Hearst open house

[Anonymous]

Anyone make it to the Hearst open house this week? We're inbounds for Hearst but it's several years off for us so I didn't play hooky to go - but I was hoping to get some feedback from anyone who was able to make it.
thanks!

[Anonymous]

I went -- but was unable to be there the whole time. I am inbounds too.

Positives (from my perspective):
the kids were happy, engaged and learning, and the teachers seemed engaged and passionate.
while the building could use upgrading, the classroom space is large, bright and cheerful. Plenty of age appropriate learning resources in each classroom.
there were things that I liked in my visits to several private schools that were in use in the classrooms: responsive classroom, dictated stories, learning through play at the early years, the NAEYC accredidation, focus on reading comprehension
before and after care available
weekly specials, like art, music and gym (partnership with the Fillmore Arts Center)
diversity
scheduled re-vamp of playground, including specific play areas for young children (slated to start in the spring)

Potential concerns:
No large common space (mitigated by: it is my understanding that they will be allowed to use Sidwell's new gym for gym -- not sure about other uses)
the PTA is obviously not as rich as at Eaton (which I also visited) so there isn't a "co-teacher" in every classroom 1st through 3rd(mitigated by: they have a student teacher relationship with local colleges, and I think my class size in public school was still larger than at Hearst)
proposed expansion to 5th grade (not sure where this shakes out, but may pull resources from younger classes)

I think they have another open house in February. Good luck.