saw tablets being used by some middle school math students). The middle school students who gave the tour belonged to the National Junior Honor Society and were well-spoken. The overall environment in the school was very traditional, strict, disciplined and structured. I wasn't sure if that would be a good fit for my active child but maybe the structure would be just what she needs. Class sizes were about 26 kids. The school has a wide range of extracurricular and enrichment opportunities, definitely more than Blessed Sacrament but given the large school size that makes sense. From what I understand, St. Mary's has a lot of kids whose parents and grandparents attended the school.

Blessed Sacrament is very different from St. Mary's. It is much smaller with only 1 class per grade and had a warmer, more intimate community feel to it that I liked very much. It's still a traditional school. There is a lovely playground and turf field - it was nice to see the green space which is something St. Mary's doesn't have. The students also have very high standardized test scores which parents on the open house tour were invited to review. The principal said that area high schools report their kids are well-prepared for the rigors of high school academics. The principal also reported that kids go on to many schools including not only Bishop Ireton and Bishop O'Connell but also TC Williams, SSSAS, Gonzaga, Visitation, Holy Child, Madeira, Episcopal HS and even NCS. I preferred Blessed Sacrament but was worried about the large class sizes with 28 kids per class (1 teacher plus with 1 assistant for K-4). The principal said the teachers practice differentiation to address the students' different needs and I did see kids broken out into smaller groups for activities but it still seemed like a lot! I would worry about my child getting lost in the shuffle. Other minor things that bothered me - small library, no lockers for MS kids and no hot lunch program.

I have 2 kids at Blessed Sacrament. There at 3 classes per grade with 18 to 20 kids in each class.

PP, are you talking about Blessed Sacrament in Alexandria? I was there for the Open House last week, we were told there is only 1 class per grade and saw each core classroom. There was only 1 K class shown. We met the teacher. Perhaps the principal didn't show us the other K classes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do they have sports for the upper grades?

St. Mary's?

The school has track, cross country, tennis, and basketball. Basketball starts in grade 4; track and cross county start in grade 3; tennis starts in grade 1.

The St. Mary's website is pretty extensive and provides a lot of info about the school and extracurricular activities that are offered.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't have direct experience but I recently attended an Open House for both schools.

St. Mary's was quite impressive in terms of facilities (for example state-of-the-art science lab for MS, separate cafeteria and gymnasium), administration (very professional and well-run open house presentation), and technology integration (I saw tablets being used by some middle school math students). The middle school students who gave the tour belonged to the National Junior Honor Society and were well-spoken. The overall environment in the school was very traditional, strict, disciplined and structured. I wasn't sure if that would be a good fit for my active child but maybe the structure would be just what she needs. Class sizes were about 26 kids. The school has a wide range of extracurricular and enrichment opportunities, definitely more than Blessed Sacrament but given the large school size that makes sense. From what I understand, St. Mary's has a lot of kids whose parents and grandparents attended the school.

Blessed Sacrament is very different from St. Mary's. It is much smaller with only 1 class per grade and had a warmer, more intimate community feel to it that I liked very much. It's still a traditional school. There is a lovely playground and turf field - it was nice to see the green space which is something St. Mary's doesn't have. The students also have very high standardized test scores which parents on the open house tour were invited to review. The principal said that area high schools report their kids are well-prepared for the rigors of high school academics. The principal also reported that kids go on to many schools including not only Bishop Ireton and Bishop O'Connell but also TC Williams, SSSAS, Gonzaga, Visitation, Holy Child, Madeira, Episcopal HS and even NCS. I preferred Blessed Sacrament but was worried about the large class sizes with 28 kids per class (1 teacher plus with 1 assistant for K-4). The principal said the teachers practice differentiation to address the students' different needs and I did see kids broken out into smaller groups for activities but it still seemed like a lot! I would worry about my child getting lost in the shuffle. Other minor things that bothered me - small library, no lockers for MS kids and no hot lunch program.

I have 2 kids at Blessed Sacrament. There at 3 classes per grade with 18 to 20 kids in each class.

PP, are you talking about Blessed Sacrament in Alexandria? I was there for the Open House last week, we were told there is only 1 class per grade and saw each core classroom. There was only 1 K class shown. We met the teacher. Perhaps the principal didn't show us the other K classes?

Sorry - I'm talking about Blessed Sacrament in DC.

[Anonymous]

Diversity= the only diversity at St Marys is whether you go to Belle Haven CC or Army Navy. lol

[Anonymous]

How does St. Marys compare to SSSAS? Just curious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How does St. Marys compare to SSSAS? Just curious.

It's about a quarter the cost. It stops at eighth grade. It's catholic, not episcopalian...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Class sizes at St Mary are reasonable...22-26, depending on grade and whether your grade has 3 classes or 4. All classes through 2nd have their own aide, and 3rd grade has a floatiing aid. Despite the decent-sized classes, the fact that there are nearly 800 students in the aging facility cannot be discounted. School mass and assemblies in the gym are dangerously full; and lunch is extremely short in order ot accomodate all those kids through the lines in 2 hours. I wish the principal would stop expanding the # of classes per grade (bubble classses) just to accomodate wealthy parishioners who complained that they were waitlisted.

Parishoners have been waitlisted? When did the number of classes increase? I just remember being told by one of the priests a number of years back that for the first time in his tenure, a parishoner's child wasn't admitted. Maybe alot has changed.

I have to admit, I am surprised to here there are 4 classes per grade. Is that more than Lyles Crouch?

Only certain grades have 4 classes. It's three or four per grade. Lyles-Crouch has 423 students, but is only K-5. Saint Mary's has 717, but is PK-8.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Class sizes at St Mary are reasonable...22-26, depending on grade and whether your grade has 3 classes or 4. All classes through 2nd have their own aide, and 3rd grade has a floatiing aid. Despite the decent-sized classes, the fact that there are nearly 800 students in the aging facility cannot be discounted. School mass and assemblies in the gym are dangerously full; and lunch is extremely short in order ot accomodate all those kids through the lines in 2 hours. I wish the principal would stop expanding the # of classes per grade (bubble classses) just to accomodate wealthy parishioners who complained that they were waitlisted.

I can't speak to the specific differences between the schools because we are new to the game, but for what it's worth, we are NOT parishioners at St. Mary's and our DC is admitted for the fall.

[Anonymous]

I know this is a little off topic but 19:40 bought up a good point. Why pay the extra money at the private schools in Alexandria ie, ACD, SSSA, Burgundy, Brown and Grace if the Parochials are a viable option.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know this is a little off topic but 19:40 bought up a good point. Why pay the extra money at the private schools in Alexandria ie, ACD, SSSA, Burgundy, Brown and Grace if the Parochials are a viable option.

Because, as I've heard from others and is noted by a PP, the parochials (St. Mary's at least) is great for those in the middle. If your child needs extra help or needs to be challenged, the parochials might not be a great fit.