Do you have a child at St Leo the Great in Ffx?

[Anonymous]

We're newly joined! I have a question about LION days. How do you know what day tomorrow is? L I O or N? I checked the handouts, not helping.

[Anonymous]

The school calendar is the best bet:

http://www.saintleothegreatschool.org/news-announcements/calendars/upcoming-event/

[Anonymous]

since this is a newer post from a current parent I'd love to know what you think of the school. I'm trying to decide if this is the route we want to go for our children as opposed to public. We are parishioners but very liberal and I'm not familiar with Catholic education. I just want the best for my kids.

[Anonymous]

NP- We just moved our kids in St. Leo from public. While we don't have much experience with the school yet, the biggest differences we've noticed from public is smaller class size (10-12 kids per class) and more strict rules regarding behavior.

We are not practicing Catholics anymore and felt very good about how welcoming they are to us. The younger kids have religious instruction one day a week and I believe starting in 6th grade they have religion as a daily subject.

[Anonymous]

Sorry to bump this, but I am looking for more info on St. Leo's.

My DC is a current FCPS AAP 4th grader, and we are having issues with the large classes (not behavioral or academic issues, just kind of... forgotten). If either of the 2018 posters are out there, could you tell me more about class size, academic rigor, and social environment? Also, very liberal PP, any issues with church messages on sexuality?

[Anonymous]

I’m also very interested in this too. We are also liberal parishioners and have looked at the school for our kids. We know that FCPS schools are great for Publix’s but the class sizes in our elementary are so large (almost 30). We took a tour of the school and while the kids seemed sweet I wasn’t impressed by some of the curriculum and resources. I’d love some insider feedback, positive or negative. I want to like it!

[Anonymous]

Bumping this again. 15:40, what didn't impress you in the curriculum? We're also looking at St. Mark's in Vienna (more expensive, not as convenient, weird carpool rules, but seems fairly academically rigorous).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bumping this again. 15:40, what didn't impress you in the curriculum? We're also looking at St. Mark's in Vienna (more expensive, not as convenient, weird carpool rules, but seems fairly academically rigorous).

The carpool rules do seem weird, but in reality, they are no big deal at all.

[Anonymous]

Stronger academics than AAP. Monthly book reports and projects/presentations in every subject. Grammar notebooks (grammar wasn’t taught in FCPS elementary with any depth). Accelerated math if necessary. Smaller class sizes. No chaos in the classroom as opposed to FCPS. Liberal poster.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bumping this again. 15:40, what didn't impress you in the curriculum? We're also looking at St. Mark's in Vienna (more expensive, not as convenient, weird carpool rules, but seems fairly academically rigorous).

I guess I was expecting to be wowed and wasn’t. “Specials” weren’t taught in the frequency I liked. I was look at I and my pre-K child was being taught more in his 3-4 year old class (Spanish, numbers, sight words). It also was not as rigorous of a curriculum as when I went to school over 30 years ago. I would expect more and saw it at various private schools that I sadly can’t afford. That said, the class size issue may force my hand.

I’d love to hear more about the other catholic elementary schools!

[Anonymous]

I've been very happy. We moved to St Leo's mid fourth-grade. The academics have been very rigorous and the class size small. My daughter is learning all the parts of speech and all the countries of the world. They just started geometry. The best part has been the nightly homework that SHE is responsible for writing down, remembering, and doing. Also the very good supplemental exercises on IXL. Really have been very happy. We are not rich and I could do plenty of other things with that (approx) $10k a year. Worth it.

Also they have lots of extracurriculars and you only pay for the before and after care you actually use, unlike sacc which is a flat fee.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've been very happy. We moved to St Leo's mid fourth-grade. The academics have been very rigorous and the class size small. My daughter is learning all the parts of speech and all the countries of the world. They just started geometry. The best part has been the nightly homework that SHE is responsible for writing down, remembering, and doing. Also the very good supplemental exercises on IXL. Really have been very happy. We are not rich and I could do plenty of other things with that (approx) $10k a year. Worth it.

Also they have lots of extracurriculars and you only pay for the before and after care you actually use, unlike sacc which is a flat fee.

First of all thank you for reminding me get saac enrollment on the calendar! Hopefully I won’t be using it.

PP where else did you look? What elementary did you go to before?

[Anonymous]

The carpool rules at St Mark are due to agreements with surrounding neighborhoods established when the school was built. It was necessary to manage traffic on Vale Rd.

[Anonymous]

NP also considering move from FCPS. PP who said that the curriculum is rigorous, how does St. Leo's handle differentiation/advanced learners? I read elsewhere on this board that St. Mark's does not offer differentiation. Thank you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP also considering move from FCPS. PP who said that the curriculum is rigorous, how does St. Leo's handle differentiation/advanced learners? I read elsewhere on this board that St. Mark's does not offer differentiation. Thank you!

Love to know why you are considering as a parent that is considering just starting out there in k as opposed to fcps.