Independent schools in NOVA?

[Anonymous]

This board seems to be limited mostly to DC schools, but does anyone have any feedback on the following schools (which I'm considering for my 6th grade daughter)?

Congressional Schools of Northern Virginia

Oakcrest School in Mclean

Green Hedges School in Vienna

I would really appreciate any insights.

[Anonymous]

The only one I seriously looked at is Green Hedges. Seemed like a nice school - quite small and I know they are looking towards expanding their facilities, which I think they need since the auditorium seemed cramped for all they use it for. I'm not sure I would bother sending my child there for 6-8 and then having to move elsewhere though. Did you look at Flint Hill, which goes through high school and is close by? Oakcrest is quite a bit less expensive than other McLean private schools - I know very little about it but that makes me wonder if its really in the same league - I don't hear much about it except that its Opus Dei - affiliated.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the input! We are actually ok with a school that ends at 8th grade because we have 3 children and cannot afford to send them all to private school all the way through high school. Therefore, we think the best use of our educational resources would be to send each child to private middle school to optimize their chances of placing into the more competitive programs offered by the excellent local public high school.

Flint Hill is very close to us. I have avoided it because I've heard that it is very much a "rich kids" school and that there are some behavior problems. Do you think that is a mistaken impression?

Oakcrest, because of its religious affiliation, has a more limited draw than other schools in Mclean, but it's my understanding that it's quite strong academically.