Thoughts on Burgundy Farm Country Day?
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Anonymous
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I’ve heard great things about Burgundy Farm Country Day, particularly its outdoor learning to accommodate different learning styles. Has anyone had a bad experience there? Any idea how they are with bullying? Just trying to make that sure we’re not missing something. Thanks!
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Anonymous
| Purely personal opinion here. Terrible. Mixed-grade classrooms simply don’t work. Teachers who throw pencils because of inability to control classroom. Completely off “alternative” curriculum. We just couldn’t stand it (although some people swear by it). Do a thorough word search for Burgundy on this board. |
Anonymous
| Thanks! I was just reading about its middle school in another post. Any thoughts on the lower grades? |
Anonymous
| Totally disagree with 17:10. We loved the lower school. Great teachers, great environment, kids adored it, tons of outdoor time, creative play and creative curriculum. We hated the middle school, though I hear it has improved greatly with the new head. |
Anonymous
Re pencil-throwing: I have seen posts claiming this on every Burgundy thread. One parent told me, once, that an exasperated teacher threw a pencil in the general direction of the kids. This was a decade ago. Not commenting on the appropriateness or lack thereof of pencil thrown in exasperation- but, um, this was one teacher, once. I think it is safe to say there is not an epidemic of pencil-throwing teachers at Burgundy. Some uneven-ness between teachers, to be sure, as is true everywhere: my kids had some fabulous teachers and some just okay teachers. We never saw any problems with the mixed grade classrooms, however. |
Anonymous
+100 we left after 2nd grade. The mixed classroom model was a disaster. We were there from kindergarten to 2nd grade |
Anonymous
Where did you end up? |
Anonymous
Same person posting same odd pencil thing for a decade.  just revealed how long I’ve been reading DCUM.
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Anonymous
Kukla, Fran and Ollie. I call sock puppet. (Yes, this is my second post on this thread.) |
Anonymous
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OP, this should go without saying, but... go visit. Ask if you can observe in the classroom. Ask for names and contact info for current parents. Attend a parent event and chat with as many people as you can. In my experience people are generally honest about what they do and don't like.
Burgundy is a small school. It is unique in many ways, and not everyone's cup of tea. Some people will hate the very things others love. (Mixed age classes! Calling teachers by first names! Etc.) Also, some teachers have been there forever, but others turn over every few years. Unsurprisingly, there will be parents who say "oh yes my kid went there and it was horrible" and other parents who will says "oh it was great." But a bad (or good) experience some other family had five or ten years ago has zero relevance to whether you and your child would like the place a year from now. |
Anonymous
Completely agree. We are about to send our child there and searched high and low for feedback before making this decision. Overwhelmingly the feedback we got was positive. I heard very few negative things - even from parents who had left - and I was looking for a reason to not like the school given the tuition. Outside of DCUM posts I was hard pressed to find anything that was negative enough to not send my child there. But of course that's all linked to the type of school we are looking for...certainly, experiences could be much more negative if you are not looking for their particular model of instruction for example, or it's not a good fit for your child. So I would go and visit and ask all the questions. I found the school to be very open and transparent (as far as I could tell). |
Anonymous
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Burgundy is great for the early grades. We were not fans of the mixed classrooms. While it saves Burgundy money for teachers in the earlier grades, it creates too much of a spread of abilities and does a disservice to both grades.
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Anonymous
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If you're thinking of staying till the later grades, here's their recent (I assume for the year 2017-2018 due to wording) outplacement:
It's pretty darn good. Bishop Ireton High School Bishop McNamara High School Bishop O’Connell High School Bullis School (MD) C.D. Hylton Senior High School Codrington School (Barbados) Commonwealth Academy Darien High School (CT) Duke Ellington School of the Arts Edmund Burke School Elizabeth Seton High School Episcopal High School The Field School Flint Hill School Georgetown Day School Hayfield Secondary School Justice High School (formerly J.E.B. Stuart) Kent Denver School (CO) Lake Braddock High School The Loomis Chaffee School (CT) The Madeira School Maret School Metropolitan School of the Arts National Cathedral School The New School of Northern Virginia Randolph Macon Academy St. Albans School St. Anselm’s Abbey St. John’s College High School St. Stephen’s & St. Agnes School Sandy Springs Friends School School Without Walls Shady Side Academy (PA) Sidwell Friends School Solebury School (PA) South County High School South Kent School (CT) T.C. Williams High School (STEM Academy) The Telluride Mountain School (CO) Thomas Edison High School Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology Wando High School (SC) Walt Whitman High School (MD) Washington-Lee High School West Nottingham Academy (MD) West Potomac High School West Springfield High School |
Anonymous
| Re: how they handle bullying, short answer is not great. they of course want to focus on inclusiveness, and that means including the child(ren) doing the bullying...in other words, this is a school that does not have a zero tolerance policy, but a moderate tolerance policy. outside of anything life-threatening, they will work with the bullying child and keep him/her at the school. they get counseling from their counselor (who isn't that great honestly - very much reads from a script). it's overall ineffective and if your child is the target, don't expect much support. |
Anonymous
| I am sorry to hear your child felt bullied at Burgundy. This response is not meant to invalidate the feelings of your child, PP. I have had 2 kids attend Burgundy and have experience in lower and middle school. Some kids absolutely struggle socially at the school. There are about 30 kids per grade. Burgundy splits the class in half after 1st grade and keeps the same groups of 7 or 8 boys and 7 or 8 girls together for 2 years in 2/3. The school then regroups the 7 or 8 boys and girls and keeps this new group together again for 2 years in 4/5. The 2 year structure encourages the kids to form very strong friend groups with minimal fluidity. In fact, one of my kids was in the same class with 3 kids for 6 years straight (k-5th). This can make it hard for new kids or kids that struggle to make friends. Our kids have absolutely felt excluded from certain friend groups or activities at times. However, overall, the kids are pretty kind and inclusive. My kids did not experience “relational aggression” so to speak, but it can be really hard if your child isn’t finding their place. This changes in middle school when the two 4/5 classes finally combine. Middle school has actually been lovely at Burgundy. It is the mixed age classes in the lower school that need to go!! New class assignments each year and single grade classes would help the kids branch out and have more open and fluid friendships. FWIW, the school is very resistant to changing the mixed grade classes. |