Least competitive school districts
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Anonymous
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Hi! We are moving from the UK and looking to buy a house outside the beltway. We are looking for schools that provide quality attention and seem to care about the students emotional and social development as much as their success in academics and and extra curriculars. We are not interested in advanced placement programs. Our son won’t be attending elementary school for another few years but we just want to get an idea about where we may fit in best - we are a laid back family that want to avoid the pressures to “keep up with jones’” and certainly don’t want that pressure for our son. Obviously want low crime, low violence, and a proactive stance on bullying.
We like the Leesburg, Ashburn, and Gainesville areas - any input on those school districts? Or should we be looking somewhere else? Any input would be appreciated!!! |
Anonymous
| Where is your job? Commute is a huge factor. |
Anonymous
| We are not worried about commute, both our jobs are outside of the beltway and we have flexibility to work from home whenever we want. We want to be in the Northern Virginia area, as opposed to the southern. |
Anonymous
| Prince William County resident here. In western Prince William County, you might consider Gainesville, Nokesville, Haymarket, or Bristow. The schools there are well regarded. The section of Manassas at route 234 and Hoadly Road has Colgan High School, which is very good, along with Benton Middle School and Coles Elementary. West of I-95, the Occoquan and Lake Ridge areas are fine, as is Montclair. Visit www.pwcs.edu for information on the school district, including stats for specific schools. And please ignore posters who howl about Prince William County being a festering pit of violence, poverty, and low academic achievement. PWC is a large and diverse county and it is ridiculous to compare the troubled areas east of I-95 to the much more prosperous western part of the county. Since the commute is not a concern for you, Prince William County is certainly worth a look. |
Anonymous
+1. Another PWC resident here. My kids have had wonderful experiences at all their schools here. Patriot High School was a wonderful place for them. We really love our lifestyle in western PWC. It's the perfect blend of amenities you'd only get living in a major metro area and the peace and tranquility of the countryside/mountains. |
Anonymous
| OP, this is a smart question to ask. We moved to a "highly" rated school when our children were toddlers. They are now in 3rd and 4th grade and the competitive feel of their school is overwhelming. We quickly realized we made a mistake, wasn't the right environment for us. However, our children love their school so we are not going to move. |
Anonymous
| former PWC resident here. I'm going to give you facts not emotion. Yes, if you must live in PWC dont stay from Gainesville or Haymarket. The elementary schools are average quality. The further East/South you travel all schools get worse. Send your kids to either Patriot or Battlefield. They are the best in PWC. This based on STATS. Somebody mentioned Colgan. Nope, new doesn't equate to better. |
Anonymous
| Ashburn is a very Keeping up with the Joneses mentality. Maybe not as much on academics, but with sports and spending and conformity. |
Anonymous
| OP here: thanks for the responses! So Prince William/Gainesville area sounds ok, are the schools and people there more relaxed? I equate good school to mean low crime, helpful administration, and happy kids - less interested in the “great schools” rank and want to avoid the competitiveness that I am noticing from people concerned about their schools tests scores and home home prices. |
Anonymous
OP again: thank you, this is helpful 
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Anonymous
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Depends on what you mean "relaxed " My 7th grader came home one day and told me a student received a test score <40% and the teacher gave
a "D" letter grade. I'm fairly certain at this point this was not an isolated incident. So, you may call that relaxed, I call it encouraging low standards. As a result, I moved into FFX county. Please dont interpret this as snobby- if your kid is "average" academically and not focused on a STEM field he/she will be fine. I, on the other hand, need more challenging schools for my kids. Gainesville/ Haymarket is very family oriented. However, everybody keeps up themselves for some reason. |
Anonymous
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Honestly OP, I think you are looking for a unicorn. Schools in this area with strong academics tend to have some level of academic competition. And it doesn’t seem like you are saying you want weak schools. Because you probably don’t.
Northern Virginia is a one of the most affluent, highly educated areas in the nation. You can find pockets where this is not the case. And where the schools arena’t competitive. But they also aren’t very good. And you might not want your kid to feel academic pressure. But I doubt you want him in a classroom where the teacher spends more time dealing with discipline and ESOL and special needs, and average kids are ignored. And PP is right—it’s always something. Keeping up with material wealth,, starting to train your kid to play D1 sports at age 8, and year round travel teams, asking sure they have the right clothes and latest iPhone in 4th grade — something. I live in the academically intense part of Farifax County and— full disclosure, one of my kids goes to TJ. And one goes to the base high school. And a lot depends on the family. Even in this environment, I know a lot of kids who went through AAP and GE who never wanted TJ, never did hours of ES or MS homework,played sports, joined Girl Scouts, did an all girls science program, and are nice, normal centered kids from nice, normal families. I would be careful about saying that you want to avoid academically strong schools for a 3 year old. Fact is, until late ES, none of the schools seem that academically intense. And the ones that are are AAP Cemters that you can opt out of. And there are a lot of school where some of the parents are over the top, but most of the kids are healthy and balanced. And things will look difference at 9 and 12 and 15 I’m not sure you are going to be at all happy with what your kids educational experience looks like if you go out of your way to avoid strong schools. And I would caution against listening to people recommending high schools for a pre-schooler. This area is growing fast. The makeup of different areas and school zoning could change a lot in 12 years. |
Anonymous
PWCS, as a whole, do not have a great reputation. I have a couple of DS’s teachers who moved there to be closer to home and were horrified by the low academic standards and discipline problems. So yes, I guess it’s “relaxed”. Not sure it’s what most people want for their kid though. |
Anonymous
It’s Ashburn—a second rate far away suburb, not NYC. |
Anonymous
Doesn't sound like you're familiar with it |