Most down-to-Earth school community

[Anonymous]

Lowell.
High school will be tougher to find.
Mos def not GDS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:GDS has a down-to-earth atmosphere with a strong social justice tradition in the urban context.

?? Not our experience at all. A deeply arrogant and very much SES-oriented environment.

[Anonymous]

Burgundy Farm in Alexandria was once a down-to-earth middle class school. It's pretty much priced out of the middle class market, like most independents these days, but it's not flashy and there's lots of project based work. The youngest grades have a good deal of outdoor playtime too.

[Anonymous]

NPS or Lowell.

[Anonymous]

+1 on NPS

[Anonymous]

+1 for Sheridan.

[Anonymous]

CHDS, definitely

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure "down to earth" is a good descriptor for the Parochial schools close to the Upper NW of DC or the gold coast of Potomac - Bethesda - Chevy Chase in MD.

Parking lots are filled with Land Rovers and Mercedes and it's the socio-ecoomic mix as the secular privates. Except , of course, they are Catholics primarily, who are intent on sending their DCs to Visi, SR, Prep or Gonzaga.

Maybe as you get oit in MoCo further, you might find a "down to earth" group.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's all relative but the most down-to-earth people I know at privates are at St. Patrick's.

Bwahaha!! You are off your rocker or high.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OMG GDS

You can't obsess on Harvard, propose a massive development for Tenleytown and stress out about ranking among local independent schools and then claim you are "down-to-earth." You are the least dte school in the dmv.
"GDS has a down-to-earth atmosphere with a strong social justice tradition in the urban context."

Jealous much? Haters gonna hate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's all relative but the most down-to-earth people I know at privates are at St. Patrick's.

Bwahaha!! You are off your rocker or high.

Seriously!
Everyone I know who went to St Pat's from our nursery school was an extremely wealthy WASP. These are the moms who would literally look through you as if you didn't exist if you weren't in their social circle. All now at St Pat's.

[Anonymous]

My neighbor's child goes to Sheridan and I've met a few dozen parents from there at various parties that my neighbor throws.

Everyone is nice and down-to-earth. Lots of people stretching to make the tuition work and would like to use public but can't for a variety of reasons (their local public is lousy, their child needs a smaller school setting, etc). A lot of parents are pretty quirky, some bordering on strange. Definitely not the DC VIPs or the country club set at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know you are in Upper NW, but we were in exactly the same position a handful of years ago and transferred our DC to CHDS (we do not live on the Hill so it did involve a commute). We visited three schools and upon visiting our DC said "I really want to go here". It was the perfect place for us -- warm, diverse, down to earth, enriching in every way: lots of writing in MS, nice kids, no focus on cars or clothes, kids are really friends in MS, etc. HS application process came around, and it was relatively stress free and worked out for everyone in the class. The other K-8 schools might be the same way, and are closer! Honestly, it changed things entirely for our child. Good luck OP!

Where did you end up for upper school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My neighbor's child goes to Sheridan and I've met a few dozen parents from there at various parties that my neighbor throws.

Everyone is nice and down-to-earth. Lots of people stretching to make the tuition work and would like to use public but can't for a variety of reasons (their local public is lousy, their child needs a smaller school setting, etc). A lot of parents are pretty quirky, some bordering on strange. Definitely not the DC VIPs or the country club set at all.

Not op but I am going to look into this school = these sound like my people!

[Anonymous]

I second Green Acres!