Reply to Differences Between Alexandria Parochials St. Marys, St. Ritas, Blessed Sacrament?

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[quote=Anonymous]I don't have direct experience but I recently attended an Open House for both schools.

St. Mary's was quite impressive in terms of facilities (for example state-of-the-art science lab for MS, separate cafeteria and gymnasium), administration (very professional and well-run open house presentation), and technology integration (I saw tablets being used by some middle school math students).  The middle school students who gave the tour belonged to the National Junior Honor Society and were well-spoken.  The overall environment in the school was very traditional, strict, disciplined and structured.  I wasn't sure if that would be a good fit for my active child but maybe the structure would be just what she needs.  Class sizes were about 26 kids.  The school has a wide range of extracurricular and enrichment opportunities, definitely more than Blessed Sacrament but given the large school size that makes sense.  From what I understand, St. Mary's has a lot of kids whose parents and grandparents attended the school.

Blessed Sacrament is very different from St. Mary's.  It is much smaller with only 1 class per grade and had a warmer, more intimate community feel to it that I liked very much. It's still a traditional school.  There is a lovely playground and turf field - it was nice to see the green space which is something St. Mary's doesn't have.  The students also have very high standardized test scores which parents on the open house tour were invited to review.  The principal said that area high schools report their kids are well-prepared for the rigors of high school academics.  The principal also reported that kids go on to many schools including not only Bishop Ireton and Bishop O'Connell but also TC Williams, SSSAS, Gonzaga, Visitation, Holy Child, Madeira, Episcopal HS and even NCS.  I preferred Blessed Sacrament but was worried about the large class sizes with 28 kids per class (1 teacher plus with 1 assistant for K-4).  The principal said the teachers practice differentiation to address the students' different needs and I did see kids broken out into smaller groups for activities but it still seemed like a lot!  I would worry about my child getting lost in the shuffle.  Other minor things that bothered me - small library, no lockers for MS kids and no hot lunch program.

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