Bethesda/South Kensington Public Schools: Need a Lay of the Land!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most of the kids who live in Chevy chase view and Byeforde (basically west of Connecticut Ave) who are zoned to rosemary hills go to Holy Redeemer.

Yeah, parents in Chevy Chase aren’t thrilled about sending their kids to Silver Spring for Elementary.
It’s a weird configuration anyway

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most of the kids who live in Chevy chase view and Byeforde (basically west of Connecticut Ave) who are zoned to rosemary hills go to Holy Redeemer.

Yeah, parents in Chevy Chase aren’t thrilled about sending their kids to Silver Spring for Elementary.
It’s a weird configuration anyway

Chevy Chase View is not really Chevy Chase, it’s Kensington. And Rosemary is quite far away. Pretty sure those houses are closer to Kensington-Parkwood, Oakland Terrace, and Rock View, if not also Bradley Hills, than they are to Rosemary Hills. That said, mostly only the Catholic kids go to Holy Redeemer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is South Kensington like North Bethesda or North Potomac to make it sound richer?

It just means the part that doesn’t go to Einstein.

For now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is South Kensington like North Bethesda or North Potomac to make it sound richer?

It just means the part that doesn’t go to Einstein.

For now.

Hopefully those kids will stay on their side of the track.

[Anonymous]

Thanks to all who have replied! Is there a map the shows all the neighborhoods and school clusters in one place? I’ve only seen individualized school cluster maps and since we aren’t as familiar with the geography here, it’s been hard to keeps things straight!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks to all who have replied! Is there a map the shows all the neighborhoods and school clusters in one place? I’ve only seen individualized school cluster maps and since we aren’t as familiar with the geography here, it’s been hard to keeps things straight!

There's the MCPS Viewer:

http://gis.mcpsmd.org/Viewer.html

Use the settings in the upper right to select which boundary levels you want to see, and then zoom in to the neighborhoods you want. Once you get close in, it will helpfully show you all three/four schools assigned to an area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is South Kensington like North Bethesda or North Potomac to make it sound richer?

It's a thing on Google maps. According to google I live in "South Kensington." I've never heard anyone actually say it out loud. Everyone in my area just calls it Kensington. But it's not Town of Kensington so it's confusing. People think they live in the Town of Kensington and they don't.

Back when DC had a lot of crime real estate agents used to call Shaw East Dupont, but every time I hear North Bethesda I think Rockville.

[Anonymous]

Parts of Kensington near Einstein is currently zoned for schools like WJ and BCC but will possibly be reassigned to a closer geographic school once Woodward comes online. It isn't really simple since both WJ and Einstein are currently severely overcrowded so part of the solution is Woodward.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is South Kensington like North Bethesda or North Potomac to make it sound richer?

It just means the part that doesn’t go to Einstein.

Realistically that is the only reason such a term gets used. It used to just be Kensington until Einstein tanked.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is South Kensington like North Bethesda or North Potomac to make it sound richer?

It just means the part that doesn’t go to Einstein.

Realistically that is the only reason such a term gets used. It used to just be Kensington until Einstein tanked.

Town of Kensington and Parkwood go to WJ.

North Kensington and Kensington Heights go to Einstein.

South Kensington goes to B-CC.

[Anonymous]

I’ve never heard anyone use the term “North Kensington” or “South Kensington.” If pressed beyond “Kensington” residents will reply with street names, which side of big roads, nearby landmarks, or their neighborhood’s name. I do hear people talk about “North Bethesda.” Maybe in 20 years people will talk about “South Kensington.”

OP, the school boundaries are weird and could change in the next 5 years. As you look at individual houses, look up their schools on the MCPS school locator and you will start to get a sense of which neighborhoods go where now. If you live in the walker zone for a school you are less likely to be moved to a different school in boundary changes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve never heard anyone use the term “North Kensington” or “South Kensington.” If pressed beyond “Kensington” residents will reply with street names, which side of big roads, nearby landmarks, or their neighborhood’s name. I do hear people talk about “North Bethesda.” Maybe in 20 years people will talk about “South Kensington.”

OP, the school boundaries are weird and could change in the next 5 years. As you look at individual houses, look up their schools on the MCPS school locator and you will start to get a sense of which neighborhoods go where now. If you live in the walker zone for a school you are less likely to be moved to a different school in boundary changes.

