Sidwell K: class size & schedule

[Anonymous]

Took the tour and came away confused, despite asking several questions. Could Sidwell parents clarify for me:

How much instruction takes place in small groups? Which classes are taught in half groups of 12? Is it science, art, and math? Which subjects are taught in quarter groups of 6? What percentage of instructional time (roughly) is spent in groups of 6 or 12 as opposed to 24?

Also, how often do the children have music, art, science, Spanish, and PE in each of the lower school grades?

Thanks for your help.

[Anonymous]

I will repeat what the AD said this morning before the start of the tour - call the school with questions. BTW, what "color" was your tour, I thought our tour leaders were very good was pretty clear about the schedule.

[Anonymous]

Different poster here. I knew some people in our tour, and we all felt that the curriculum was not well explained. We're new to this process and if you go to GDS's or Beauvoir's open houses you will come away knowing exactly what the kids are doing. We pressed the person leading the tour, but she was not able to be detailed in her explanations. It was our impression that science was a weakness in comparison to GDS, but it could be that its not. It just wasn't covered in any depth.

[Anonymous]

We took a tour of Sidwell and it was mostly about how great their campus was. I raised my hand and asked a question about the curriculum and people looked at me like I should have memorized the website before coming.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We took a tour of Sidwell and it was mostly about how great their campus was. I raised my hand and asked a question about the curriculum and people looked at me like I should have memorized the website before coming.

Quite a bit of information is on the website. We toured three schools this year. Probably the most annoying part was questions from parents who obviously hadn't done any amount of research. Probably 99% of the answers to the questions was available on the website (i.e., how many spaces do you have available in kindergarten or when does language instruction start) or were things that shouldn't waste the group's time (i.e., does our child have to take the WPPSI, what is the WPPSI). No need to memorize the website, but I found it helpful to review much of it when narrowing down the search for schools to visit. Bottom line is, don't count on the tour to be the only "homework" required in gaining information about which school is right for your child. Too many people, not enough time, and not the right forum for individualized and personalized questions about your particular child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We took a tour of Sidwell and it was mostly about how great their campus was. I raised my hand and asked a question about the curriculum and people looked at me like I should have memorized the website before coming.

Quite a bit of information is on the website. We toured three schools this year. Probably the most annoying part was questions from parents who obviously hadn't done any amount of research. Probably 99% of the answers to the questions was available on the website (i.e., how many spaces do you have available in kindergarten or when does language instruction start) or were things that shouldn't waste the group's time (i.e., does our child have to take the WPPSI, what is the WPPSI). No need to memorize the website, but I found it helpful to review much of it when narrowing down the search for schools to visit. Bottom line is, don't count on the tour to be the only "homework" required in gaining information about which school is right for your child. Too many people, not enough time, and not the right forum for individualized and personalized questions about your particular child.

Hmm, you were the kid who sat in the front row and were exasperated when other children didn't complete the reading assignement. Right? Lighten up.

[Anonymous]

And were you the one who sat in the back and only raised your hand to ask, "Is this going to be on the test?" It's common courtesy not to waste other people's time with stupid questions.

[Anonymous]

OK, fair enough, I should have spent more time on the website. But my question wasn't personalized to my kid, as you suggest, instead it was "what do they read in English in such-and-such grade".

Also, I also think it's reasonable for the school to discuss the curriculum during the tour. The admissions folks seemed to think they were docents describing their wonderful facilities, which I didn't need so much as I could see it for myself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And were you the one who sat in the back and only raised your hand to ask, "Is this going to be on the test?" It's common courtesy not to waste other people's time with stupid questions.

Given that the tour leaders are parent volunteers I think that it is a bit much to expect them to know all the details of the curricula. They probably know only what their kids are doing and the talking points that they got from the school. I saw the tour as more of a "look around the school" so that I could get a sense and feel of the place.

[Anonymous]

Sorry, but I beg to disagree. I'm not paying all that money just so my kid can park his butt in an award-winning, environmentally-friendly building. Or on the grounds of the National Cathedral, for that matter. Plus the only "feel" we got was expressed by my husband afterwards when he wondered if the lovely facilities would show up as a separate line item on the tuition bill.

What really matters to me is how each school's curriculum and philosphy differ. Surely the schools know this is important. And surely the parents who volunteer for this have been associated with the school for several years and can talk about more than just one grade level?

[Anonymous]

that's "philosophy", sorry, typing too fast.

[Anonymous]

Hi. I've posted before and felt I had to comment. We've visited all the major schools, and Sidwell was striking in light of the cursory discussion of curriculum at the tour. Beauvoir, GDS etc do open houses where the head of school walks the parents through the curriculum, and the various teachers come and talk about the specific programs in science, math, arts, etc. They also have the usual parent-led school tours which are more about getting a feel of the classrooms. (I agree its not the job of the parent volunteers to know how the science curriculum changes by grade.) I am quite a reader of websites, but this lack if information was a significant difference between Sidwell and the other schools. It would be nice if they considered having the usual open house for parents who want to understand the curriculum in greater depth. The parent who posted defending Sidwell means well, but wanting information about the curriculum is not in the category of a "stupid question".

[Anonymous]

Might I suggest that inquiring minds ask the Director of Admissions?

It really isn't up to parent volunteers to know the nuance of curriculum.

[Anonymous]

I think this is part of the reason Sidwell is so unpopular here, at least among those who have been rejected. Lots of threads here complain about a perceived arrogance in different parts of the admissions process. I suppose parents go along with it as long as they think they can get in, but when the rejection/waitlist letters go out then the backlash starts. Sidwell could fix this, and I wish they would.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Might I suggest that inquiring minds ask the Director of Admissions?

It really isn't up to parent volunteers to know the nuance of curriculum.

Well I guess we'll have to, if they won't deign to come on the tours. Look at it this way, it's a good way to get face time and plug your kid....