St Andelm's Abbey

[Anonymous]

St. Alban's?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:St. Alban's?

Episcopal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would not write off SAAS just because you're family is Jewish. We have known several Jewish boys who went to SAAS and thrived. It is a Catholic school, of course, and is on the grounds of a monastery, but the monks are very open-minded and do not see it as part of their educational mission to convert anyone. Indeed, they are part of a thousand year old tradition of educating people of whatever faith.

So these Monks who live in an abbey and who have given over their lives to the Catholic Church and Christ are indifferent to religious beliefs and backgrounds of others?

That's remarkable. Not very believable. But remarkable if true.

OMG! It isn't the 1940s anymore. I am Episcopalian and all of my cousins went to Catholic schools in another state. Nobody tried to convert their "heretical souls." Monks are very different than Priests. Monks are cool.

You're also both confusing Catholics with Evangelicals. Catholics have no mission to convert. They have enough people going to them without the need to seek it out. Also its never been a practice except in the ancient missions. And I mean ANCIENT, like the Crusades, not the 1940s.

[Anonymous]

My son was admitted to the school is 6th grade and we seriously considered sending him there - really liked all of the people, very polite and nice and it is clearly a serious academic school. We ultimately decided against it, though, because my son got a "nerdy" impression of the kids and felt that it was not a good fit for him. I would note they are also very inflexible about differentiation - even though my son was a year ahead in math, they were insistent that he start in the same math class as everyone else (including kids he knew from elementary school were weak math students who he did not want to be in math class with). Like I said, my son did not attend the school so maybe it would have worked out but even though he is very bright he just did not want to attend the school.

My son started in 9th grade and we had an opposite experience. He was on a different math track than the SAAS high school track, having already taken Geometry. It seemed the math department would have advanced him to Pre-Calc in 10th grade, which we chose not to do. Kids entering in HS seem to be placed according to their background and strengths. Maybe the MS is less accommodating because experience can be so varied in ES. There seems to be plenty of challenge at the school for the boys, but enormous support as well. We are thrilled with the experience our son is having there!!

[Anonymous]

Can someone comment on the social atmosphere at St Anselm's? I'm interested in both the kids' perspectives and parents.

We have a 4th boy now who is doing very well in MCPS. He's bright and does well without much effort. I'm afraid that he's going to slip through the cracks in middle school and not learn how to buckle down and learn something.

I am NOT interested in an atmosphere of wealth and privilege. I don't want to get dressed up to pick him up from basketball practice. I have no problem running my kid around to meet up with friends and don't want him to be isolated.

I think we'll definitely go to the Open House next fall to get a feel for things. I'm also interested in the admissions stats that someone asked for above -- anyone know how many applicants they get for 6th grade? Thanks!

[Anonymous]

The social atmosphere is pretty mellow. My kid gets heft financial aid, but so do some others. Others are clearly much wealthier than we are, but there is no distinction. Kindness really is a core value of the school that is transmitted throughout the community. Also, because there is a strict dress code, the boys aren't overly focused on "brands" and styles of clothes. Sometimes they get funky with their ties, but there's not a lot of competition to consume.
As a parent, I don't always feel like I fit in exactly with the other parents, but they are always kind and welcoming and I don't feel like I need to dress up for pick up- maybe that's just me!

[Anonymous]

We are also current SAAS parents and find the social atmosphere extremely welcoming and not at all snobbish. It is significantly less "prestige"-oriented than GDS seemed when we visited. Perhaps in part because of the location, in part because of the culture of the school, it seems like a much lower key environment than we would have expected for private school. As the other posted indicated, there are many, many families on financial aid, and the fact that the tuition is lower than many other private schools seems to draw a less wealthy set of families.

[Anonymous]

Having also visited St. Johns and Holton - as a comparison, there is much less snobbery and conspicuous consumption at SAAS although some families are clearly quite well off.

[Anonymous]

I am always surprised, when I go to school for an event, how casual everyone is. There was definitely a much different vibe at a lot of the other schools we toured for Open Houses. I have not been to a private school in the area with as many "normal" cars in the parking lot. It is a wonderful, warm and welcoming place.

[Anonymous]

Thank you to all the current parents. Excellent feedback and we are very excited to learn more about this school in the fall. Our only concern is that we have twins. Both are very smart but also very different. We were planning on requesting that they reject both if they can't accept both. We don't want to be in a situation where one got in and the other didn't. Are there any twins at the school now?

[Anonymous]

Yes there are twins in middle school, and there are roughly 8-10 sets of brothers in the school.

[Anonymous]

Could anyone from NoVA comment on how tough a commute it is to this school? We would be coming from the Vienna area. Thanks so much.

[Anonymous]

About 25-30 percent of the middle school students are from NoVA (mostly from Arlington/Alexandria).

There is a morning NoVA shuttle bus route that starts in McLean at Chesterbrook Shopping Ctr, on Old Dominion Dr and then picks up at St. Thomas More Cathedral at Route 50 & Glebe Rd in Arlington and then meets up and combines with the Alexandria shuttle bus near the Pentagon City metro station. Cost is $1400 per year (mornings only)

SAAS runs morning and afternoon shuttles to and from the Fort Totten metro station (which is less than a mile from the school).

Most NoVA kids ride the shuttle bus to school and either carpool home with other families (particularly after sporting events) or take the metro back to stop close to home.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks for all the thoughtful responses. It's nice to see so much interest and questions from other interested parties. I hope it doesn't get too competitive too soon though!

[Anonymous]

What a refreshingly kind thread!

We will have a choice between MCPS Middle School (Westland or Bcc2, still to be determined) and going private. Can anyone compare & contrast St Anselm's with the MCPS offerings?

I'm getting a little frustrated with the MCPS reliance on worksheets and their lack of textbooks. Maybe I'm just old school! The decision to eliminate high school exams is awful, as far as I'm concerned.

We are Catholic and I've long admired St Anselm's, but I want to be sure that their offerings really go above and beyond what we can get in public school. (SAAS wins the class size comparison hands down!)