Pros and Cons of Norwood

[Anonymous]

Frankly, all of the well regarded privates counsel out children, if they think they think there is a bad fit. So Norwood is not unusual in that respect...

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One thing that I have heard is that if children aren't reading by the end of 1st grade they are counseled out of the school. My DC attends McLean (love it!) and there were a few kids who came in 2nd grade from Norwood. One of these kids' Mom told me that her DC's self-esteem took a huge hit at Norwood because of the reading and the way the school made him feel about it and that McLean not only got the reading down in short order but did wonders for his mental health as well.

This would obviously not be a situation most families would find themselves in but it is something to know.

I must say that I have heard something like this before. We got a kind of warning that nothing is said early on, but they just let you know that things aren't working out.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the info. The graduating class had about 60 students.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where do Norwood kids typically go to high school?

Some public. A large chunk to St. Andrews, Holton, Landon, which are closer to their homes. Some to GDS, which seems to be popular, then some go to Sidwell, Maret, and some Catholic High Schools.

This is incorrect. For the class of 2009, 1 student went to St. Andrews, 1 girl went to Holton and 5 boys to Landon. So hardly a "large chunk." 4 kids went to Sidwell, 3 boys to St. Albans, 5 girls to NCS, 4 kids to GDS, 4 to Maret, 2 to Potomac, 4 boys to Georgetown Prep, 4 boys to Gonzaga, and 1 girl to Visitation.

In light of PP's incorrect information here, I suspect that PP has been providing a lot of incorrect information about Norwood in many recent posts in this thread. So take them with a grain of salt. As to secondary school placement, Norwood provides all this information, in detail, to interested applicant families. The information includes not only matriculation numbers, but also applications/acceptances for each school. The amount of information provided is impressive, and substantively it shows that Norwood kids do extremely well in high school placement.

[Anonymous]

Some of the information and figures that you provided regarding Norwood, the Big 3 schools and Potomac is not accurate. In reviewing the stats on Norwood's own website, their acceptance rate at the Big 3 schools and Potomac is about 50%. Personally, I think that's pretty good, but it's not like lots of them are turning down Big 3 schools.

Anonymous wrote:And 2008 is similar to what the PP reports for 2009. I think in 08 Sidwell accepted 10 kids but only one went. The others spread around in fairly equal numbers. I notice that Potomac is the "hot" school for boys - with a number turning down Big 3s to go there. Also, in recent years there is a trend to (a) more of the top students going to public school, sometimes for econ reasons but many for other reasons as well; (b) a few more applications to the magnets (TJ, Blair, IB), and acceptances, though students dont' usually go; (c) lots of boys AND girls going to single sex schools, often w/ religious base (Cathedral schools, Visitation)

So as a parents of a recently graduated child, it was very interesting to see these patterns, especially among some of the top students. From the inside, when I see straight-A Suzie *choose* to go to a catholic or public school, it tells me more than if you are just looking at a placement list.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some of the information and figures that you provided regarding Norwood, the Big 3 schools and Potomac is not accurate. In reviewing the stats on Norwood's own website, their acceptance rate at the Big 3 schools and Potomac is about 50%. Personally, I think that's pretty good, but it's not like lots of them are turning down Big 3 schools.

Anonymous wrote:And 2008 is similar to what the PP reports for 2009. I think in 08 Sidwell accepted 10 kids but only one went. The others spread around in fairly equal numbers. I notice that Potomac is the "hot" school for boys - with a number turning down Big 3s to go there. Also, in recent years there is a trend to (a) more of the top students going to public school, sometimes for econ reasons but many for other reasons as well; (b) a few more applications to the magnets (TJ, Blair, IB), and acceptances, though students dont' usually go; (c) lots of boys AND girls going to single sex schools, often w/ religious base (Cathedral schools, Visitation)

So as a parents of a recently graduated child, it was very interesting to see these patterns, especially among some of the top students. From the inside, when I see straight-A Suzie *choose* to go to a catholic or public school, it tells me more than if you are just looking at a placement list.

????? I'm not sure how you are drawing your conclusions. It is true that for Norwood's Class of 2008, the kids who were accepted to Sidwell largely chose not to go. PP said that 1 out of 10 decided to go to Sidwell; personally I had thought that zero of them ended up at Sidwell that year. I know of at least boy one who chose Potomac over Sidwell and St. Albans. No one is suggesting that every single kid from Norwood who applies to Big 3 schools ends up being admitted. The point is simply that a good number of kids who are admitted to Big 3 schools choose to go elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

I'm the PP the poster is responding to. That is exactly what I meant, 16:52. Thanks for being clearer. And yes, one did go to Sidwell of those 10, and of the other 9, if memory serves they went to 9 different schools. 2 were Sidwell siblings, by the way.

[Anonymous]

While all schools will counsel out some kids, i don't know of any other that does so just because a child isn't reading by the end of 1st grade. In fact, the whole counseling out thing doesn't generally happen until the kids are older, unless there are behavioral issues. I have kids at two other private schools and this does not happen at my kids' schools.

