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Barcroft Neighborhood?
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Anonymous
| Any parents out there who live in Barcroft or know anything about the area? Looking for thoughts on safety and whether it is a family friendly place to live...also would love to hear thoughts on Barcroft Elementary--I understand it is a year round school and am curious to hear what parents do during the breaks/vacations that occur throughout the school year. |
Anonymous
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I love that area, especially Lake Barcroft. When we were househunting a few years ago I looked at a lot of homes in the neighborhood, several I would have made an offer on, but my husband wanted a more traditional home.
My daughter went to a private school a stone's throw away from the neighborhood and frequently socialized with friends in Barcroft.I found the neighborhood to be very safe. However, the schools do not have a good reputation. Many of the students at our private school attended this school because their neighborhood schools were not up to par. |
Anonymous
| Year round schools typically have lower test scores. We avoided neighborhoods that fed to those when we were househunting last year for that reason, and also because we have friends all over the county and didn't want to be on a different schedule from them. |
Anonymous
| Just and FYI that Lake Barcroft is in Falls Church (Fairfax County Section) and feeds into Sleepy Hollow Elementary. There is also a neighborhood in South Arlington known as Barcroft that feeds into Barcroft Elementary School. They are close to each other, but totally different areas IMO. Lake Barcroft is definitely a family oriented area. I'm not too crazy about Barcroft in Arlington though. |
Anonymous
12:56 here - I had forgotten that Arlington had a "Barcroft" neighborhood. My daughter took a dance class in the area and the homes are darling, but I know nothing about the schools. I believe that Lake Barcroft feeds into Bailey Elementary and maybe even Belvedere as well as Sleepy Hollow. All three are known to be "notsogood" schools. I know families that have pulled kids from all 3 due to safety issues, and poor academics. |
Anonymous
You're somewhat misinformed. Sleepy Hollow Elementary is a very good school, with an excellent, highly involved and proactive principal. As of next year, it will no longer be a Title I school. Bailey's was somewhat troubled years ago, but not anymore; it is a magnet school for arts and sciences as well as offering full Spanish immersion and is excellent and highly sought-after, with families travelling from as far as Reston to attend! They run a lottery for admision that is always oversubscribed. Your negative comments do apply to Belvedere, unfortunately. The principal is not thought of highly and the school does have some problems. The GT center there has a positive impact, but the school definitely has some challenges. |
Anonymous
| I am told by people zoned for these schools that despite the data you have shared, Sleepy Hollow and Bailey's are both problem schools. |
Anonymous
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We are zoned for Sleepy Hollow, and do not consider it a problem school in any way, shape or form. Neighbors' children attend Bailey's and love it. They are really torn between moving their GT child to the GT program or staying at Baileys, because they feel Baileys is so wonderful.
Perhaps different people have different opinions, but your unilaterally stating that they are "problem schools" is unfair and not a widely held opinion. |
Anonymous
| My daughter attends Sleepy Hollow (this was her first year, kindergarten) and we have nothing but good things to say about the school. I am a former teacher myself so I'm pretty "picky" when it comes to my dd's education. I've been nothing but impressed by Sleepy Hollow and am proud to say that my daughter goes there. |
Anonymous
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This is an old thread, but I also have to respond to the schools being "problem" schools. We moved from our home in North Arlington to Lake Barcroft two years ago. I don't know much about Belvedere Elementary since it is on the other side of the lake. I know it's the GT center school and my girlfriend's twin girls are in the GT program there and love it. We are in the Sleepy Hollow school zone and while we have a lot of friends who send their children there and absolutely love it, we decided to send our daughter to the magnet program at Baileys. Baileys is an amazing school and children all over Fairfax County apply to enroll via a lottery. The school has a very popular Spanish Immersion, but what most impressed us is the arts and science immersion and the quality of the teachers. Baileys has more county Teachers of the Year than any other elementary school in Fairfax. Our new principal won First Year Outstanding Principal of the Year at his last school. It is a very diverse school (40 countries of origin) and something we wanted for our children. If you are looking for your typical suburban elementary school then this would probably not be the school for your family. It's difficult to describe the school so I would encourage anyone interested in the school or the beautiful and amazing Lake Barcroft neighborhood/community to read more about it or better yet VISIT to really get a feel. The best time to visit LB is in the summer when you can visit the beaches and see the swimming, fishing, and boating. Although if you came now in the winter you could go ice skating or watch one of the hockey games on the lake.
Baileys: http://www.fcps.edu/BaileysES/aboutBaileys/distinctivePrograms/baileysDistinction.html Lake Barcroft: http://www.lakebarcroft.org |