Burke

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How does Burke compare with Sandy Spring Friends School? Obviously distance, but beyond that. We are equidistant.

Both are very kind. SSFS is more tranquil. The campus is rural and spread out. It's calming. Burke is urban and compact. There's an unusual energy to the place. Sports are a bigger deal at SSFS. Arts are a bigger deal at Burke. Lots of individual attention from faculty at both.

I don't know much about SSFS, but I would say that one other differentiator for Burke is the encouragement and actual use of DC as a classroom. Even through high school the teachers hop on the metro for field trips which my kid loved. A ton more out and about activities than my kid at a Big5

I agree. Burke kids end up in DC for academic and social activities.

Didn’t some Burke kids get robbed on the way to the metro this year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We didn't choose Burke for all the reasons mentioned: it treats the kids as too special, too coddled, too much focus on SEL - not enough on academics, and in our opinion, not enough real world, not enough grit

LOL...Grit doesn't come to mind for "any" private school. The Burke kids are fine and can navigate DC better than most adults.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How does Burke compare with Sandy Spring Friends School? Obviously distance, but beyond that. We are equidistant.

Both are very kind. SSFS is more tranquil. The campus is rural and spread out. It's calming. Burke is urban and compact. There's an unusual energy to the place. Sports are a bigger deal at SSFS. Arts are a bigger deal at Burke. Lots of individual attention from faculty at both.

I don't know much about SSFS, but I would say that one other differentiator for Burke is the encouragement and actual use of DC as a classroom. Even through high school the teachers hop on the metro for field trips which my kid loved. A ton more out and about activities than my kid at a Big5

I agree. Burke kids end up in DC for academic and social activities.

Wanted to clarify - would this make it difficult for a kid living in NOVA / not on the red line to participate? Thanks

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How does Burke compare with Sandy Spring Friends School? Obviously distance, but beyond that. We are equidistant.

All of the admin transition at SSFS is a big red flag. I’ve also heard of lots of behavior problems post pandemic.

The people I know at both seem to love them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How does Burke compare with Sandy Spring Friends School? Obviously distance, but beyond that. We are equidistant.

Both are very kind. SSFS is more tranquil. The campus is rural and spread out. It's calming. Burke is urban and compact. There's an unusual energy to the place. Sports are a bigger deal at SSFS. Arts are a bigger deal at Burke. Lots of individual attention from faculty at both.

I don't know much about SSFS, but I would say that one other differentiator for Burke is the encouragement and actual use of DC as a classroom. Even through high school the teachers hop on the metro for field trips which my kid loved. A ton more out and about activities than my kid at a Big5

I agree. Burke kids end up in DC for academic and social activities.

Wanted to clarify - would this make it difficult for a kid living in NOVA / not on the red line to participate? Thanks

Quite a few Burke students have long Metro rides that include transferring trains downtown.

[Anonymous]

Oh gosh - sounds like your kid would be better at a more 'mainstream' school with a focus on social and academics (maybe SFS)?. Burke kids tend to be a bit quirkier. The school handled the shooting really well in terms of supporting kids and we were so grateful for that. Unfortunately, the emotional/mental health of kids (particularly in HS) is problematic. From our experience, there were a lot of kids struggling with their mental health - including self-harm. We ended up moving our kid to our local public high school - where she experienced more diversity - both of thought and socioeconomic status. Also - while there absolutely lots of gender fluidity and confusion in the the DMV area we'd say that about 40 percent of her grade presented as nonbinary (which doesn't reflect the data in terms of the general population).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are considering Burke, Field, SAES and SSFS for our rising 7th grader. Is there any marked difference between these schools?

Field and Burke are very similar and seem equal in my mind. Many Field families we met seems to have that feel of “exclusive wealth” to them, if that make sense. Burke seems more low key in ways that resonate better with our family. My kid loved both schools, but we went with Burke on overall feel and actual proximity more than anything.

I don’t know anything about the others.

We are looking into both Burke and Field, but I don't see how the two schools are similar. Why are there so many posts grouping the two schools together?

If you are looking for a progressive, independent 6-12, college-prep HS school in DC, outside of the "big 3," Field and Burke will both be high on the list.

and co-ed

and 6-12

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oh gosh - sounds like your kid would be better at a more 'mainstream' school with a focus on social and academics (maybe SFS)?. Burke kids tend to be a bit quirkier. The school handled the shooting really well in terms of supporting kids and we were so grateful for that. Unfortunately, the emotional/mental health of kids (particularly in HS) is problematic. From our experience, there were a lot of kids struggling with their mental health - including self-harm. We ended up moving our kid to our local public high school - where she experienced more diversity - both of thought and socioeconomic status. Also - while there absolutely lots of gender fluidity and confusion in the the DMV area we'd say that about 40 percent of her grade presented as nonbinary (which doesn't reflect the data in terms of the general population).

This all seems very class specific. We haven't seen any of that in our grade.

[Anonymous]

2 year old thread, folks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh gosh - sounds like your kid would be better at a more 'mainstream' school with a focus on social and academics (maybe SFS)?. Burke kids tend to be a bit quirkier. The school handled the shooting really well in terms of supporting kids and we were so grateful for that. Unfortunately, the emotional/mental health of kids (particularly in HS) is problematic. From our experience, there were a lot of kids struggling with their mental health - including self-harm. We ended up moving our kid to our local public high school - where she experienced more diversity - both of thought and socioeconomic status. Also - while there absolutely lots of gender fluidity and confusion in the the DMV area we'd say that about 40 percent of her grade presented as nonbinary (which doesn't reflect the data in terms of the general population).

This all seems very class specific. We haven't seen any of that in our grade.

And there’s a new administration in town. The big man is making changes and putting a stop to some things.

[Anonymous]

How is Burke changing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh gosh - sounds like your kid would be better at a more 'mainstream' school with a focus on social and academics (maybe SFS)?. Burke kids tend to be a bit quirkier. The school handled the shooting really well in terms of supporting kids and we were so grateful for that. Unfortunately, the emotional/mental health of kids (particularly in HS) is problematic. From our experience, there were a lot of kids struggling with their mental health - including self-harm. We ended up moving our kid to our local public high school - where she experienced more diversity - both of thought and socioeconomic status. Also - while there absolutely lots of gender fluidity and confusion in the the DMV area we'd say that about 40 percent of her grade presented as nonbinary (which doesn't reflect the data in terms of the general population).

This all seems very class specific. We haven't seen any of that in our grade.

And there’s a new administration in town. The big man is making changes and putting a stop to some things.

Can you elaborate on the changes?