Norwood, Holton or WES?

[Anonymous]

I know that there have been many postings on these schools, but I was hoping for a more recent discussion of the pros/cons. We are getting ready to apply our second grade daughter for next year and don't believe that a one-hour tour gives a full picture of any school. If you have a child at any of these schools, I would be so appreciative of an honest posting of what you like/dislike about your school with regard to class size, curriculum, quality of instructors and any other relevant topic. Please don't post what you have heard through friends, only what you know firsthand. Thank you so much.

[Anonymous]

We love Norwood but didn't look at Holton or WES so can't compare.

[Anonymous]

One is all girls and goes through 12th grade, the other 2 are coed and go through 8th. Where do you see your daughter being for HS? How do the class sizes change after 5th or 6th grade when kids can transfer to other schools? What type of curriculum are you looking for?
How rigorous do you want the work to be?
Are the arts and sports important to you?

These are some questions you need to decide. At the LS level, the work load is not going to be that rigorous compared to public school. The ability to push ahead is also limited so if you are looking to do math, reading etc a year or two ahead of grade level, private schools for the most part don't do that. Holton becomes much more rigorous in HS. Like any school, you will have good teachers and not so good teachers.

[Anonymous]

I have a son at Norwood and we all absolutely love it. We looked at WES and it was fine, but we wanted a larger student body (but still with small classroom groups and even much smaller break-out groups). Norwood magically is able to maintain its numbers while giving each child the attention they should be getting. The school size makes the experience more diverse for my son with many options and different kinds of friends - great competitive sports program, amazing technology department integrated throughout the school, art/music/drama has huge emphasis, PE and recess everyday, beautiful campus... So interests and opportunities are many. I don't mean to say that it is a big school - it is very intimate and the teachers know my son and how he learns best. I can't fully express my admiration for this school, teachers and leaders, and how happy my son is each day. The school masks the hard work through fun, creative activities.

Another draw to Norwood is the families. I have never found a more-committed, down-to-earth, friendly group of people. The community feel at Norwood can't be missed.

I also went to Holton and I loved my years there. While I can't wait to send my daughter there, I have been so happy with the learning environment here at Norwood, that we'll look to Holton for high school. That way she can be included in the decision on where she will go for those 'college-prep' years - you have to think that your third grade daughter will change so much over the next few years so you should consider what is right for her now. I also think the K-8 experience is best for those middle school years where the students are the king of the hill (instead of striving to be like the high-schoolers)! It helps build their confidence and self-esteem in that difficult transition stage of life.

Huge fan a Norwood - Good luck!!

[Anonymous]

"At the LS level, the work load is not going to be that rigorous compared to public school. The ability to push ahead is also limited so if you are looking to do math, reading etc a year or two ahead of grade level, private schools for the most part don't do that. Holton becomes much more rigorous in HS. Like any school, you will have good teachers and not so good teachers. "


I completely disagree when you say you "can't push ahead" in private schools. They won't advance children by saying they are doing 4th grade work in the 2nd grade, but you have to realize that the group of kids in the private school setting are mostly at an above-average level to begin with. Baseline work is higher to start. Children are grouped in math and reading by ability, so if the reading group, for example, is ready to advance to harder work, they will do it. But there are many peers at that same advanced level, so they move together within their grade without having to move up to the next grade. 'Level work' isn't emphasized, but love of learning and exploration is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At the LS level, the work load is not going to be that rigorous compared to public school. The ability to push ahead is also limited so if you are looking to do math, reading etc a year or two ahead of grade level, private schools for the most part don't do that.

As a Norwood parent, I disagree with the spirit of these statements. The work load may not be as heavy, if measured in hours of homework, but the practice of grouping by skill level keeps all students challenged in both reading and math. In third grade math, for example, the students in the most advanced group have already mastered most grade-level skills and are being taught on that basis. It is true that this means enrichment more than acceleration, but I think this is a smart approach that even acceleration-mad MCPS is movnig toward.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The ability to push ahead is also limited so if you are looking to do math, reading etc a year or two ahead of grade level, private schools for the most part don't do that.

I think it's more accurate to say that good private schools are less wedded to the idea of "grade level" because they have greater flexibility to teach based on the students' needs. So if you have a strong cohort, those kids will be able to push ahead or dig more deeply without particular concern about whether they are grade-level or x-years-above-grade-level.

[Anonymous]

I agree that the person who talked about private schools not competing in terms of workload in ES school years is clearly a ps parent who may have wanted to save a buck and do private for high school and want to feel good about it. Private schools tend to attract kids who are already in the high IQ area so it makes no sense that private schools wouldn't be working to challenge thses types of kids. This doesn't mean PS can't be good--I think it can. I don't think the difference is in challenging students..but in one on interaction with a teacher..you can't get that with 25-30 in a class. More homework by the way, could reflect that the teacher can't get to everything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree that the person who talked about private schools not competing in terms of workload in ES school years is clearly a ps parent who may have wanted to save a buck and do private for high school and want to feel good about it.

