sleepy hollow area schools

[Anonymous]

We are considering buying a house in Sleepy Hollow area of Falls church. our DD is a couple of years away from starting elementary school, and we are interested in sending her to public school. any Sleepy Hollow ES parents out willing to share experiences with the school? is there concern about impact of FCPS budget cuts on the school/

and does anyone have any suggestions for where to look for pre-schools in the area? appreciate any input!

[Anonymous]

Our neighbors go to Sleepy Hollow preschool in that area and love it. We are in Arlington so it must be worth driving over there.

[Anonymous]

We've had a great experience at Sleepy Hollow. Kids and parents love Kindergarten there. Other grades are good, too, but, as with any school, your child's experience is very teacher-dependent, and some teachers are better fits for some kids than others.

The class sizes are relatively small for Fairfax County, with a max of 23 in Kindergarten and other higher restrictions for higher grades. It has full-day kindergarten, which is great, and the current budget proposal would keep full-day K.

It's a "focus" school. It's not Title 1, but it has a high enough percentage of ESL and reduced price lunch students to get extra funding from the state for smaller class sizes than schools in McLean and other universally wealthy parts of the county. I don't think the proposed budget will change that because of Sleepy Hollow's status of getting extra funding to limit class sizes.

The budget does propose to eliminate FLES (foreign language) which is Arabic at Sleepy Hollow. I don't think Sleepy Hollow losing FLES is any great loss, but others disagree. FLES is in its second year, there, I believe, and my child really doesn't like it.

As a 'focus" school Sleepy Hollow has also gotten extra funding to run a parallel block schedule, which allows kids to be broken out into smaller groups for instruction. That funding will be eliminated in the budget, and that is a loss, IMO. That funding really improved the instruction by allowing more personal attention for each kid and more 'ability grouping' than will be possible without the funding. I'm not sure what else is in the budget that will affect Sleepy Hollow.

The complaints about Sleepy Hollow Elementary aren't unique to the school, and are more county-wide complaints. Recess is very short for 1st grade and above. Too much teaching to the test, etc.

The PTA is very active, and has a good website, if you want to explore it a bit:
http://www.shespta.org/
The after-school activities are under the "Dolphin Academy" tab.

I hope I'll have a chance to welcome you to the area! We LOVE the neighborhood!

[Anonymous]

Here are a few good preschools that kids in the neighborhood attend:
MSNV (Montessori School of Northern Va)
Sleepy Hollow Preschool
Seven Corners Children's Center (a childcare center with a preschool curriculum that allows part-time enrollment)

If you'll consider those with a religious affiliation:
St Philips Early Childhood Center
http://www.corpuschristischool.org/pagecache/14-Early-Childhood-Center.html
Columbia Baptist Church Child Development Center
Graham Road United Methodist Church
St Josephs in Falls Church City (may be only full-time. I'm not sure)

There are probably others, but I know for sure that children in the neighborhood have attended these preschools.

[Anonymous]

OP - thank you for feedback. all very helpful. hoping move will work out and we can meet new neighbors soon.

[Anonymous]

Just as an FYI, the current budget will CUT full day K, FLES (Arabic) and eliminate FOCUS funding. Be sure to visit the school though - most are pretty friendly about tours for new neighbors. That said, the budget situation will change dramatically over the next few years as well, so keep that in mind as you look at programs and schools - it won't look the same as it does now at any local school. Welcome to the area!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just as an FYI, the current budget will CUT full day K, FLES (Arabic) and eliminate FOCUS funding.

The budget will not be finalized until May.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just as an FYI, the current budget will CUT full day K, FLES (Arabic) and eliminate FOCUS funding. Be sure to visit the school though - most are pretty friendly about tours for new neighbors. That said, the budget situation will change dramatically over the next few years as well, so keep that in mind as you look at programs and schools - it won't look the same as it does now at any local school. Welcome to the area!

I believe that the current budget proposal preserves full-day K at Sleepy Hollow. That could change in the final budget. FLES and FOCUS funding are chopped in the current proposed budget, though.