Rock Creek Forest - Spanish immersion in MOCO

[Anonymous]

I've searched the archives and found very little feedback about this program. I'd love to hear any and all comments - positive or negative - about Spanish immersion at RCFES. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Good luck getting in. Apparently there are over a 100 students who apply for about 30 spots. It's a lottery. RCF is my home school but my son has as much chance getting into the S.E. program as someone in Gaithersburg.

[Anonymous]

My kid applied to both the Spanish and French programs. He got into the French program but not the Spanish program -- probably because of what PP said, that there are more applicants for the Spanish program. Plus he was apparently luckier in the French program where he drew a low number, as there are more applicants than spots for that program too. We

We're happy with the French program. It follows the Montgomery County curriculum, just in French. So my gripes about the program probably have more to do with the MoCo curriculum writ large -- not enough art, social studies and science aren't all that challenging, et cetera.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Good luck getting in. Apparently there are over a 100 students who apply for about 30 spots. It's a lottery. RCF is my home school but my son has as much chance getting into the S.E. program as someone in Gaithersburg.

Unfortunately I think the odds are worse. 25 spots, usually 5 or so taken with siblings (who don't have to enter the lottery), leaving 20 or so spots for over 140 applicants (past few years). They have an open house coming up Nov. 19th. I have heard positive things from neighbors about the immersion program.

[Anonymous]

Did anyone go to the open house today? I couldn't go...I'd love to hear opinions from current parents or attendees.

[Anonymous]

There are 300 applicants for 50 spots. But of those 50 spots, 20 to 30 go to siblings. So there are really only 20 to 30 slots and they said it was about a 1 in 10 chance of getting in. Class sizes are much larger than at our local elementary.

[Anonymous]

My son is a kindergartner at Rock Creek Forest. It is just terrific. He loves it, already understands a lot, speaks with a perfect accent, is starting to read in Spanish, etc. We have been very impressed with the teachers and the administration, and by how well they keep parents informed. The PTA is extremely active. I just don't have a bad word to say about it. It is, however, very difficult to get into. We just lucked out.

If you are really interested in Spanish immersion programs, I would apply to all of them. We applied to RCF, Rolling Terrace (partial Spanish) and Burnt Mills (partial Spanish). We were wait-listed at the partial Spanish ones, but got in off both those wait-lists over the summer. I do think the partial Spanish ones are much easier to get into- many fewer people apply. You might want to attend those open houses as well-- at least the Rolling Terrace one. I know they told us at Burnt Mills last year that priority goes to Francis Scott Key middle school cluster students, and they did not open their open houses to the general public. But I applied anyway, with the understanding that if we did get in, they'd be happy to show us around. And we were like 4th on the waitlist, so apparently the Key Cluster students don't take all the spots.

I do think full immersion is the best, because your child stays with the same class all day, and your child is completely immersed in Spanish (except for the specials, like PE, music, and art). But, we really didn't think we'd get into RCF, and we thought partial immersion would be better than nothing.

[Anonymous]

How does MCPS deal with transport for these schools if you are not in the neighborhood? ? Do parents have to drive the child when it is not your home school?

[Anonymous]

They offer bus service. My son (I'm the PP, with the son at Rock Creek Forest) rides the bus home every afternoon, and he takes the bus in the morning about half the time-- we drive him the other half. Be aware, though, that the bus stop isn't always within walking distance of your home. We still have to take and pick up our son at the bus stop-- it's about a mile and a half from our house. But RCF is about 3 miles from our house, so the bus is still more convenient. If you are considering a language magnet that's far from your home, remember that your child's bus ride could be really long. We decided not to apply to the Chinese magnets for that reason-- the bus ride probably would have been an hour each way.

[Anonymous]

Are the bus stops at other MCPS schools? We are only about 3 miles from RCF but didn't know if we would/could walk to our home school and a bus could/would pick up there??

[Anonymous]

Some bus stops are at home schools, some aren't. The bus doesn't stop at our home school-- it stops at a daycare center instead. I think it probably varies from year to year-- each year they look at every kid's home address to come up with the bus stops and bus schedule. I don't know anyone else at RCF who came from our home school, so that probably is part of the reason the stop is kind of far from us.

[Anonymous]

The official transportation policy, as explained to us at the informational meeting about the French immersion, was that transportation is provided but they only guarantee a bus ride (one-way!) of two hours or less. Probably the ride would end up being shorter than two hours, but they don't guarantee shorter. Since we live in one the far corners of the catchment areas for the immersion, we didn't apply for that reason--didn't want to risk a bus ride of longer than an hour each way.

[Anonymous]

Can someone explain the relationship between the immersion at RCF and the rest of the school. I have met a number of people several years ago who live in boundary for RCF who don't want to send their kids to RCF because they feel the school is too much a school within a school and that the non-immersion students are not served well by the school. Can any present RCFers address this?

[Anonymous]

I guess maybe I'm the only RCF parent who checks this board, so I'll try to respond. I know that the immersion kids are with each other all day, in all classes, and the same goes for the kids who learn in English. They do all have lunch and recess together, though (by grade). Also, the PTA seems very mixed-- the meetings I've gone to seem to have about half immersion parents and half English-program parents. And the out-of-school events (such as Reading Rocks, Multi-cultural Night, Ice Skating afternoon, etc.) are mixed. So, that's really just the facts as I know them. I don't know if that makes it feel like a school within a school or not. I can't say that I've noticed or that it bothers me. It definitely seems like everyone tries very hard to make it not feel that way, but the fact is that 2 classes in every grade are just for immersion kids and at least 2 classes in every grade are just for the kids learning in English, so I don't know how those kids would ever really mix that much, other than at lunch and recess. As far as the non-immersion kids not being served well by the school, I don't think that's true, but again I don't have personal experience with it. I know they get smaller class sizes (around 15 kids per class as opposed to 25) and I know I've been very impressed with the PTA, the programs the school puts on, the administration, etc. It's all SO much better than what my child would have gotten at his home school, and that's completely an English language school.

[Anonymous]

i don't have a child enrolled at the school, but i've heard good things about the principal. i think he's calling the english part of the curriculum the English Academy. my sense is it's a way to make those kids feel good as well.