Excellent, but not crazy competitive school districts in VA

[Anonymous]

We are in Centreville in the Westfield pyramid and have been very happy with the schools.

[Anonymous]

Translation: find me a district where the rat race can be won without running the rat race. Ain’t happening in nova, fool.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:if you have lot of $$$, go to Churchill ES/Cooper MS/Langley HS enclave. Not so much money, Kent Garden ES/Long Fellow MS/Mclean HS

This is terrible advice if you’re looking to avoid a pressure-cooker environment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are in Centreville in the Westfield pyramid and have been very happy with the schools.

No one wants to move from DC to Centreville.

[Anonymous]

what about Chantilly, Ashburn, Centreville schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:if you have lot of $$$, go to Churchill ES/Cooper MS/Langley HS enclave. Not so much money, Kent Garden ES/Long Fellow MS/Mclean HS

This is terrible advice if you’re looking to avoid a pressure-cooker environment.

Super terrible.

[Anonymous]

I vote for APS. Good schools, not crazy competitive, and a glide path into a mellow GT program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I vote for APS. Good schools, not crazy competitive, and a glide path into a mellow GT program.

Even more terrible

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:if you have lot of $$$, go to Churchill ES/Cooper MS/Langley HS enclave. Not so much money, Kent Garden ES/Long Fellow MS/Mclean HS

This is terrible advice if you’re looking to avoid a pressure-cooker environment.

DP here. We didn't find either Longfellow or McLean to be "pressure cookers." And Kent Gardens isn't an AAP center, so I assume it's fine, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Translation: find me a district where the rat race can be won without running the rat race. Ain’t happening in nova, fool.

This. Who says they want gifted programs but not a pressure cooker. What do they think pressure cooker is? And how segregated can we now get as a school system. There is no school in NOVA that is so small it only has one type of student. Find out where you want to live for commute etc. and move there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:if you have lot of $$$, go to Churchill ES/Cooper MS/Langley HS enclave. Not so much money, Kent Garden ES/Long Fellow MS/Mclean HS

This is terrible advice if you’re looking to avoid a pressure-cooker environment.

Super terrible.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One of the WS posters here.

Hayfield and South County are fine. Haven't really heard much either way about them. Kingstowne is great and they have Wegmans.

The thing is, the default argument for the stressed school areas seems to be "...but TJ! You aren't sending as many kids to TJ!"

And when that is your go to argument in a thread asking for laid back schools, that just emphasizes that maybe your focus is a little to high pressure to give a valuable recommendation for this thread about laid back schools.

No one has made that argument on this thread.

However, when a WS (or Lake Braddock or Robinson) poster goes out of their way to argue that their school is so great that kids from the pyramid don't want to go to TJ (arguably the best high school in the nation), it's not unfair to point out that this is likely a bit of a spin job. The reality is surely more nuanced.

The kids Don't want to go to TJ in this pyramid, with the exception of a small number.

They want to do sports and theater. They want to focus on madrigals and orchestra and take extra music theory classes instead of multivariable calculus. They want to have jobs and social lives and be able to walk to their friends houses after school. They want to spend their weekends travelling with club lacrosse instead of doing two solid days of extra homework. They do robotics and science olympiad, but for fun. They want to waste a weekend gaming line with their friends who moved out of the area.

They really, truly do not want to go to TJ.

Kudos to the kids (and parents) who really want that experience. Most kids (and parents) do not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One of the WS posters here.

Hayfield and South County are fine. Haven't really heard much either way about them. Kingstowne is great and they have Wegmans.

The thing is, the default argument for the stressed school areas seems to be "...but TJ! You aren't sending as many kids to TJ!"

And when that is your go to argument in a thread asking for laid back schools, that just emphasizes that maybe your focus is a little to high pressure to give a valuable recommendation for this thread about laid back schools.

No one has made that argument on this thread.

However, when a WS (or Lake Braddock or Robinson) poster goes out of their way to argue that their school is so great that kids from the pyramid don't want to go to TJ (arguably the best high school in the nation), it's not unfair to point out that this is likely a bit of a spin job. The reality is surely more nuanced.

The kids Don't want to go to TJ in this pyramid, with the exception of a small number.

They want to do sports and theater. They want to focus on madrigals and orchestra and take extra music theory classes instead of multivariable calculus. They want to have jobs and social lives and be able to walk to their friends houses after school. They want to spend their weekends travelling with club lacrosse instead of doing two solid days of extra homework. They do robotics and science olympiad, but for fun. They want to waste a weekend gaming line with their friends who moved out of the area.

They really, truly do not want to go to TJ.

Kudos to the kids (and parents) who really want that experience. Most kids (and parents) do not.

About the same number of kids apply to TJ from Lake Braddock as from Frost and Jackson, two other middle schools with large AAP programs. The LB kids just aren’t admitted in large numbers compared to those admitted from Carson, Longfellow, Rocky Run, Kilmer, and Frost.

You can keep claiming these kids deserve congratulations for largely getting turned down, but it’s not very convincing when the numbers tell a different story. If the number of TJ applications from LB drop, it’s just as likely that the kids there don’t think they’ll get in as that they don’t want to go there.

[Anonymous]

You don’t want competitive schools but you do want gifted and talented program. It shows that you are a very competitive parent and want to pave an easy way for your kids. In that case, find a school pyramid like South Arlington, and I will guarantee your kids will get all As and be selected into the gifted service with no effort.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You don’t want competitive schools but you do want gifted and talented program. It shows that you are a very competitive parent and want to pave an easy way for your kids. In that case, find a school pyramid like South Arlington, and I will guarantee your kids will get all As and be selected into the gifted service with no effort.

I think as one poster has repeatedly shown, avoid the TJ mania areas and you will likely be fine.