St Stephen's & St Agnes School

[Anonymous]

Alexandria dweller here. There's nothing wrong with SSSAS. Is it the functional equivalent of Harvard? No. Is it a low-tier no-name private? No. They can charge top rates because Alexandria public is so bad and parents who can avoid Alexandria public will usually do so. That's why ACDS is still open too.

[Anonymous]

I think they increasingly have students from places other than Alexandria. The faculty is excellent, and I think folks from other communities talk about the quality of instruction (at least that was true for us — people we knew talked about the teachers’ being very strong. So we looked there)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think they increasingly have students from places other than Alexandria. The faculty is excellent, and I think folks from other communities talk about the quality of instruction (at least that was true for us — people we knew talked about the teachers’ being very strong. So we looked there)

Wrong. It is one of the most homogenous populations for a private school. Super high population comes from Old Town or Belle Haven. Most of the kids and parents have known each other and socialized for years. If you are not one of them, you are pretty much ostracized.

[Anonymous]

23:43 — that wasn’t true in our experience. Not from Alexandria and our DC was included and had friends from DC, Arlington, Alexandria, PG County, and Fairfax County. I Know because I drove DC all over the region to friends’ houses!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think they increasingly have students from places other than Alexandria. The faculty is excellent, and I think folks from other communities talk about the quality of instruction (at least that was true for us — people we knew talked about the teachers’ being very strong. So we looked there)

Wrong. It is one of the most homogenous populations for a private school. Super high population comes from Old Town or Belle Haven. Most of the kids and parents have known each other and socialized for years. If you are not one of them, you are pretty much ostracized.

Nope. Not even close but nice try.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think they increasingly have students from places other than Alexandria. The faculty is excellent, and I think folks from other communities talk about the quality of instruction (at least that was true for us — people we knew talked about the teachers’ being very strong. So we looked there)

Wrong. It is one of the most homogenous populations for a private school. Super high population comes from Old Town or Belle Haven. Most of the kids and parents have known each other and socialized for years. If you are not one of them, you are pretty much ostracized.

Not our experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think they increasingly have students from places other than Alexandria. The faculty is excellent, and I think folks from other communities talk about the quality of instruction (at least that was true for us — people we knew talked about the teachers’ being very strong. So we looked there)

Wrong. It is one of the most homogenous populations for a private school. Super high population comes from Old Town or Belle Haven. Most of the kids and parents have known each other and socialized for years. If you are not one of them, you are pretty much ostracized.

Nope. Not even close but nice try.

In our long experience with another private school, it is entirely possible that both of the opinions expressed in this thread are correct.

There was at our school a core group of people. All of them were DC natives and many of them were alumni or had other family connections to the school. Many were from the same neighborhoods, belonged to the same clubs and knew one another either from their youth or as adults.

There were also people at the school that were different in every way and they and their kids had no problem. They were, for the most part, oblivious and / or disinterested in the In-Crowd. They didn't really want to join a group that they had little in common with other than their sons going to the same school.

[Anonymous]

OMG this rambling is so boring and how many times can we bash SSSAS? I don't have a child there but I just read these forums for nuggets of information, but I'm so bored by the SSSAS threads that just seem to be repeats and not substantial. Move along now folks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OMG this rambling is so boring and how many times can we bash SSSAS? I don't have a child there but I just read these forums for nuggets of information, but I'm so bored by the SSSAS threads that just seem to be repeats and not substantial. Move along now folks!

If you feel that way, just ignore anything withSSAS in the title.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think they increasingly have students from places other than Alexandria. The faculty is excellent, and I think folks from other communities talk about the quality of instruction (at least that was true for us — people we knew talked about the teachers’ being very strong. So we looked there)

Wrong. It is one of the most homogenous populations for a private school. Super high population comes from Old Town or Belle Haven. Most of the kids and parents have known each other and socialized for years. If you are not one of them, you are pretty much ostracized.

Like several other PPs, I want to add that this has absolutely not been our experience.

I had read something similar on DCUM and it almost (almost!) affected our decision, but ultimately I thought SSSAS offered so much (in terms of teacher quality, beautiful campus, and strong community feel) that the other private schools (in NoVa and DC) couldn't compete with.

SO GLAD I did not believe those bogus claims PP wrote above! Maybe 20% of families live in Old Town and another 10% in Belle Haven. The rest are from other parts of Alexandria, Del Ray, Arlington, Falls Church, etc. Also, the families from Old Town and Belle Haven could not have been nicer!! The SSSAS parent community has been, in our experience, incredibly inclusive and welcoming.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think they increasingly have students from places other than Alexandria. The faculty is excellent, and I think folks from other communities talk about the quality of instruction (at least that was true for us — people we knew talked about the teachers’ being very strong. So we looked there)

Wrong. It is one of the most homogenous populations for a private school. Super high population comes from Old Town or Belle Haven. Most of the kids and parents have known each other and socialized for years. If you are not one of them, you are pretty much ostracized.

