PK3 List for EdFest

[Anonymous]

I'm inbounds for Bancroft, but I understand that it's unlikely we'll get in there for PK3.

My commute each day is west from Mt. Pleasant to an area west of the park. What else would you put on your lottery list/research at Edfest?

We'd like bilingual so that our kid will be up to speed by the time she starts K at Bancroft (assuming she doesn't get in earlier), but we're not 100% committed to that. Our major priority is just a warm environment and good teaching staff. Our kid is shy and is an August birthday so she'll be among the youngest and probably the quietest--so a sweet non-chaotic environment is important to us.

If you love your PreK and it's within a few miles of Mt. Pleasant, I'd love your recommendations!

As an aside, our kid is in a 2s class at a local preschool/daycare, and we're OK keeping her there for another year if the lottery doesn't work out (i.e. we'd rather pay to send her there than have a hellish commute or a school that's not warm/friendly).

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

If you don't get into your IB school you probably won't have a great master number in the lottery, so you'll be looking at schools that take a greater percentage of their applicants.

I'd check out Meridian, Appletree Columbia Heights, maybe HD Cooke (though your odds of getting in there as an OOB family aren't great).

Also, I don't know if they're at Edfest, but some of the schools in the enhanced PK program https://www.myschooldc.org/find-schools/school-options-outside-my-school-dc would be a good fit. Your odds there are similarly not great, as they give priority to the kids who are already enrolled in their 2s classes (I assume your daycare is not one of those on the list?). CentroNia, Communikids, and SED are bilingual--maybe some others are too--and depending where WOTP you're going may be reasonable commutes. I know more about CentroNia than the others and it seems to be quite warm and nurturing.

[Anonymous]

If you don't mind going a little north before heading west, I know several PK families who are happy at Height. It doesn't have a boundary so there's no IB preference, which is to your advantage. Not bilingual, though.

[Anonymous]

There was thread addressing this exact issue in October (IB for Bancroft and commute to upper NW): https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/758923.page

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There was thread addressing this exact issue in October (IB for Bancroft and commute to upper NW): https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/758923.page

But OP wants to talk about it some MORE!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you don't mind going a little north before heading west, I know several PK families who are happy at Height. It doesn't have a boundary so there's no IB preference, which is to your advantage. Not bilingual, though.[/quote

This school gets a bad rap (I'm aware of the history.) I went to visit last year and the ECE program exceeded my expectations. At the time, I was bummed about the playground situation, but not much else. This year, new playground. I ended up at a school I ranked higher, but I would have absolutely sent my son to this school.

[Anonymous]

CentroNia is worth a visit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you don't get into your IB school you probably won't have a great master number in the lottery, so you'll be looking at schools that take a greater percentage of their applicants.

I'd check out Meridian, Appletree Columbia Heights, maybe HD Cooke (though your odds of getting in there as an OOB family aren't great).

Also, I don't know if they're at Edfest, but some of the schools in the enhanced PK program https://www.myschooldc.org/find-schools/school-options-outside-my-school-dc would be a good fit. Your odds there are similarly not great, as they give priority to the kids who are already enrolled in their 2s classes (I assume your daycare is not one of those on the list?). CentroNia, Communikids, and SED are bilingual--maybe some others are too--and depending where WOTP you're going may be reasonable commutes. I know more about CentroNia than the others and it seems to be quite warm and nurturing.

This is not necessarily true for Bancroft. Only 7 English-dominant IB kids got into PK3 without sibling preference in the first round this past year. I think 1-2 more got in after the school year started. There were approximately 80 IB kids waitlisted.