WIS or Norwood for K?

[Anonymous]

WIS has serious playground and bullying issues for pre-K and K students. The administration has not been responsive at *all* to parents, but we all hope that will change.
While my child is happy there, I fear for her safety -- emotional and physical-- on the playground each day. Not ideal. I do not hear the same issues voiced from my other public or private school parent friends...it is a serious problem at WIS that they so far have refused to resolve.

[Anonymous]

Norwood is just solid in general. I'd go with Norwood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:WIS has serious playground and bullying issues for pre-K and K students. The administration has not been responsive at *all* to parents, but we all hope that will change.
While my child is happy there, I fear for her safety -- emotional and physical-- on the playground each day. Not ideal. I do not hear the same issues voiced from my other public or private school parent friends...it is a serious problem at WIS that they so far have refused to resolve.

I have a child in WIS kindergarten and have no idea what you're talking about!

[Anonymous]

Future wis k parent here. What is the school like if immersion program is not working for your family? In other words, if my ds is struggling or having a hard time, how hard is it to get a recommendation to move on? We have until August to make a final decision.

[Anonymous]

We've been at WIS from PreK to Grade 5 so far. Most kids do just fine, but if a child is struggling academically, it usually shows up around grade 2 or 3.

I've only seen maybe 2 kids get counseled out for academics (that I know of for sure). A couple of others for behavior problems though.

I wouldn't worry about immersion. WIS admissions is designed to select kids they think will be successful in two languages.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We've been at WIS from PreK to Grade 5 so far. Most kids do just fine, but if a child is struggling academically, it usually shows up around grade 2 or 3.

I've only seen maybe 2 kids get counseled out for academics (that I know of for sure). A couple of others for behavior problems though.

I wouldn't worry about immersion. WIS admissions is designed to select kids they think will be successful in two languages.

Good luck!

Thank you so much! You made me feel better about choosing this program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:WIS has serious playground and bullying issues for pre-K and K students. The administration has not been responsive at *all* to parents, but we all hope that will change.
While my child is happy there, I fear for her safety -- emotional and physical-- on the playground each day. Not ideal. I do not hear the same issues voiced from my other public or private school parent friends...it is a serious problem at WIS that they so far have refused to resolve.

+1
This is the reason we left WIS. DC was scared of that playground and still talks about it, years after we left. Administration pretended to listen but did nothing. The adult supervision at the playground is a joke and most of the equipment is not safe for the little ones. Plus the French teacher was in favor of one way conversations only (she would never, ever respond to emails - "it is not my thing"... I guess calls were not her thing either). I could go on but we are happy at another school now so WIS feels like a bad nightmare only. OP, ask around and choose wisely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We like the K-8 model. Would also recommend that you ask specific questions regarding academic "differentiation" offered at each school -- press for answers beyond, "yes, the teachers are great at differentiating and challenging each individual learner" and ask for the logistics of how this is implemented -- reading and/or math specialists, ability grouping etc.

Not everyone is into the "differentiation" thing. To be honest, at Norwood it seems like it is poorly done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We like the K-8 model. Would also recommend that you ask specific questions regarding academic "differentiation" offered at each school -- press for answers beyond, "yes, the teachers are great at differentiating and challenging each individual learner" and ask for the logistics of how this is implemented -- reading and/or math specialists, ability grouping etc.

Not everyone is into the "differentiation" thing. To be honest, at Norwood it seems like it is poorly done.

WIS does not differentiate either. "Children need to adapt" I ran the other way fast. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WIS has serious playground and bullying issues for pre-K and K students. The administration has not been responsive at *all* to parents, but we all hope that will change.
While my child is happy there, I fear for her safety -- emotional and physical-- on the playground each day. Not ideal. I do not hear the same issues voiced from my other public or private school parent friends...it is a serious problem at WIS that they so far have refused to resolve.

+1
This is the reason we left WIS. DC was scared of that playground and still talks about it, years after we left. Administration pretended to listen but did nothing. The adult supervision at the playground is a joke and most of the equipment is not safe for the little ones. Plus the French teacher was in favor of one way conversations only (she would never, ever respond to emails - "it is not my thing"... I guess calls were not her thing either). I could go on but we are happy at another school now so WIS feels like a bad nightmare only. OP, ask around and choose wisely.

Maybe your child was just weak.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WIS has serious playground and bullying issues for pre-K and K students. The administration has not been responsive at *all* to parents, but we all hope that will change.
While my child is happy there, I fear for her safety -- emotional and physical-- on the playground each day. Not ideal. I do not hear the same issues voiced from my other public or private school parent friends...it is a serious problem at WIS that they so far have refused to resolve.

+1
This is the reason we left WIS. DC was scared of that playground and still talks about it, years after we left. Administration pretended to listen but did nothing. The adult supervision at the playground is a joke and most of the equipment is not safe for the little ones. Plus the French teacher was in favor of one way conversations only (she would never, ever respond to emails - "it is not my thing"... I guess calls were not her thing either). I could go on but we are happy at another school now so WIS feels like a bad nightmare only. OP, ask around and choose wisely.

Maybe your child was just weak.

Maybe yours is the bully.

[Anonymous]

Look, the two schools mentioned in this thread have their share of bullies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look, the two schools mentioned in this thread have their share of bullies.

Doesn't every school - or do you have specific information?

[Anonymous]

WIS PK worked well for our DC. Great capacity and fun w target language early on. Good development in other areas too. We know families with current or recent PK or K kids at most all the NW schools and wouldn't swap with any of them. Do ask around, of course. Seems to work well for many IMHO. Plenty of families w multiple kids there, plenty of families trying to add in siblings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:WIS PK worked well for our DC. Great capacity and fun w target language early on. Good development in other areas too. We know families with current or recent PK or K kids at most all the NW schools and wouldn't swap with any of them. Do ask around, of course. Seems to work well for many IMHO. Plenty of families w multiple kids there, plenty of families trying to add in siblings.

Does this mean you have moved on since prek?