Arlington County Middle Schools

[Anonymous]

What is the difference between Hamm, Swanson or Gunston schools? What are they known for? Do they have different school cultures? i.e. one is more competitive or sports driven or friendly? Would you recommend one over the other and why? How is the leadership?


We are moving to the area and there are three houses of equal quality available for rent and each is in a different middle school.

[Anonymous]

Are you planning to stay through high school?

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure yet. Why do you ask? Is there a big difference between the high schools they feed into?

[Anonymous]

Hamm is brand new so it doesn’t really have any special program or reputation.

Gunston is where the middle school immersion program is so they get students who want to continue with immersion from elementary school. It’s mostly neighborhood though. I believe Gunston 100% feeds to Wakefield for the neighborhood students.

Swanson and Hamm are both a plit feeders to both WL and Yorktown high school depending on where you live.

Historically the south Arlington schools are more likely to have special programs to attract more high SES students to attend. Kenmore has a strong arts program. TJ has middle school IB. Swanson, Williamsburg, and Hamm are just regular Middle Schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hamm is brand new so it doesn’t really have any special program or reputation.

Gunston is where the middle school immersion program is so they get students who want to continue with immersion from elementary school. It’s mostly neighborhood though. I believe Gunston 100% feeds to Wakefield for the neighborhood students.

Swanson and Hamm are both a plit feeders to both WL and Yorktown high school depending on where you live.

Historically the south Arlington schools are more likely to have special programs to attract more high SES students to attend. Kenmore has a strong arts program. TJ has middle school IB. Swanson, Williamsburg, and Hamm are just regular Middle Schools.

Thanks! This is informative. So if you had to choose one, which would you choose and why?

[Anonymous]

As PP mentioned, if you plan to stay for HS I would pick the one that feeds into the HS you are most interested in. Wakefield continues Spanish immersion, WL offers IB, and Yorktown is just a regular high school. All three offer AP classes. Yorktown is least diverse, most affluent. Wakefield is most diverse, least affluent. WL in between and the most overcrowded.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hamm is brand new so it doesn’t really have any special program or reputation.

Gunston is where the middle school immersion program is so they get students who want to continue with immersion from elementary school. It’s mostly neighborhood though. I believe Gunston 100% feeds to Wakefield for the neighborhood students.

Swanson and Hamm are both a plit feeders to both WL and Yorktown high school depending on where you live.

Historically the south Arlington schools are more likely to have special programs to attract more high SES students to attend. Kenmore has a strong arts program. TJ has middle school IB. Swanson, Williamsburg, and Hamm are just regular Middle Schools.

Thanks! This is informative. So if you had to choose one, which would you choose and why?

I would just choose where to live for high school unless I had a kid in a specific program. All the middle schools offer the same coursework (other than those specialty programs). That way your kid will make friends going into high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As PP mentioned, if you plan to stay for HS I would pick the one that feeds into the HS you are most interested in. Wakefield continues Spanish immersion, WL offers IB, and Yorktown is just a regular high school. All three offer AP classes. Yorktown is least diverse, most affluent. Wakefield is most diverse, least affluent. WL in between and the most overcrowded.

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Another note on feeders...if you are interested in IB for MS and HS, the only place that is zoned to both TJ for MS and W-L for HS is the Ashton Heights/Lyon Park neighborhood. Otherwise, if you live in-bound for TJ you'll be going to Wakefield for HS and would have to enter the lottery for the W-L IB program. Or, you could live in-bound for W-L and try the lottery for middle school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As PP mentioned, if you plan to stay for HS I would pick the one that feeds into the HS you are most interested in. Wakefield continues Spanish immersion, WL offers IB, and Yorktown is just a regular high school. All three offer AP classes. Yorktown is least diverse, most affluent. Wakefield is most diverse, least affluent. WL in between and the most overcrowded.

DP - I would add to clarify that most of Wakefield is not immersion. It's a neighborhood school that houses the Spanish immersion high school program; but that program is a small % of students. Wakefield also has the AP Capstone program.

Similarly, W-L is not a full IB school. It also is a neighborhood school that includes the IB program (Arlington doesn't have a full IB program in the way that IB is typically designed and broken out across the middle and secondary years. Students can apply to transfer in to W-L only if they participate full-time in the IB program leading to the IB diploma. If they do not take the required classes as a freshman or sophomore, or even as a junior, they are supposed to be sent back to their designated neighborhood school.)

Yorktown does not have a "niche" program.

Arlington Tech is another secondary option program that is project-based learning. It is very small; but very worth looking into to see if your child would be interested. You apply as a rising 9th grader and students come from across the County. If you don't get in, you simply remain at your neighborhood school. HB Woodlawn is another program that is very difficult to get into at the 9th grade level - only about 25 slots open. Also a countywide program, with specific # of seats designated from each middle school.

Thank you to PP for providing objective answers to OP's question, not making the usual biased/stereoptyped comments regarding each school. Such a refreshing anomaly in Arlington and on this forum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hamm is brand new so it doesn’t really have any special program or reputation.

Gunston is where the middle school immersion program is so they get students who want to continue with immersion from elementary school. It’s mostly neighborhood though. I believe Gunston 100% feeds to Wakefield for the neighborhood students.

Swanson and Hamm are both a plit feeders to both WL and Yorktown high school depending on where you live.

Historically the south Arlington schools are more likely to have special programs to attract more high SES students to attend. Kenmore has a strong arts program. TJ has middle school IB. Swanson, Williamsburg, and Hamm are just regular Middle Schools.

DP - TJ middle also splits into two high schools: Wakefield and W-L.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hamm is brand new so it doesn’t really have any special program or reputation.

Gunston is where the middle school immersion program is so they get students who want to continue with immersion from elementary school. It’s mostly neighborhood though. I believe Gunston 100% feeds to Wakefield for the neighborhood students.

Swanson and Hamm are both a plit feeders to both WL and Yorktown high school depending on where you live.

Historically the south Arlington schools are more likely to have special programs to attract more high SES students to attend. Kenmore has a strong arts program. TJ has middle school IB. Swanson, Williamsburg, and Hamm are just regular Middle Schools.

DP - TJ middle also splits into two high schools: Wakefield and W-L.

sorry - and Kenmore also splits a bit into Wakefield and W-L.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hamm is brand new so it doesn’t really have any special program or reputation.

Gunston is where the middle school immersion program is so they get students who want to continue with immersion from elementary school. It’s mostly neighborhood though. I believe Gunston 100% feeds to Wakefield for the neighborhood students.

Swanson and Hamm are both a plit feeders to both WL and Yorktown high school depending on where you live.

Historically the south Arlington schools are more likely to have special programs to attract more high SES students to attend. Kenmore has a strong arts program. TJ has middle school IB. Swanson, Williamsburg, and Hamm are just regular Middle Schools.

DP - TJ middle also splits into two high schools: Wakefield and W-L.

sorry - and Kenmore also splits a bit into Wakefield and W-L.

There is also I believe a small corner of Kenmore zone that splits off to Yorktown - the neighborhood around Ashlawn ES.

[Anonymous]

My daughter went to Swanson and loved it. She is now at W-L and was well prepared.

[Anonymous]

I know someone who had kids at both Swanson and TJ and then W-L. They said the main difference was that Swanson gave a lot more homework so MS was more stressful but they also had an easier transition to W-L than the TJ kids who weren't used to as much homework. Pros and cons to both approaches. My kids just went to TJ ->W-L and didn't seem to find the transition too challenging.