Tell me about Catholic School Over Fairfax County

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We found the academics at Catholic schools to be far behind the publics. And the earning your way into he advanced classes was strictly by teachers choice. Since my DS had 99% on the SSAT and they felt he should be in the slow class, I passed. I did not want to be part of that community. Made 97th % on the SAT, so I felt it was the right choice for him.

It sounds like again you are talking about high school level.

Who uses the term "slow class"....just gross.

[Anonymous]

My children attend St. Louis in Alexandria. We moved from FFX public a few years ago. Main reasons, during back to school night my daughters teacher said "In fourth grade we do not take a science SOL, so we don't have science as a regular class but will try to incorporate it when we can."

What?? No science because they won't be tested in the spring in that suject?? We've been very happy at St. Louis. They have a science lab, they still teach penmanship, grammer beyond basic parts of speech and all grades have recess everyday. The grading scale is rigid, 93 and above is an A. All my kids teachers have Master's degrees in the subjects they teach. There are no discipline problems so teachers spend more time teaching. Expectations are higher both for academics and behavior.

Basketball, track, cheer leading, and volleyball all available after school. Band and chorus, as well as general music is offered. Spanish is taught I believe in all grades, I know for sure 4th grade and above.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My children attend St. Louis in Alexandria. We moved from FFX public a few years ago. Main reasons, during back to school night my daughters teacher said "In fourth grade we do not take a science SOL, so we don't have science as a regular class but will try to incorporate it when we can."

What?? No science because they won't be tested in the spring in that suject?? We've been very happy at St. Louis. They have a science lab, they still teach penmanship, grammer beyond basic parts of speech and all grades have recess everyday. The grading scale is rigid, 93 and above is an A. All my kids teachers have Master's degrees in the subjects they teach. There are no discipline problems so teachers spend more time teaching. Expectations are higher both for academics and behavior.

Basketball, track, cheer leading, and volleyball all available after school. Band and chorus, as well as general music is offered. Spanish is taught I believe in all grades, I know for sure 4th grade and above.

NP here: At St Louis they teach Spanish grades K-8. We are very happy there as well.

The science lab curriculum is new within the last few years. They are making a lot of improvements all the time in the school adding new technologies such as tablets etc.

[Anonymous]

Do you mind sharing the class size at St. Louis? Nativty in burke has some similar great programs with spanish and science, but class size is capped at 30. That is my last concern because the local public school averages 22 per grade. I have heard that some other parochial schools have 2 teachers per grade to offset, but this is only true for K and 1 at Nativity. Appreciate an info.

[Anonymous]

St Louis is around 25 or 27ish. In K they have a full time teacher and full time aide per classroom. In 1st and 2nd they split the aide.

They are two classes per grade.

Are you looking for this fall?

It's a fantastic place.

[Anonymous]

Can anyone comment on St. Louis vs. St. Mary's vs. Blessed Sacrament? Difficulty to get into each at K? Would like to pick our parish in part based on the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can anyone comment on St. Louis vs. St. Mary's vs. Blessed Sacrament? Difficulty to get into each at K? Would like to pick our parish in part based on the school.

Unless you're going to pick your house based on the parish (and maybe that's exactly what you're saying), you can't just pick your parish in the Arlington Diocese. You can obviously attend wherever you want, but they generally won't allow you to become a member unless you live within parish boundaries. And if you're not a member of the parish for 1 year before applying, then you don't get parish preference in getting into the school. You may know all of that already, but it was new to us when we started down this road and completely different than where DH and I grew up.

I can comment on St. Mary's and Blessed Sacrament. We did not live in-parish for either. We got into St. Mary's from out of parish for K. I picked up the application the morning it was released at the open house (a day in November), filled it out, and mailed it back the same day (they don't allow hand delivery). DS got in, but they also did 4 K classes that year. They typically do only 3 but will sometimes do 4. I don't know if he would've gotten in if they had done 3 classes.

We did not get into Blessed Sacrament the same year. BS opens early one morning in maybe February or early March for receipt of applications from nonparishioners. Ours was the first nonparishioner application received, and DS did not get in, but they only have one class. We didn't apply to St. Louis because it wasn't geographically convenient for us at the time. We live much closer to it now, and many of our neighbors' kids go there and are very happy.

We ended up at St. Mary's, which was our preference from the beginning, and have had a great experience all around so far.

Keep in mind that these schools have a very different feel to them. St. Mary's is more urban, very large (3-4 classes per grade and about 22-27 kids per class), no green space (if that's important to you), a full time aide in each classroom at least K-2. BS is much smaller and more suburban in feel with only 1 class per grade. I've heard the class can have as many as 30 students, but don't have personal experience. I can't speak to St. Louis at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We found the academics at Catholic schools to be far behind the publics. And the earning your way into he advanced classes was strictly by teachers choice. Since my DS had 99% on the SSAT and they felt he should be in the slow class, I passed. I did not want to be part of that community. Made 97th % on the SAT, so I felt it was the right choice for him.

