And once more, Freedom Hill

[Anonymous]

What's your experience been like with K so far?

[Anonymous]

Good question. My experience with Louise Archer (another Vienna school) I can describe as very disappointing. I guess you you have a similar experience.

[Anonymous]

OP here. My DC is not at FHES yet but this is our home base school and he's starting K next year. I am trying to determine whether to seek a small, cozy private school vs. just go ahead with FHES. I heard some good and bad things about the school overall but my main interest is still K.

[Anonymous]

My son is in K at LA this year and I think both school are very similar. I would recommend looking for a private school if you can afford.

[Anonymous]

Our children were already a bit ahead of the curve and while they had some work at their level, it was more like every other day instead of every day. They mostly enjoyed the projects, specials, and social aspect of it. If a child needed a lot of help, I might not recommend it since the class sizes could be larger than private. Otherwise though it really was a great year and an easier transition into 1st knowing a lot of kids already.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son is in K at LA this year and I think both school are very similar. I would recommend looking for a private school if you can afford.

Can you elaborate on what is disappointing? We just moved and have a rising kindergartener for next year. Thx.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son is in K at LA this year and I think both school are very similar. I would recommend looking for a private school if you can afford.

Can you elaborate on what is disappointing? We just moved and have a rising kindergartener for next year. Thx.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Good question. My experience with Louise Archer (another Vienna school) I can describe as very disappointing. I guess you you have a similar experience.

Can you elaborate on what is disappointing? We just moved and have a rising kindergartener for next year. Thx.

[Anonymous]

Freedom Hill is an excellent school. Its overall test scores are impacted a bit by ESL embassy kids in the area, but the mix of kids is very good, and the teachers and principal very effective and energetic. A fantastic PTA.

K is more about learning social norms. In K and 1st and 2nd grade the kids take the FCPS standardized tests.

The teachers use their experiences with the kids in addition to the scores to recommend future level 4 G&T students.

Freedom Hills also has its own established level 4 program that has been in place longer than the new Westbriar placement school (only since 2013) (the Louise Archer replacement).

I have two very bright kids, both testing in the top 1-2% in all of the standardized tests. The older was reading at 3 yrs old. They learned social skills and supplemented their learning at Freedom Hill.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Freedom Hill is an excellent school. Its overall test scores are impacted a bit by ESL embassy kids in the area, but the mix of kids is very good, and the teachers and principal very effective and energetic. A fantastic PTA.

K is more about learning social norms. In K and 1st and 2nd grade the kids take the FCPS standardized tests.

The teachers use their experiences with the kids in addition to the scores to recommend future level 4 G&T students.

Freedom Hills also has its own established level 4 program that has been in place longer than the new Westbriar placement school (only since 2013) (the Louise Archer replacement).

I have two very bright kids, both testing in the top 1-2% in all of the standardized tests. The older was reading at 3 yrs old. They learned social skills and supplemented their learning at Freedom Hill.

cough(brag)cough(brag)cough

IME, the ESOL Embassy students raise test scores.

[Anonymous]

This school year there are four kindergarten classes, each with a full time teacher and a full time kindergarten aide. While the enrollments may have increased a few since the start of the school year, the four k classes started the school year with 20, 20, 20, and 21 students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Freedom Hill is an excellent school. Its overall test scores are impacted a bit by ESL embassy kids in the area, but the mix of kids is very good, and the teachers and principal very effective and energetic. A fantastic PTA.

K is more about learning social norms. In K and 1st and 2nd grade the kids take the FCPS standardized tests.

The teachers use their experiences with the kids in addition to the scores to recommend future level 4 G&T students.

Freedom Hills also has its own established level 4 program that has been in place longer than the new Westbriar placement school (only since 2013) (the Louise Archer replacement).

I have two very bright kids, both testing in the top 1-2% in all of the standardized tests. The older was reading at 3 yrs old. They learned social skills and supplemented their learning at Freedom Hill.

cough(brag)cough(brag)cough

IME, the ESOL Embassy students raise test scores.

