Beauvoir
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Anonymous
| What do you mean by "high-energy"? My DD is physically a low-energy kid, but very independent and does not like to follow others direction. My DS is the opposite - can't sit still for long periods of time, but doesn't mind being told what to do. |
pollyanna
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Anonymous
By extension, would a child who likes order feel "lost" at GDS? Or is there still enough structure to satisfy children all along the spectrum? |
pollyanna
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Anonymous
| That's an intersting point, PP. I didn't like GDS for that reason, but perhaps should have given in more of a try. Oh well, this whole process can be so overwhelming. We love Beauvoir and are crossing our fingers for a PreK admission. |
Anonymous
| To answer an earlier post, Beauvoir does seem to do its best to screen out high-energy, independent-minded kids, no matter how bright they may be. The play visit is very important in this regard. They are looking for kids who don't have trouble sitting still and doing as they are told. If your child is one who needs more freedom, look elsewhere. |
Anonymous
| how much religion is incorporated at beauvoir? |
pollyanna
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Anonymous
| i don't think beauvoir has a religious education component. |
Anonymous
| But as I understand it, they do have occasional chapel services. Perhaps a current parent could clear this up. |
Anonymous
| They do go to chapel once a month at the cathedral and although they are not teaching a specific religion...they are teaching Christian values and they do talk about the story of Christmas at Christmastime, etc. I suppose if you were Jewish this might not work ...... |
Anonymous
So, they are not hewing to any particular brand of Christianity (Lutheranism, Methodism, Baptism, etc.), but they are teaching Christianity? I'm asking for this clarification because "Christian values" is a bit unclear. Many "Christian values" (charity, humility, what have you) are shared by many other religions and non-religious belief systems and could be taught without any Christian context, but I assume that is not what is going on here. |
pollyanna
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Anonymous
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I am a Beauvoir parent. Beauvoir is officially part of the Protestant Episcopal Cathedral Foundation (along with St. Albans and National Cathedral School). It does have chapel services, but very low key (geared to children, aimed more at discussing moral situations than the life of Jesus Christ). I know many non-Christians who attend and feel comfortable.
I love the school and do not find this "stepford" children characteristic. I don't see a bunch of hooligans, but they look pretty normal to me. |
Anonymous
I have a child who left Beauvoir (finished Beauvoir) so I have insight into the whole experience from start to finish. The finish is actually important, because the children leave after 3rd grade and you need to know what Beauvoir does to help you transition to another school. Overall, I think Beauvoir is a good school, but I think it depends enormously on the teachers you get. Some things about Beauvoir are common to any classroom: the use of "life rules", the yearly preparation for "museum night" which entails months of integrated study of a country by each grade (integrated study, in the classroom, through music, through art, etc), chapel services, etc. These things have really defined Beauvoir, and I think they are honestly great. But the quality of the teachers can vary a bit, and I know this was an issue at the end of every year (hunting down other parents to find out which teachers of the next grade were good). I don't think there were any true duds (most had really strong educations, and of course there was a set curriculum), but I feel like there were a lot of teacher requests, which either speaks to super hyper parents or to some red flags about a few teachers. Moreover, Beauvoir suffers from a high degree of teacher turnover. Having said that, my child landed into 4 out of 5 great classrooms (and one mediocre). On the education (outside the teacher) I will say that despite its incredible reputation, the school my daughter now goes to specifically mentioned that Beauvoir kids come in weak on math. So that's something they obviously need to address. The parent body is on the surface very nice. On the surface. It's like any school, I'm sure. You have nice parents, and then you have parents whose every conversation with you is an attempt to figure out where your child is placed to their child (academically), what your social status is, etc. I found it easy to find a nice group of parents, and found it easy to be friendly to everyone regardless. In terms of diversity, there is ethnic, religious, and socio economic diversity, but limited. I heard, and I'm not sure this is true but I found it to be true in my daughter's classes, that they "herd" the black children. Before people have an attack over that one, I mean to say that if they put a black girl in one class, they put another one in there with her too, to make sure the black children have other children of the same sex that look like them. I think it's a little silly, but I can tell you with my daughter, it was either no black children or 4 black children every year. On outplacement, they have an outplacement director who will provide guidance and at least give you feedback of where you stand. Some call her the weatherman...she can only deliver the weather, she can't change it...but nonetheless there is someone there to see you through the process. And of course, Beauvoir feeds into the other cathedral schools which is nothing to sneeze at. On the whole we were happy, but we would change things if we could. |