It sounds like again you are talking about high school level.

Different PP, but I agree for elementary school the academics are far behind. I think the Catholic schools catch up by high school, but in the beginning they are very slow till middle school.

[Anonymous]

When catholic school parents say they like the community, what are they talking about specifically? Our parochial is very small and not terribly active. The kids come from all over and are not neighborhood kids. So while my child may think it's close knit, I don't think it's close knit. I just feel like it's uninvolved. Our neighborhood catholic attracts a lot of rich stay at home parents and I'm neither so maybe I just feel like I don't fit in.

[Anonymous]

St Louis parent here. I do not think the academics are behind the FFX schools in our area, frankly I think they are ahead of the curve. Also my understanding is that the grading system is tougher. Ex: I think an A starts at a 93 at St Louis and it is a 90 in FFX.

As far as community, it's not something that you can put your finger on. It's more a vibe. The teachers really know your kids as does that Administration. Not only which one they are but also they know who they are as people.

As far as families, most everyone cares about each other and the kids. If someone has an illness etc. there is prayer quilt community that will make a prayer quilt that the kids will tie a knot on. There is a meal ministry to sign up to cook meals for people who are going through surgery or treatments.

I can only speak of St Louis, but we are very happy there and glad we transferred when DD was in the younger grades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:St Louis parent here. I do not think the academics are behind the FFX schools in our area, frankly I think they are ahead of the curve. Also my understanding is that the grading system is tougher. Ex: I think an A starts at a 93 at St Louis and it is a 90 in FFX.

As far as community, it's not something that you can put your finger on. It's more a vibe. The teachers really know your kids as does that Administration. Not only which one they are but also they know who they are as people.

As far as families, most everyone cares about each other and the kids. If someone has an illness etc. there is prayer quilt community that will make a prayer quilt that the kids will tie a knot on. There is a meal ministry to sign up to cook meals for people who are going through surgery or treatments.

I can only speak of St Louis, but we are very happy there and glad we transferred when DD was in the younger grades.

Our nearby parochial school is close knit, but more in an exclusive way. The communication is somewhat poor especially regarding the curriculum. Is this typical of parochial schools?

[Anonymous]

Thanks - I did not know there were restrictions to joining the parishes in this area. I guess we've always lived close enough to the one we wanted to join so it was never an issue. We are members of BS, but now live closest to St. Louis. Geographically speaking BS, St. Mary's and St. Louis are all different degrees of close. We have a number of years before applying, but it makes sense to me to be part of the parish community where we also want to attend school (if possible). And with tuition differences between all the schools for both parish and non-parish members I was curious how people feel about the schools.

[Anonymous]

Not sure about the others schools, but I do know that St Louis will let you tour the school on the open house days even if you are not looking for another year or so. You can tour the preschool and then tour the elementary school. The next open house would be in November.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks - I did not know there were restrictions to joining the parishes in this area. I guess we've always lived close enough to the one we wanted to join so it was never an issue. We are members of BS, but now live closest to St. Louis. Geographically speaking BS, St. Mary's and St. Louis are all different degrees of close. We have a number of years before applying, but it makes sense to me to be part of the parish community where we also want to attend school (if possible). And with tuition differences between all the schools for both parish and non-parish members I was curious how people feel about the schools.

I never understand these restrictions, b/c it's never been true to me I also live in the Arlington Diocese. I'm supposed to be in the St. Thomas a Beckett parish in Reston, but i'm a member of St. John Nuemann in Reston and my son goes to St. Joe's in Herndon. It's never been an issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks - I did not know there were restrictions to joining the parishes in this area. I guess we've always lived close enough to the one we wanted to join so it was never an issue. We are members of BS, but now live closest to St. Louis. Geographically speaking BS, St. Mary's and St. Louis are all different degrees of close. We have a number of years before applying, but it makes sense to me to be part of the parish community where we also want to attend school (if possible). And with tuition differences between all the schools for both parish and non-parish members I was curious how people feel about the schools.

I never understand these restrictions, b/c it's never been true to me I also live in the Arlington Diocese. I'm supposed to be in the St. Thomas a Beckett parish in Reston, but i'm a member of St. John Nuemann in Reston and my son goes to St. Joe's in Herndon. It's never been an issue.

Both St. Mary's and Blessed Sacrament are very up front regarding becoming a member of the parish and in-parish preference when you inquire about the schools. It was the first thing that whomever answered the phone told us when we first inquired at both schools. In practice, maybe it's just an Alexandria thing since there has been high demand for entrance into those schools over the years.