Oh, come on, did we need to go there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree that the person who talked about private schools not competing in terms of workload in ES school years is clearly a ps parent who may have wanted to save a buck and do private for high school and want to feel good about it. Private schools tend to attract kids who are already in the high IQ area so it makes no sense that private schools wouldn't be working to challenge thses types of kids. This doesn't mean PS can't be good--I think it can. I don't think the difference is in challenging students..but in one on interaction with a teacher..you can't get that with 25-30 in a class. More homework by the way, could reflect that the teacher can't get to everything.

I am that poster and my kids have been in private school since PK. My older DS is now in HS so we have already spent quite a bit of tuition money. In our experience, when comparing my friend's kids in ES and MS, the curriculum in private school was just not as rigorous. We don't send our kids to private school because we want the hardest curriculum. We like the fact that they have sports, PE every day, art, science and music. We also like the fact they develop strong relationships with teacher's which is harder to do in a larger class. If you look at where kids get into college from the Whitman/Wootton/Churchill clusters you will see that they do very well.

Yes there are a lot of bright kids in private school but there are also other kids such as alumni, siblings or large donors who are not the top of the IQ chain.

My point was if the OP is looking at private school based a challenging curriculum only, it may be better to do public.

I don't appreciate the pyschoanalyzation. I just have seen many people come in and be disappointed because their expectations about private school vs public school were not met.

[Anonymous]

Between WES and Norwood, we chose WES. It was a bit of a drive to get to school every day, but DC was very happy. Great curriculum with connections between disciplines, lifelong friendships forged, teachers who truly knew DC and how to keep him feeling challenged and motivated. And the parents, while high achieving and probably competitive in other areas of their lives, seemed to keep things in perspective and refrain from making it all about them. DH and I particularly appreciated that aspect of school life.

DC is now at a top high school, but we genuinely feel like we'll always be a part of the WES community. We've heard that the new Head of School has great ambitions for WES, and look forward to seeing where he takes the school next.

[Anonymous]

15:28, I think perhaps where you went wrong was making an overly general claim about the ability of private schools to provide academically rigorous curriculum options as compared to public schools. As I'm sure you know, not every private school is the same, and different private schools can do different things.

Also, you might not appreciate this, but within the past week or two on a couple other threads, there were several posts from 1-2 supporters of public HGC schools claiming that private schools couldn't provide as rigorous an experience as public schools. Such claims are inconsistent with my experience with local private schools, and several others made the same response. So perhaps there is some extra sensitivity that you unwittingly tapped into.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One is all girls and goes through 12th grade, the other 2 are coed and go through 8th. Where do you see your daughter being for HS? How do the class sizes change after 5th or 6th grade when kids can transfer to other schools? What type of curriculum are you looking for?
How rigorous do you want the work to be?
Are the arts and sports important to you?

These are some questions you need to decide. At the LS level, the work load is not going to be that rigorous compared to public school. The ability to push ahead is also limited so if you are looking to do math, reading etc a year or two ahead of grade level, private schools for the most part don't do that. Holton becomes much more rigorous in HS. Like any school, you will have good teachers and not so good teachers.

Which school is your child in?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I a/quote]

I am that poster and my kids have been in private school since PK. My older DS is now in HS so we have already spent quite a bit of tuition money. In our experience, when comparing my friend's kids in ES and MS, the curriculum in private school was just not as rigorous. We don't send our kids to private school because we want the hardest curriculum. We like the fact that they have sports, PE every day, art, science and music. We also like the fact they develop strong relationships with teacher's which is harder to do in a larger class. If you look at where kids get into college from the Whitman/Wootton/Churchill clusters you will see that they do very well.

Yes there are a lot of bright kids in private school but there are also other kids such as alumni, siblings or large donors who are not the top of the IQ chain.

My point was if the OP is looking at private school based a challenging curriculum only, it may be better to do public.

I don't appreciate the pyschoanalyzation. I just have seen many people come in and be disappointed because their expectations about private school vs public school were not met.

I agree with much of what you say, but can you hint about which schools you were in?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At the LS level, the work load is not going to be that rigorous compared to public school. The ability to push ahead is also limited so if you are looking to do math, reading etc a year or two ahead of grade level, private schools for the most part don't do that.

As a Norwood parent, I disagree with the spirit of these statements. The work load may not be as heavy, if measured in hours of homework, but the practice of grouping by skill level keeps all students challenged in both reading and math. In third grade math, for example, the students in the most advanced group have already mastered most grade-level skills and are being taught on that basis. It is true that this means enrichment more than acceleration, but I think this is a smart approach that even acceleration-mad MCPS is movnig toward.

I disagree. I am concerned about the level of rigor at the elementary level, which is just not there. I am referring to rigor, not acceleration. I think that there is just not enough going on in the classrooms during the day. They need to ramp it up. It can be a waste of money. That said, I think that Holton has the best academic reputation of all these schools.