Elementary School Recommendations for Family moving to DC from Australia
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Anonymous
| Have you considered Arlington? The is at least once family with kids that recently arrived from Australia in the Cherrydale neighborhood. |
Anonymous
OP Here: Thank you very much for this advice. Which park should we be west of? Thanks! |
Anonymous
OP here: Yes! Definitely I hear you  We are living very very inner city in Melbourne at the moment in a crammed two bedroom terrace so figuring out the lifestyle that suits everyone (as they grow up, too) is going to be really important. Many friends have recommended Brookland and Takoma Park. How are the ES in those areas? Since my daughter will be going straight into either 1st or 2nd and my son will be going straight into kindergarten, we are looking for calm, friendly and dedicated teaching staffs.
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Anonymous
OP here: I don't know much about Arlington though my kids would love having Aussie friends if we moved back home to the states! |
Anonymous
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OP Here:
THANK YOU for everyone's advice. I'm hearing that Shepherd Park, Glover Park, American University Park and Upper NW are definitely neighborhoods to consider as well as even looking at the VA and MD options. -Uniforms or no uniforms are a non-issue for us. My daughter's school currently doesn't have them, but most local schools here in Australia do. -Diversity in schools is always going to be a pro for us and for our children. -We are seeking calm, safe, happy and strong parent- involved community schools. -I think having an international student community would really help my two eldest children transition. I am absolutely anxious about this move- I want to make sure it's the best move for our kids. I know it will be because we will be closer to family (we have no extended family in Australia). Hopefully, we can do as much legwork here before the move so when we arrive the kids can smoothly transition. All of your advice has been very, very helpful. Thank you! |
Anonymous
Rock Creek Park splits NW DC. You will see people write WOTP / EOTP East or West of the Park. Do not consider Brookland. There are a lot of young families there but the neighborhood schools are poor performing and you will have to "win" the lottery to get into a more desirable school. Here is an example of the what you could buy (a little over your budget - but for example purposes: https://www.mcenearney.com/property/237522013/4712-windom-pl-nw-washington-dc-20016/ I like this site for searching for homes b/c you can search by the school. |
Anonymous
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Here is a link for properties that feed either Deal or Hardy that are under 1.25
https://www.mcenearney.com/search/view//MaponicsSchool/110003000138,110003000186/Bedrooms/3/Max_Price/1250000/PropertyStatus/Active/Property_Type/795/Rental/0/orderby/date_entered/descending |
Anonymous
| Redfin also allows searching by school. |
Anonymous
OP here: Thank you! I was actually looking at this house yesterday. Looks lovely. |
Anonymous
Takoma Park has decent schools, but in Brookland, upper middle class people will go charter or private because the neighborhood schools are low performing. Brookland, despite being a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood, has slowly gentrifying schools because a lot of the popular charters are in the area. You'll need a lot of lottery luck to get into those, and then you still don't know what to do for middle and/or high school. |
Anonymous
As the other PP said, it's Rock Creek Park that runs north-south through the city. Due to Washington's history of segregation, the areas west of RCP (WOTP) are the historically whiter, wealthier ones, where the public schools have a longer history of upper middle class attendance and are therefore generally high performing. They are more suburban in character and have lower levels of violent crime. They are also the areas where upper middle class international families tend to gravitate, partly due to the fact that most embassies are west of the park, but there are also many international transplants in those neighborhoods who have no connections to the embassies. Neighborhoods east of RCP (EOTP) will be more urban, more racially diverse, have more crime, and generally lower performing schools (although there are some high performing schools EOTP as well). This is not to say that they are unsafe (most are not), but there is definitely more violent crime than WOTP if you look at the statistics (google DC crime map if this is of concern to you). Some neighborhoods EOTP are also rather suburban, but many will be more interesting in terms of restaurants and bars and have more of a feel of being in the city. Since the best public middle schools and the only good public high school in DC are WOTP, I would recommend settling there. Yes, it is true that there is a dedicated bus that takes kids to Deal/Wilson from feeder neighborhoods EOTP, but if you live in AU Park/Tenleytown, or in the eastern parts of Chevy Chase DC, your kids will be able to walk or bike to school, which in my opinion is invaluable. |
Anonymous
| Sounds like you would love Hearst! Though at 1.25M and needing 4-5 bedrooms, you’d probably be looking at a very cute rowhouse. |
Anonymous
| Aussie here. I don’t know what your commute would be like but perhaps worth looking at inner suburbs of Maryland. We are in the Bannockburn neighbourhood, a very wooded area and pretty international due to large numbers of World Bank families. Excellent primary, middle and high schools but car reliant. If you like the walkability of inner city Melbourne then you could look at Somerset and Chevy Chase. With all my recommendations, there are interesting well-travelled people and good schools but they definitely would lack the vibrant and funky vibe of where you currently live. |
Anonymous
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As the other PP said, it's Rock Creek Park that runs north-south through the city. Due to Washington's history of segregation, the areas west of RCP (WOTP) are the historically whiter, wealthier ones, where the public schools have a longer history of upper middle class attendance and are therefore generally high performing. They are more suburban in character and have lower levels of violent crime. They are also the areas where upper middle class international families tend to gravitate, partly due to the fact that most embassies are west of the park, but there are also many international transplants in those neighborhoods who have no connections to the embassies. Neighborhoods east of RCP (EOTP) will be more urban, more racially diverse, have more crime, and generally lower performing schools (although there are some high performing schools EOTP as well). This is not to say that they are unsafe (most are not), but there is definitely more violent crime than WOTP if you look at the statistics (google DC crime map if this is of concern to you). Some neighborhoods EOTP are also rather suburban, but many will be more interesting in terms of restaurants and bars and have more of a feel of being in the city. Since the best public middle schools and the only good public high school in DC are WOTP, I would recommend settling there. Yes, it is true that there is a dedicated bus that takes kids to Deal/Wilson from feeder neighborhoods EOTP, but if you live in AU Park/Tenleytown, or in the eastern parts of Chevy Chase DC, your kids will be able to walk or bike to school, which in my opinion is invaluable. Disagree. Wilson is a great school, but it's not for everyone (not even everyone on DCUM, who generally are 5 years behind progress in this city). |
Anonymous
As the other PP said, it's Rock Creek Park that runs north-south through the city. Due to Washington's history of segregation, the areas west of RCP (WOTP) are the historically whiter, wealthier ones, where the public schools have a longer history of upper middle class attendance and are therefore generally high performing. They are more suburban in character and have lower levels of violent crime. They are also the areas where upper middle class international families tend to gravitate, partly due to the fact that most embassies are west of the park, but there are also many international transplants in those neighborhoods who have no connections to the embassies. Neighborhoods east of RCP (EOTP) will be more urban, more racially diverse, have more crime, and generally lower performing schools (although there are some high performing schools EOTP as well). This is not to say that they are unsafe (most are not), but there is definitely more violent crime than WOTP if you look at the statistics (google DC crime map if this is of concern to you). Some neighborhoods EOTP are also rather suburban, but many will be more interesting in terms of restaurants and bars and have more of a feel of being in the city. Since the best public middle schools and the only good public high school in DC are WOTP, I would recommend settling there. Yes, it is true that there is a dedicated bus that takes kids to Deal/Wilson from feeder neighborhoods EOTP, but if you live in AU Park/Tenleytown, or in the eastern parts of Chevy Chase DC, your kids will be able to walk or bike to school, which in my opinion is invaluable. Disagree. Wilson is a great school, but it's not for everyone (not even everyone on DCUM, who generally are 5 years behind progress in this city). You are right, that should have said the only good public by-right high school. There are application schools as well. |