Reply to Beauvoir v. NPS—please compare the communities

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]To the OP I totally appreciate your dilemma.  Last year we were in the same position choosing between NPS BVR and Sidwell for our child.  It was an especially hard time to gauge subtle differences as we were not allowed to tour BVR.  We decided Sidwell lower school was not the right fit so focused our decision on NPS and BVR.I did appreciate that NPS enabled us to see the facilities, whereas that was not possible at BVR.’ I did a lot of legwork to track down current families to try to better assess culture.  Overall I left my discussions with the impression that both schools are great and both communities of kids and parents are warm.  I assessed that NPS and its academic approach churned out extremely well prepared students, particularly in math which is a priority for us.  I have no doubt BVR does too but I could not get as strong a sense of specifically how they teach (especially math), which made me a little nervous.  I have a daughter and want to make sure she never self identifies as “bad at math” and starts a detrimental cycle that will persist through her education.  Anecdotally I spoke to a family who had sent two kids to BVR but then sent their third to NPS and the parent noted they felt all kids would have been academically better prepared for their next step if they had gone to NPS.

We really struggled.  The “slam dunk” acceptance to NCS/STA is compelling if you think you want that in the future. I definitely wrestled  with giving that up.  However, at the end of the day we chose to optimize for putting our child in an environment that suits her today and will prepare he academically socially and emotionally for the future.  For us we decided that was NPS.  BVR would have been amazing too I am sure.  This is all very on the margin and we are grateful to have had the choice and to have the means to offer this educational experience to our child.

Our experience at NPS K has been phenomenal.  Our child is thriving, has a diverse set of friends, loves her teachers and all
The “specials” she gets to do at school.  Parents we did not know previously  often reach out for play dates and everyone is kind warm and inclusive.  Our child does severs of the after school programs and loves them.  It is such a joy to watch her develop and grow and I feel confident NPS is going to
Hold up to its promise to preserve the decade of childhood.  All that said, I’m sure I could write all of these same things about BVR had we gone that route.

Best of luck to you - let go of preconceived notions and ego and trust your intuition on this one.  You cannot make a bad choice, so also take comfort in that :)[/quote]

Just want to add that NPS kids do really well at NCS and STA.  The kids who will thrive at those schools generally get in.  Those who might not end up at other equally great choices and better fits for them.  I would argue that is what you want for your kids in the long run.  [/quote]

It takes a while for new kids to be integrated socially and some never are.  If you think you might want to send your kid to NCS or STA, send them to Beauvoir.  It’s hard to break in socially with kids who have been together for 5 years already. [/quote]

+1, and there are always more than a few NPS kids who are waitlisted at STA and NCS, versus offered admission. I guess you could technically say they "got in," but they will never really get in because there won't be room for them. If you know early that you want STA/NCS, BVR is by far the best bet.[/quote]

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