Beauvoir - what do you like? What don't you like?

[Anonymous]

I forgot one thing: its probably the only school in DC where lunch is FREE.

In fact, my child is still " on the close" and I have not had to pack a lunch or pay for a lunch in almost a decade !

That is HUGE if you are a working Mom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP thanks! I've visited the school numerous times and we have applied. We can't find anything wrong with the school and we keep wondering if we are missing something. At the other schools we have visited, we like many things but can usually identify at least one con. With Beauvoir it may be as you suggest, that it ends at 3.

If we get accepted and attend I'm not sure we would be one of the families looking ahead to NCS. I've heard that if you aren't that could cause some tension. Have you experienced any of that or witnessed that?

The bolded has not been true for about 10-15 years, PP.

On my tour, I was impressed with the Science room and the art room and the Library, not to mention the vast space of the play ground and the wooded trails. I also noticed a lot of diversity in the classrooms and remember thinking that compared to my suburban school girl upbringing, it looked like a little U.N. in terms of every ethnic group.

If it helps, here are some things I couldn't have known about Beauvoir, but that I came to appreciate only as a parent:

1) I am not a religious person and I wasn't sure how I felt about my child being in a school where he went to chapel.

what I found: Episcopalian homilies can be pretty down to earth and , in some cases take a pretty courageous social position and were truly welcoming of everyone. On top of it, many of my fellow parents were not from a Chrisitian back ground. They might be muslim, hindu or jewish. What everyone seemed to have in common was education, professional careers, wide travel, interests and of course, we all had kids. And when tough things happened in the community, we were kind of glad we had that forum of a community service even if we were not religious.

2) I thought the school looked warm and seemed the educators had a good handle on how to provide a nurturing classroom.

what I found: my child LOVED that school, was truly happy to go to school every day and actually told a co-worker once ( when he came ot work with me because he had pink eye and had to stay home for one full day that , no, he didn't " feel luck to have gotten out of school, I like going to my school"

3) I didn't worry if the other parents would be snobby as the rumors say because I really did not care . After all, it was my child going there, not me.

I found: genuinely nice people , the vast majority and, refreshingly for a NW DC private, not everyone HAD to be a member of the liberal gliteratti and there were many friendships with people of differing political views and world views . What we had in common was strong enough : being a parent.

Beauvoir is a very , very nice school.

OP here: thanks so much for this insight! You addressed another comment I have heard in passing about "snobs." Good to know that is not the current feel of the school. While we want our children to receive a top education the last thing we want are snobs for friends for us or
them. We too aren't overly religious, but we like the idea of some exposure without endocrination. The school felt remarkably great. Even out DC was in awe when we walked in the door...big eyes and ooos and ahhhsss. She is still talking about the big library with ALL of the books! Needless to say if you can't tell its our first choice. Haha!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I forgot one thing: its probably the only school in DC where lunch is FREE.

In fact, my child is still " on the close" and I have not had to pack a lunch or pay for a lunch in almost a decade !

That is HUGE if you are a working Mom.

Free as in "not included in the tuition" of "as its part of the cost of tuition"? I think Sidwell also provides all meals as part of the tuition cost.
For the life of me can't figure out why GDS is expensive but they don't provide lunch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your response does not address the pp's question. For example, there could have been 30 who applied to Sidwell and wanted to go to Sidwell but only 5 were accepted.

Well, as a Beauvoir parent who applied to Sidwell for my DC, I can attest to the fact that there were 11 of us who applied, not 30. Of that 11, very few really tried.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I forgot one thing: its probably the only school in DC where lunch is FREE.

In fact, my child is still " on the close" and I have not had to pack a lunch or pay for a lunch in almost a decade !

That is HUGE if you are a working Mom.

Free as in "not included in the tuition" of "as its part of the cost of tuition"? I think Sidwell also provides all meals as part of the tuition cost.
For the life of me can't figure out why GDS is expensive but they don't provide lunch.

FREE as in you NEVER have to think about it, again.

No one asks youto sign up for lunch or write a check or be billed , or send an email requesting lunch that day and a bill....

its just DONE.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your response does not address the pp's question. For example, there could have been 30 who applied to Sidwell and wanted to go to Sidwell but only 5 were accepted.

Well, as a Beauvoir parent who applied to Sidwell for my DC, I can attest to the fact that there were 11 of us who applied, not 30. Of that 11, very few really tried.

Very few really tried? What do you mean? Of the 11 that applied
How many got in?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I forgot one thing: its probably the only school in DC where lunch is FREE.

In fact, my child is still " on the close" and I have not had to pack a lunch or pay for a lunch in almost a decade !

That is HUGE if you are a working Mom.

Free as in "not included in the tuition" of "as its part of the cost of tuition"? I think Sidwell also provides all meals as part of the tuition cost.
For the life of me can't figure out why GDS is expensive but they don't provide lunch.

FREE as in you NEVER have to think about it, again.

No one asks youto sign up for lunch or write a check or be billed , or send an email requesting lunch that day and a bill....

its just DONE.

My DD current preschool (not an IS) is the same
Way and it's great! I never have to think about packing a lunch or worrying if it's a healthy one. Would love to continue to NOT worry about that for sure!

[Anonymous]

OP do think about Staff turnover rates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP do think about Staff turnover rates.

Not so much. Drastic turnover could be indicative of issues, on the other hand if it simply means they won't retain teachers who are not being effective then that seems like a positive. Why do you ask? Do they have a high turnover rate?

[Anonymous]

Beauvoir parent of two current students--both kids adore the school. I echo what previous posters have said, very warm and nurturing place and the parent body is great too. The only minor complaint I have, if I had to pick something, would be that I wish the school was a bit more religious, i.e. chapel every week as opposed to every other. But, with that said, they really do a very nice job of teaching kids kindness and character. In terms of faculty over turn, it seems to be normal and the reasons given make sense. As another poster said, while Beauvoir is wonderful, you can't go wrong with most of the schools. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Thanks everyone! If you all are a good representation of the parents at Beauvoir that speaks volumes. This board is notorious for negative Nancy's and someone who always has something negative to say...the fact that has not happened in this entire thread I think say a lot about the schools values truly being reflected in the families it admits.

[Anonymous]

Maret' lunch is also included in tuition

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maret' lunch is also included in tuition

We heard really good things about Maret, but we decided to apply for Pre-K instead of K so we never toured or explored Maret further.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maret' lunch is also included in tuition

We heard really good things about Maret, but we decided to apply for Pre-K instead of K so we never toured or explored Maret further.

I think most (many) independent schools include lunch. GDS, I think, is an outlier in that there's no lunch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maret' lunch is also included in tuition

We heard really good things about Maret, but we decided to apply for Pre-K instead of K so we never toured or explored Maret further.

I think most (many) independent schools include lunch. GDS, I think, is an outlier in that there's no lunch.

I got the opposite impression, but it may be the schools we selected. We applied to 6 schools and only 2 provide lunch (Sidwell and Maret). I suppose it could be the other four we applied to aren't necessarily considered top tier schools or because they only got to 8th grade.