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[quote=Anonymous]I'm weighing into this thread very, very late. I was a Burgundy parent for six years (grades 3-8, 2008-2014) after public school. My child was what one previous poster described as smart (98th percentile IQ) but unmotivated. (In fact, child is motivated, just not in respect to academics. Has a very strong outside area of interest, which I won't detail for privacy reasons.) Burgundy was a great place for this kid.

Our child emerged from Burgundy with solid academic skills. Read a lot of literature that is just now being tackled again in high school. Benefited from small-group instruction in math, our child's weakest subject. Has ADHD and received some extra time on assignments and decent one on one attention from teachers to help with study skills, organization, etc. Received HUGE support from the head of academic support, who has since moved to Sheridan or Lowell, not sure which one, as head of the lower school.

This kid is in high school now and is still struggling to focus on academics. That was an issue before Burgundy, and Burgundy didn't "fix" that. Starts every school year earning straight As but manages to blow up the grades by mid-year. It has taken us years to internalize that it is the kid, not the educational setting. (We have younger kids who are NOT like this, which is what helped us see it.)  But child had a GREAT elementary experience at Burgundy, and in middle school gained excellent self-advocacy skills, ability to work directly with adults, and lots of other strengths. Sophisticated understanding of history and literature. Really good thinking skills. Excellent writer and researcher (something that we give FULL credit to Burgundy for -- public school did nothing for the child in this respect.) Just has trouble pulling it all together and being consistent.

I also want to stress that this kid was not typical at Burgundy. There were a couple kids in the grade who really struggled to learn -- that was not my kid. There were a number of kids who were very advanced academically -- also not my kid!  I have a kid who is smart but doesn't fit the mold. Who loved the adult engagement (being on a first name basis with teachers DOES change something!). Who never really saw self as bright and capable, but realized that was wrong.

Burgundy went through lots of upheaval during our years there -- the entire 4/5 teaching team turned over in two years, and then the middle school teaching staff went through a purge. The fabulous head of the middle school left to go to Georgetown Day in 2011, was replaced by a disastrous choice who was let go after a year or two, and in my opinion the middle school hadn't rebounded by the time my child graduated.

EVEN SO -- it was a great and magical place for learning. So many pluses for our child and classmates. The outdoor campus. Cooper's Cove, the nature campus in WV. Many fantastic teachers who loved the kids. Dedicated teachers who took endless time to work with our kid on the things that didn't come easily. Most of all, low pressure for kids before the pressure cooker that is HS. And better prepared than most public school peers upon arriving in public HS. Most Burgundy kids transitioned to HS and did great -- ours, as I mentioned at the outset, still struggles, but I truly don't think that's a reflection on Burgundy. The child's abundant strengths, on the other hand, were nurtured there.

Burgundy is really a special place. If you like it, you probably love it. If you don't, you'll have very strong views on why. But if you have a kid for whom it works, this school is an incredible place to be a student.

Someone earlier mentioned people flaunting wealth. That is NOT part of the Burgundy culture as we experienced it -- our child agrees on this. Many of the class of 2014 actually were not that well off financially. Those who were, were generally modest, though there are always one or two exceptions. The wealthiest family that I knew during our time at the school (the Gardners, who founded Motley Fool and whose kids graduated a few years ago) were actually models of humility. They are tremendous donors to this day, but I would have never realized they were well off by simply interacting with the.)[/quote]

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