Nope. Not even close but nice try.

In our long experience with another private school, it is entirely possible that both of the opinions expressed in this thread are correct.

There was at our school a core group of people. All of them were DC natives and many of them were alumni or had other family connections to the school. Many were from the same neighborhoods, belonged to the same clubs and knew one another either from their youth or as adults.

There were also people at the school that were different in every way and they and their kids had no problem. They were, for the most part, oblivious and / or disinterested in the In-Crowd. They didn't really want to join a group that they had little in common with other than their sons going to the same school.

Based on your experience that has zero experience with SSSAS and with a completely different school? What?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think they increasingly have students from places other than Alexandria. The faculty is excellent, and I think folks from other communities talk about the quality of instruction (at least that was true for us — people we knew talked about the teachers’ being very strong. So we looked there)

Wrong. It is one of the most homogenous populations for a private school. Super high population comes from Old Town or Belle Haven. Most of the kids and parents have known each other and socialized for years. If you are not one of them, you are pretty much ostracized.

Nope. Not even close but nice try.

Truth hurts. No other IAC school draws primarily from such a small and homogenous area. Kids who try to break in and aren't part of that group typically have bad experiences. The school has little geographic, racial and economic diversity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think they increasingly have students from places other than Alexandria. The faculty is excellent, and I think folks from other communities talk about the quality of instruction (at least that was true for us — people we knew talked about the teachers’ being very strong. So we looked there)

Wrong. It is one of the most homogenous populations for a private school. Super high population comes from Old Town or Belle Haven. Most of the kids and parents have known each other and socialized for years. If you are not one of them, you are pretty much ostracized.

Nope. Not even close but nice try.

Truth hurts. No other IAC school draws primarily from such a small and homogenous area. Kids who try to break in and aren't part of that group typically have bad experiences. The school has little geographic, racial and economic diversity.

When I car-pooled from Chevy Chase, there were two or three other kids in my grade from there, a couple from Spring Valley, one from Kalorama, another from Foxhall, etc. Most were students WERE Virginians, but we had a solid DC/CHCH contingent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think they increasingly have students from places other than Alexandria. The faculty is excellent, and I think folks from other communities talk about the quality of instruction (at least that was true for us — people we knew talked about the teachers’ being very strong. So we looked there)

Wrong. It is one of the most homogenous populations for a private school. Super high population comes from Old Town or Belle Haven. Most of the kids and parents have known each other and socialized for years. If you are not one of them, you are pretty much ostracized.

Nope. Not even close but nice try.

Truth hurts. No other IAC school draws primarily from such a small and homogenous area. Kids who try to break in and aren't part of that group typically have bad experiences. The school has little geographic, racial and economic diversity.

There is someone posts about SSSAS who is really focused on the "Belle Haven" crowd, and this is actually kind of a "tell" because it's just not possible for the "Belle Haven" crowd to dominate the school. Belle Haven is a very small neighborhood, and there are just a limited number of kids that could be from the neighborhood. In 2018-19 there were 1,133 kids at SSSAS. A lot of the kids in the neighborhood go to private school, but there's a big chunk that go to St. Mary's or ACDS (and then Catholic Schools in DC for high school, usually), and more than a few go to DC private schools. In my DC's year, there were probably fewer than 10 kids (maybe a dozen?) in Belle Haven that went to SSSAS, and those were spread from kindergarten to high school. Old Town is bigger, but there are a relatively small % of people in Old Town with school age kids, and folks in the SE quadrant like Lyles-Crouch. I only knew a handful of SSSAS families in Old Town. There were a few more in Potomac Greens, and then more yet in Del Ray and Beverly Hills. However, as many of my DC's friends came from Arlington, Fairfax and Prince George's County as Alexandria. They run buses to Arlington, DC, and Fairfax, Prince George's and Prince William counties, as well as the Metro stop. The buses are full at pickup, so somebody is riding those buses.

I think there are legitimate criticisms of the school, but this isn't one of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think they increasingly have students from places other than Alexandria. The faculty is excellent, and I think folks from other communities talk about the quality of instruction (at least that was true for us — people we knew talked about the teachers’ being very strong. So we looked there)

Wrong. It is one of the most homogenous populations for a private school. Super high population comes from Old Town or Belle Haven. Most of the kids and parents have known each other and socialized for years. If you are not one of them, you are pretty much ostracized.

Nope. Not even close but nice try.

Truth hurts. No other IAC school draws primarily from such a small and homogenous area. Kids who try to break in and aren't part of that group typically have bad experiences. The school has little geographic, racial and economic diversity.

Again, not even close. I can sense how hard it is for you to accept the truth, and you are really pushing a fairy tale. You got it out there, good for you, nice job. But it isn't true. I am a SSSAS parent for the last 10 years, with more than one kid in more than one grade. I do not live in Belle Haven or OT. I am mixed race, so are my kids. Breath, relax, it's ok that you're wrong.