How many kids are in your kids APS classes?

[Anonymous]

15:24 PP. Giant mortgage (not really, but it's larger than my previous one for $125K) was a necessity to get us into Arlington from Fairfax. Moved to Arlington to spend more time with my child and less time commuting. (Priorities!) Excellent public schools in Fairfax and Arlington, so don't see the point of private. Plus I was a public school kid and prefer public school for my child. Most of my friends' kids go public. The exceptions are in cases where they live in DC or in parts of the country (LA) where the public schools are not great.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're in boundary for Nottingham. A fellow parent told me that when she went to the kindergarten open house, twice as many parents showed up as the school was expecting. She said the administration kind of freaked out. Nottingham already has trailers set up. She enrolled her son in private school. I'm hoping things will be a little less chaotic by the time my daughter's in school in 2014; I can't afford my giant mortgage AND private school!

glad you've got your priorities straight.

There are other public options for Nottingham parents: ATS, Barrett, Claremont (immersion), and Drew (if the child has Montessori experience). All are great options.

Barrett for Nottingham boundary ?

Yes, but it too may be oversubscribed and limiting admissions from other neighborhoods

Barrett Elementary School
A school option with an instructional focus on mathematics, science and the arts.

School Profile
Population it serves -- Kindergarten to 5th grade. Neighborhood school that serves children from the Barrett attendance zones, but also receives children from the Ashlawn, Glebe, Long Branch, McKinley, Nottingham and Tuckahoe elementary schools attendance areas and students from other areas if space is available via application.
Transportation --Provided for students who live in the following neighborhood attendance areas: Barrett, Ashlawn, Glebe, Long Branch, McKinley, Nottingham, and Tuckahoe. Students from other attendance areas must provide their own transportation.
Admission process -- The complete admissions policy is outlined in School Board Policy25-2.2. Admission is by an application process. Due to capacity limitations for the 2011-12 school year, Barrett may only accept students living within its identified neighborhood zone, and siblings who will be concurrently attending the school.

[Anonymous]

Anyone know about the class sizes in City of Falls Church? I know K has about 20 with a teacher and an aid, but not sure after that.....

[Anonymous]

20 - third grade - arlington (at one of the immersion schools). Last year, DS had 24 kids in his class. One good thing (among many) about the immersion program is that class size indeed tends to shrink because you can't enter after first grade without prior immersion experience or the child is a native speaker of the immersion language, and families move away or decide immersion doesn't work for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're in boundary for Nottingham. A fellow parent told me that when she went to the kindergarten open house, twice as many parents showed up as the school was expecting. She said the administration kind of freaked out. Nottingham already has trailers set up. She enrolled her son in private school. I'm hoping things will be a little less chaotic by the time my daughter's in school in 2014; I can't afford my giant mortgage AND private school!

glad you've got your priorities straight.

There are other public options for Nottingham parents: ATS, Barrett, Claremont (immersion), and Drew (if the child has Montessori experience). All are great options.

Barrett for Nottingham boundary ?

Yes, but it too may be oversubscribed and limiting admissions from other neighborhoods

Barrett Elementary School
A school option with an instructional focus on mathematics, science and the arts.

School Profile
Population it serves -- Kindergarten to 5th grade. Neighborhood school that serves children from the Barrett attendance zones, but also receives children from the Ashlawn, Glebe, Long Branch, McKinley, Nottingham and Tuckahoe elementary schools attendance areas and students from other areas if space is available via application.
Transportation --Provided for students who live in the following neighborhood attendance areas: Barrett, Ashlawn, Glebe, Long Branch, McKinley, Nottingham, and Tuckahoe. Students from other attendance areas must provide their own transportation.
Admission process -- The complete admissions policy is outlined in School Board Policy25-2.2. Admission is by an application process. Due to capacity limitations for the 2011-12 school year, Barrett may only accept students living within its identified neighborhood zone, and siblings who will be concurrently attending the school.

PS situation in Arlington is quite confusing- people are competing to get into a 'Title I' school (Barrett)....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're in boundary for Nottingham. A fellow parent told me that when she went to the kindergarten open house, twice as many parents showed up as the school was expecting. She said the administration kind of freaked out. Nottingham already has trailers set up. She enrolled her son in private school. I'm hoping things will be a little less chaotic by the time my daughter's in school in 2014; I can't afford my giant mortgage AND private school!

glad you've got your priorities straight.

There are other public options for Nottingham parents: ATS, Barrett, Claremont (immersion), and Drew (if the child has Montessori experience). All are great options.

Barrett for Nottingham boundary ?

Yes, but it too may be oversubscribed and limiting admissions from other neighborhoods

Barrett Elementary School
A school option with an instructional focus on mathematics, science and the arts.

School Profile
Population it serves -- Kindergarten to 5th grade. Neighborhood school that serves children from the Barrett attendance zones, but also receives children from the Ashlawn, Glebe, Long Branch, McKinley, Nottingham and Tuckahoe elementary schools attendance areas and students from other areas if space is available via application.
Transportation --Provided for students who live in the following neighborhood attendance areas: Barrett, Ashlawn, Glebe, Long Branch, McKinley, Nottingham, and Tuckahoe. Students from other attendance areas must provide their own transportation.
Admission process -- The complete admissions policy is outlined in School Board Policy25-2.2. Admission is by an application process. Due to capacity limitations for the 2011-12 school year, Barrett may only accept students living within its identified neighborhood zone, and siblings who will be concurrently attending the school.

PS situation in Arlington is quite confusing- people are competing to get into a 'Title I' school (Barrett)....

Not a Barrett parent but have heard from others that the school has a very strong reputation. Definitely was an option in the mix for DC if immersion didn't work out

[Anonymous]

Future Nottingham parent here. The parents I know who have kids at Barrett are very happy with the school. I think some folks might choose it because it's a truly diverse school - there aren't many of those in Arlington. More schools are 70% white or 80% Hispanic or 70% FARMS-eligible (or 1% FARMS like Nott), whereas Barrett (like Key, Longbranch and maybe Glebe) actually have a racial and socioeconomic mix that some folks want for their kids. We ended up finding a house we liked in a neighborhood we loved that offered a great commute. The schools may be super-crowded, but we'll roll with it. My public school had pretty big class sizes too and I did just fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Future Nottingham parent here. The parents I know who have kids at Barrett are very happy with the school. I think some folks might choose it because it's a truly diverse school - there aren't many of those in Arlington. More schools are 70% white or 80% Hispanic or 70% FARMS-eligible (or 1% FARMS like Nott), whereas Barrett (like Key, Longbranch and maybe Glebe) actually have a racial and socioeconomic mix that some folks want for their kids. We ended up finding a house we liked in a neighborhood we loved that offered a great commute. The schools may be super-crowded, but we'll roll with it. My public school had pretty big class sizes too and I did just fine.

I wonder what the middle/high-income demographic at Barrett is really like, e.g. 'settling' for Barrett but telling themselves and others its a top tier elite elementary schools that's worth a lottery for entry...I just feel I didn't work so hard to end up giving my kid an education at a school that gets classified as Title I, e.g. federally classified as the most at-risk schools in the nation.

That's why I don't always trust the APS boosters...I think Barrett might be an adequate elementary school, especially given its socioeconomic demographics, but I doubt it really can compete with the best in APS, FCPS or elite privates.