[Anonymous]

I am a Norwood parent and my take on the school is that it is about the same academically as the closest MCPSs like CSES, Seven Locks, and Potomac. However, there are some differences. I would say that Norwood does a better job with reading/English, and a slightly poorer job with math. With science, they introduce it earlier. Languages are offered in K (Spanish) which is not found in public schools. And of course, there is the music art and PE that comes more frequently. Also, they do all of these things well, no short cuts.
The classes are slightly smaller than public schools' and I would say that in general they are more nurturing. WRT smart students... well they have the sibling policy, and that should ensure intellectual diversity. However, they will counsel kids out who can't keep up (sad).

[Anonymous]

18:33 here again, I must point out that I also see no big academic difference between the big 3 lower schools and the top MCPS I mentioned above.

[Anonymous]

I'm surprised that so few chose Sidwell. Anyone know why?

Anonymous wrote:I'm the PP the poster is responding to. That is exactly what I meant, 16:52. Thanks for being clearer. And yes, one did go to Sidwell of those 10, and of the other 9, if memory serves they went to 9 different schools. 2 were Sidwell siblings, by the way.

[Anonymous]

the parents are generally affluent with SAHMs and working dads who seem, in some cases, to be completely disconnected from their family lives---------------WTF???? Does that beg the question that parents who are both working are connected??? I have read a lot of posts and am just amused. I know some folks whose kids graduated from Norwood and have gone on to accomplish great things. I think it's a wonderful school. What isn't wonderful is the community of snobs who seem to infiltrate DCUM--the same people who call themselves "academics" look down at business people. Here is a clue for those folks..us "lower level intellectually" business people can handle life-the "academics" seem to be basket cases. Trust me..I know a lot of the super intellectual and they can barely tie their shoes and can't manage money and then blame the government. As for the freak out about chapel..god...there are worse things.

[Anonymous]

Who's freaking out? The majority opinion here, among those who aren't crazy about chapel, seems to be that nonetheless it has some positives and they can live with it.

[Anonymous]

This is a weird thread with all sorts of very strange stereotyping. Let's see - I have two very high WPPSI kids, I'm not a SAHM, I do cringe at daddy's visiting day, and I don't cringe at chapel in general. We do care about academics, which you would know if you read either of our resumes, but it is not something we flaunt. Bad form and all that. We would have never sent our kids to Norwood if we thought they were going to go hang out with a bunch of uber-rich but not too bright (and supposedly not very athletic) kids. Further, none of the families we know well at the school would have been interested in that dynamic, either.

I don't know anything about counselng out or counseling in general. That has not been an issue for our kids. They have been extremely great at getting to know our kids and supporting them. We love the curriculum in every area, and so far have loved virtually all of the teachers.

But please resume your unfounded stereotyping. No need to reflect reality, after all...

[Anonymous]

Yawn...another person obsessed with Sidwell.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some of the information and figures that you provided regarding Norwood, the Big 3 schools and Potomac is not accurate. In reviewing the stats on Norwood's own website, their acceptance rate at the Big 3 schools and Potomac is about 50%. Personally, I think that's pretty good, but it's not like lots of them are turning down Big 3 schools.

Anonymous wrote:And 2008 is similar to what the PP reports for 2009. I think in 08 Sidwell accepted 10 kids but only one went. The others spread around in fairly equal numbers. I notice that Potomac is the "hot" school for boys - with a number turning down Big 3s to go there. Also, in recent years there is a trend to (a) more of the top students going to public school, sometimes for econ reasons but many for other reasons as well; (b) a few more applications to the magnets (TJ, Blair, IB), and acceptances, though students dont' usually go; (c) lots of boys AND girls going to single sex schools, often w/ religious base (Cathedral schools, Visitation)

So as a parents of a recently graduated child, it was very interesting to see these patterns, especially among some of the top students. From the inside, when I see straight-A Suzie *choose* to go to a catholic or public school, it tells me more than if you are just looking at a placement list.

????? I'm not sure how you are drawing your conclusions. It is true that for Norwood's Class of 2008, the kids who were accepted to Sidwell largely chose not to go. PP said that 1 out of 10 decided to go to Sidwell; personally I had thought that zero of them ended up at Sidwell that year. I know of at least boy one who chose Potomac over Sidwell and St. Albans. No one is suggesting that every single kid from Norwood who applies to Big 3 schools ends up being admitted. The point is simply that a good number of kids who are admitted to Big 3 schools choose to go elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

They thought Sidwell was too rigorous. It's a very tough school and not a good fit for everybody.

Anonymous wrote:I'm surprised that so few chose Sidwell. Anyone know why?

Anonymous wrote:I'm the PP the poster is responding to. That is exactly what I meant, 16:52. Thanks for being clearer. And yes, one did go to Sidwell of those 10, and of the other 9, if memory serves they went to 9 different schools. 2 were Sidwell siblings, by the way.

[Anonymous]

Who did?