Hell yes I was bragging, but more for everyone who comes on here thinking their kids are G&T and need to be at only the best schools. That fact is that only the top few % of kids get pulled into the G&T program.

And sometime the really smart kids have issues. And sometimes kids who have issues are profoundly gifted and no one notices.

This is a great school where your children will get individualized attention at every level... for me the level 4 program responded to some requests that other parents were surprised they acquiesced to... their experiences with Louise Archer was that it was more rigid with its curriculum and less likely to advance or be flexible in certain areas. E.g., my child does much of her higher level math in the same classroom as her peers by request rather than going up two grades and going into the six grade class... I had heard from a Louise Archer parent that their daughter had to take classes with the 6th graders who were older and bigger than she was.

My other child had some behavioral issues but tested really well. They really seemed to want them to reach their potential as they helped him with letting other kids answer questions in a pretty creative way so he didn't shut down and ignore the teacher.

Did not mean to insult by the ESOL Embassy comment - big cultural and language differences - the school however celebrates its diversity and seems to have good turnout by parents from all walks of life, and most of the Embassy kids are in the big $1M+ houses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Freedom Hill is an excellent school. Its overall test scores are impacted a bit by ESL embassy kids in the area, but the mix of kids is very good, and the teachers and principal very effective and energetic. A fantastic PTA.

K is more about learning social norms. In K and 1st and 2nd grade the kids take the FCPS standardized tests.

The teachers use their experiences with the kids in addition to the scores to recommend future level 4 G&T students.

Freedom Hills also has its own established level 4 program that has been in place longer than the new Westbriar placement school (only since 2013) (the Louise Archer replacement).

I have two very bright kids, both testing in the top 1-2% in all of the standardized tests. The older was reading at 3 yrs old. They learned social skills and supplemented their learning at Freedom Hill.

cough(brag)cough(brag)cough

IME, the ESOL Embassy students raise test scores.

Hell yes I was bragging, but more for everyone who comes on here thinking their kids are G&T and need to be at only the best schools. That fact is that only the top few % of kids get pulled into the G&T program.

And sometime the really smart kids have issues. And sometimes kids who have issues are profoundly gifted and no one notices.

This is a great school where your children will get individualized attention at every level... for me the level 4 program responded to some requests that other parents were surprised they acquiesced to... their experiences with Louise Archer was that it was more rigid with its curriculum and less likely to advance or be flexible in certain areas. E.g., my child does much of her higher level math in the same classroom as her peers by request rather than going up two grades and going into the six grade class... I had heard from a Louise Archer parent that their daughter had to take classes with the 6th graders who were older and bigger than she was.

My other child had some behavioral issues but tested really well. They really seemed to want them to reach their potential as they helped him with letting other kids answer questions in a pretty creative way so he didn't shut down and ignore the teacher.

Did not mean to insult by the ESOL Embassy comment - big cultural and language differences - the school however celebrates its diversity and seems to have good turnout by parents from all walks of life, and most of the Embassy kids are in the big $1M+ houses.

First of all it isn't G&T, it is called AAP. It isn't a tiny % of children that qualify. FCPS aims for 10% and ends up with more like 15%. When they used the CoGat as a cut off, the cut off for the initial pool was 130 - the top 10% in the County, which was in the 98th+ percentile nationally. In some of the affluent schools this represented 30-40% of the students. As people started prepping heir children for the CogAt the cut off for it rose to 133+ some years. That is why we have the FxAt now.

Plus, your school tried to get rid of the vast majority of their poor students in one fell swoop a few years ago by tweaking the boundary line. They succeeded in getting rid of 1/2 of them. So, they only "celebrate" a certain kind of diversity. Congratulations, I am sure you are proud of that.

[Anonymous]

What is wrong with LA? We are zoned to wolftrap but considering a house in LA. Our eldest kid may be AAP material (not why we're moving) - too early to know for younger child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is wrong with LA? We are zoned to wolftrap but considering a house in LA. Our eldest kid may be AAP material (not why we're moving) - too early to know for younger child.

The main complaint I hear about LA is that it is over crowded.