I hear North Kensington often. That's the area just north of University and east of Connecticut.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve never heard anyone use the term “North Kensington” or “South Kensington.” If pressed beyond “Kensington” residents will reply with street names, which side of big roads, nearby landmarks, or their neighborhood’s name. I do hear people talk about “North Bethesda.” Maybe in 20 years people will talk about “South Kensington.”

OP, the school boundaries are weird and could change in the next 5 years. As you look at individual houses, look up their schools on the MCPS school locator and you will start to get a sense of which neighborhoods go where now. If you live in the walker zone for a school you are less likely to be moved to a different school in boundary changes.

We used to live in the historic district of Kensington, which is districted for Kensington Parkwood and ultimately WJ. At the time, I didn't care but found it odd that the HS would be the one 2.5 miles away, and not the one barely a mile away. We were told that the districting was a compromise when the county shut down the local elementary school (right in the neighborhood) and made it the Housing Opportunity Commission.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's a lot of variability in size of the school which can be pretty important. Wood Acres in Bethesda is large which means more choices for activities and friends. Bannockburn and Carderock have more of a small town feel where everyone knows everyone, and the older kids take care of the younger kids.
Some schools are more diverse than others in different ways. Bethesda Elementary by virtue of being downtown and near a lot of apartments can have more transient families (including many diplomats) than nearby schools. It also get raves for its inclusive special needs programs. Some kids bus there from other home schools for that.
Really you can't go wrong in Bethesda in terms of schools. Many of the Bethesda schools give tours. You can call and find out when.

Bethesda can feel like a big place during rush hour and there is really a divide between the schools that feed into WJ (Ashburton, etc.) and those that feed into Whitman or BCC. I feel like the WJ families tend to center there lives more around N. Bethesda/Rockville while the Whitman/BCC families do more stuff around the D.C. border. If you're in one of the schools further out, maybe Potomac too.

I've been a Bethesda realtor for almost 30 years and while my kids went to Churchill, I definitely have a lot of experience with the families of Bethesda.

I'd agree with this PP, you can't go wrong with any of the schools in Bethesda.
In my opinion, I'd say that the schools that feed into WJ (Ashburton & Wyngate) are very, very family friendly neighborhoods. Folks are always out walking their dogs, walking, jogging, playing at the park, shooting hoops, stopping and talking to their neighbors, much, much more family friendly than Whitman.

That is NOT a knock on Whitman, whatsoever.
Whitman's houses tend to be much more farther apart, like 2 house lengths and it's much harder to get to know your neighbors that way (not ALL neighborhoods, think Burning Tree).

I see a lot more of the kids from WJ lifeguarding, babysitting, tutoring, offering lawn work, etc.

Again, this isn't an insult to Whitman.
In my opinion though, I just find that the families in WJ neighborhoods are very, very close knit with their families and their neighbors and I see them out and about together, much more than I see Whitman families (and I'm not only shopping, going to restaurants, working, etc in Bethesda & Rockville, I'm in DC a lot too).

As this pp said, you can't go wrong with any of the elementary's that feed into Wj or Whitman.

Just my 2 cents, good luck.

I don't know, when my DD had an after school soccer practice at Bradley Hills ES there were TONS of kids around after school, not all of them obviously tied to a parent or caregiver (as in, some might have been biking around the neighborhood/from home to the park/school on their own!). My area of Kensington rarely has kids hanging out after school other than in an aftercare program. Most ES kids are in structured activities because both parents work and they don't have nannies/au pairs. Our neighbors and neighborhood are friendly at the bus stop and on the weekend, but not a lot of kids outside during the week IME. This may be neighborhood dependent and even different block to block within a neighborhood. It only takes 2 or 3 other families with kids of similar ages and schedules on the same block/couple blocks to make it feel that way.

Not surprising! We live near BHES though are a Wyngate family. Similar neighborhood feel. Bradley Elementary fed into WJ long ago I believe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve never heard anyone use the term “North Kensington” or “South Kensington.” If pressed beyond “Kensington” residents will reply with street names, which side of big roads, nearby landmarks, or their neighborhood’s name. I do hear people talk about “North Bethesda.” Maybe in 20 years people will talk about “South Kensington.”

OP, the school boundaries are weird and could change in the next 5 years. As you look at individual houses, look up their schools on the MCPS school locator and you will start to get a sense of which neighborhoods go where now. If you live in the walker zone for a school you are less likely to be moved to a different school in boundary changes.

I hear North Kensington often. That's the area just north of University and east of Connecticut.

North Kensington is the actual name of an actual subdivision. South Kensington is, as someone posted earlier, a weird thing that just started appearing on Google Maps for no particular reason whatsoever.