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[quote=Anonymous]This is a strangely difficult question to answer.  We were a long term Burgundy family who eventually left and wished we had left a few years earlier than we did.  Leaving is a tough decision because your children will likely be very happy (especially at Burgundy!) and will not want to leave their group of friends.

The difficulty in assessing the school is that it provides three distinct experiences:  early years (jk thru about 2nd grade), late elementary (about 3 thru 5), and then middle school.  I use the word "about" for those groupings because they do not reflect how the classes are actually grouped plus your child's own academic development will vary ... one child might start to experience "lack of challenge" OR "need for remediation" at 2nd while another at 3rd grade.

Very few parents are unhappy with the early years.  The place is a dream -- tons of outside time, lots of art and creativity, their strongest teachers, lovely social support environment, very few academic problems/issues, no sexuality coursework or politics included in lesson plans.  No friction.  This is the part of the school that most touring parents see and fall in love with for good reason.  Ask parents of young kids if they are happy with their choice and you tend to get a fairly unanimous YES!  Lots of community volunteering and involvement at this age level too, so everyone is just HAPPY for the most part.

Then comes those later elementary years.  If you apply your child to the JK or K years, you had no real idea of your child's academic needs at that time.  Trust me, you really don't know at that point.  So you guess what school will be the right fit and assume you will adjust later if needed.  There are certain types of learners that just really thrive at a school like Burgundy.  Self-motivated kids who are not just curious but seek out information and can make intellectual inferences get a lot out of the program.  Middle of the pack kids do just fine.  The two groups that I personally feel don't do as well are (1) kids who need more support and (2) smart kids who don't care to use their abilities.

The kids who need support are not easily identified by teachers or by you the parent.  Why?  Because the Burgundy "way" as a philosophy allows such latitude in learning outcomes and tests so infrequently.  I had a sense that one of my children was quite weak on a particular skill but was assured over the years that she was within the age appropriate range and that I should not worry.  Finally the 4th grade ERB indicated a serious lag and STILL I was assured that I shouldn't worry on the basis of just one standardized test.  The 5th grade ERB confirmed the problem was even worse (the unaddressed skill deficit had really changed but the cohort had increased by a year whereas my child had not.)  Burgundy really teaches only one way.  They provide a lot of lip service to "teaching children where they are" and "differentiation" etc. etc. but if you attend much time in a classroom you will see that they all largely do the same activities in the same way.  If your child is happily doing all the things but quietly not learning a thing and there is no end of unit test to learn that this is the case ... you'd be surprised how long it will take you as a parent to figure out there is a problem.

That second group of kids who are capable of doing seriously more challenging work but love not having to do so will be fine when they get to HS.  It is a philosophical issue for you the parent to decide if an easygoing academic experience through 8th grade is a gift or a wasted opportunity!  I obviously leaned towards the gift viewpoint, but now that my kids are at schools that lean just a bit harder on the challenge end, I find that they are happy to learn what they are capable of when they are required to do more.  It makes them happy in a different way.

Finally, to address your actual question.  If the difficulty you have with the school is related to wanting more support, differentiation, challenge etc. for your child ... I would anticipate you will experience massive frustration.  And the parental group think comes in here too ... most parents chose the school because they support the "gift" viewpoint.  This should not come as a surprise to anyone.  If the problem you have is one related to bullying (yes, this definitely occurs at this school despite their social curriculum ... it happens at ALL schools) or other social concerns, it was my experience that the administration and teachers attempted to be very helpful.

I cannot provide much insight into the middle school years as we chose to leave before that time.  The anecdotal stories I heard and continue to hear from friends are not too good.  But that is not first hand info.

Bottom line:  Understand the culture and teaching goals of the grades you are applying into and be very sure you are in agreement.  The school will not change its culture or curriculum for your child.  They will not provide meaningful accelerated anything for your child, including math.  They may tell you otherwise but it is not true.  The school is wonderful for many, many kids.  But be prepared to leave if you need something different.  This is of course true for any school.[/quote]

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