St.ANDREW’s episcopal or Norwood School Bethesda?
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Anonymous
I am not the PP, but St. Andrew’s has a reputation for being a leader in this field. The head of middle school is a national speaker on the topic, they offer trainings on the topic for other schools and host a diversity conference for students from all over the area. I teach at a third private school and St Andrew’s is often held up as a model. |
Anonymous
Thank you for the information. I guess my ultimate goal is to prepare my children for a good high school and a good college eventually. |
Anonymous
FWIW, DD is a student at another local school where he spoke recently, and she came home raving about his speech. |
Anonymous
But what does good mean to you? What skills do you think are crucial to that preparation? For example, people may disagree about the role of social emotional support or the role of homework or whether education should be more student or teacher directed. I don't know anything about either school, but thinking about how you define good may help you evaluate them. |
Anonymous
Good meaning ivy league schools (wishful thinking  )
But of course the emphasis on sports and arts are also very important. |
Anonymous
If your definition of good is "ivy league," then it sounds like prestige is important to you. So I would suggest Norwood, so that you can apply for high school to the most prestigious schools. |
Anonymous
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Congratulations on your admittances! I have friends whose children have attended Norwood and liked it. The two schools have much in common -- but one offers the chance to stay on for high school and the other doesn't.
Our children feel truly known, appreciated, and challenged by their St Andrew's teachers. They enjoy both friendships and healthy competition with their peers. Some of the sports teams win championships, others aren't so competitive; some students are world class athletes in individual sports. Campus life is wonderful -- there's just a happy vibe there. The school culture is what I wish for America as a whole. Somehow this incredibly diverse student body manages to engage in respectful discourse and interactions. Yes, the very impressive middle school director is nationally known for his diversity work, and this month, Bethesda Magazine features a profile on a current student who is recognized for her activism. Yet conservative voices are also heard, school tradition matters very much, and faith is celebrated. Our student body is filled with young people who haven't been silo'd off and surrounded by others who only think and speak as they do, or come only from the same background as they do. I have to think that's going to prepare them very well for the real world. As for your ambition for your children. Our Upper School student has set his sights on a particular very selective (Ivy equivalent) college, and we've checked to see that the school does indeed have a strong track record of placement there. He has spoken to a SAES alumna who is currently studying there who told him that she has felt well prepared. The school's alumni include some big names in technology, the arts, policy, and other fields. Lastly, as a parent, the community is really so welcoming. There are many ways to volunteer (or not) and always events to meet up with fellow parents. We celebrated the school's anniversary with a gala at National Cathedral last night. It was filled with happy parents like us who obviously have great affection for one another. Hope this is helpful! |
Anonymous
+1 Agree whole heartedly with this assessment. Honestly, the only limiting factor to St. Andrew’s, keeping it from being more competitive for applicants is it’s suburban location. If St. Andrew’s were located in the district or in close to the district line Bethesda, it would be much more difficult to secure a spot. For now that means those living nearby or willing to do the commute have incredible access to a stellar education. |
Anonymous
how religious is Saint Andrews? |
Anonymous
| Different SAES parent here. I wholeheartedly agree with the long post several spots up. As far as religion, yes there is chapel and it is Christian, but the school embraces religious diversity and there are kids of many faiths and nationalities there. |
Anonymous
| I appreciate these responses and that this thread is refreshingly non-sarcastic/combative. I have questions for the posters with children currently at St. Andrews. Our impressions of the school match your description, but our concern lies not in the academic offerings but in the academic atmosphere, for lack of a better way to say that. Assuming your kids are in the high school, do they find the teachers set high standards and that the students are focused on academic achievement? These are not mutually exclusive from a warm and supportive environment in my opinion, although many seem to think so. Our kids are strong students but one in particular most thrives when surrounded by other engaged students and teachers who encourage/motivate him. How would you describe the academic atmosphere? Thanks very much. |
Anonymous
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Current SAES US parent.
On the topic of religion: just to add to posts above, it is certainly a religious and spiritual school based on the episcopal Christian tradition. However it is very inclusive of other Christian denominations as well as other world religious. Our family is Jewish (Reform affiliation) and completely comfortable at the school. There is significant participation from non Christian families. I do think children and families will find the ecumenical chapels (they occasionally have clergy from non Christian religions and lay leaders in addition to the school chaplains) and their religion/spirituality piece in perspective if they come from a family that practices an organized religion, but we know many at the school who don’t affiliate with religion and seem completely comfortable. On the academic rigor and classroom culture, it is strong but flexible. In my limited scope (our DC is on the honors/AP path) there is some variation in rigor and culture of the classroom, with what I think are the best skilled teachers covering the honors sections and less skilled in other sections. Additionally, while we have for the most part found the faculty to be excellent with experience, credentials, longevity, snd training in the science of learning through the school’s Center for Transformational Teaching and Learning, there is the occasionally less than inspired faculty member. None have been terrible, but occasionally there is a faculty member without spark. In three years our DC has only experienced 2 of this profile. From what I understand about even the “elites,” this variation happens everywhere. St. Andrew’s really is a terrific educational institution. It is extremely well run with a focused, dedicated board and volunteer constituency. It is on a very meaningful trajectory to be among the finest and most impactful of the area independent schools. |
Anonymous
| Another SAES parent here. I have to respectfully disagree with the above poster about the better are being placed with the honors/AP section. While that may be the case for some classes, our child has some health issues (I'm not referring to LDs) that keep DC from taking lots of those classes although DC is more than capable intellectually for those levels. DC has had wonderfully engaged teachers, some of whom also happen to be center directors, dept chairs, school heads etc (maybe we just got lucky) in the regular level classes (which DC says are more rigorous than the honors level at the publics DC attended prior to SAES). They have been terrific educators and not one has been weaker than those encountered in public. FWIW, we are big proponents of publics but have encountered stronger teachers overall at SAES. The smaller classrooms help a lot with this as well. |
Anonymous
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OP, you asked about academic culture. I think the distinction in that regard between SAES and other top private schools is that while the school offers a course of study that IS as challenging as any high school in the nation, not every student must choose that or does choose that.
So, if your child wants Yale and pursues a course load to prepare for that, he will find plenty of peers that are seeking the same thing and will push him. Those are the kids who present at Harvard as CTTL Student Fellows, who compete at Model UN or robotics, who participate in the elective history class that produces a book based on their original research. But his entire grade level won't be filled with those children. It feels healthier somehow -- and less like the school is forcing kids into a single, rigid idea of what a preparatory curriculum should look like. (And by the way, from what I can see, the students who choose less rigor in order to have more time for either extracurriculars or a deeper dive into one subject area. I think that because my own child has chosen the harder course of study himself, he feels less stressed. He made the choice and he can dial it down if he chooses next year. Anyway, that's my take on it. |
Anonymous
Even if this is true, how is it relevant to whether the student body itself is actually racially diverse? |