Reply to Arlington Traditional School

Forum Index » VA Public Schools other than FCPS

Reply to "Arlington Traditional School"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My daughter is in ATS in first grade. My second will be in their kindergarten class. We absolutely love it. Speaking of diversity,  initially applied because our neighborhood school is all white (though it is such a wonderful school) and a friend suggested that this school would be a good fit for her since it was more diverse.  Being not white ourselves, we felt like it would be good for her to go to a school where she didn’t feel different. We also wanted the flexibility of moving without having to have our kids switch schools. However we have come to love the school and appreciate it’s philosophy. First of all it is extremely diverse - with families from all over the world. Unlike our neighborhood school, it has a significant portion of its population that qualify for free and reduced lunch due to its VPE program (I’m assuming that drew is similar in that regard). What is unique about AT though, is the achievement gap is quite low. Everyone does well and it’s because of the resources the school puts into their students and also their teaching methods. Unlike many other Arlington schools for example, they stay away from Lucy Calkins. Their reading program is phonics based and ensures that kids learn how to read no matter what their socio-economic background is. I also love their focus on writing. My daughter was writing full sentences and paragraphs by the end of Kindergarten as were so many others in her class. Most of their work is done by hand and on paper so it really improves their fine motor skills. Yes there is homework which I was initially against but there is such a vast improvement in their writing and reading that I feel it is actually beneficial. I also love their focus on art and music. Don’t worry about it being “too much.” My daughter loves it and made lots of good friends. The teachers are warm and friendly and are a lot of fun. I remember my daughter telling me how funny her kindergarten teacher was. Apparently he would make them laugh a lot! And yes a lot of ATS parents want their kids to go to HB even though they are diametrically opposed philosophically. Many of us aren’t attached to a school philosophy - we just want a school that works and educates our kids. Option schools are generally more diverse because they pull from all over the county so I doubt people are sending their kids to ATS and HB to avoid diversity. Notice the critics of ATS here - the majority don’t have kids at ATS. I strongly believe that you should only talk about what you know. I know nothing about Drew. I’m sure like many Arlington schools it’s great (and I’m also assuming that because of its location, it is more diverse than our neighborhood school). But I can tell you that our experience with ATS has been great and we plan on sticking with it. [/quote]

I will add that my daughter knows a lot of kids in the neighborhood and is friends with them. I also put her in her neighborhood girls scout troop. Neighborhood connections is definitely something you will need to work on. But also remember that Arlington is tiny and a lot of the kids going to ATS will love close by to your neighborhood as well.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics