I was in 1st grade when the school opened. I think 72. I still remember being distracted by the open walls. Thinking to myself I wonder if what they’re doing next-door is more interesting.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Great school. Competition is centered in the magnet, not the regular school.

I don't have personal or direct experience with Cold Spring, but from what I've read here, it's possibly more focused on academics than other ES.

It’s a very achievement oriented community. Obviously the peer group (and parent group) varies year to year. Some grades can be more intense than others.The pressure comes from the kids/parents not the staff though. While some parents/kids are way over the top, we chose to ignore it.

Classes are small most years.

When we were there, 90% of the teachers were really excellent. Over 12 years and 3 kids, we only had 2 we didn’t like. 1 of them is long gone and the other teaches in the magnet so they can be avoided.

The big negative is the building is in bad shape. It should have been torn down a decade or two ago. And the open classrooms aren’t a great setup for kids with ADHD.

Anonymous wrote:Great school. Competition is centered in the magnet, not the regular school.

I don't have personal or direct experience with Cold Spring, but from what I've read here, it's possibly more focused on academics than other ES.

I heard many nice things about Coldspring. Most kids walk to school. Very few buses, so when kids are younger, many parents walk their kids to school. It creates a much tighter community when parents see each other daily and end up chatting sometimes. There is a level of competition at all schools within MCPS, especially where they feed into W schools. But Kumon and tutoring services are everywhere in the county, e.g., Germantown, silver spring, Takoma Park, etc. it’s not unique to this area. There will always be competitive kids and parents, less competitive kids and parents and some that don’t even care.

Kids from open plan schools are detectable because they talk LOUDER than other kids when the move to a new school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The building is open-space, no walls between classrooms, so it's particularly not friendly to kids that are easily distractive. I had hard time hearing clearly what teacher said during back-to-school-night when everyone is talking. Teacher and students qualities are great. Small community.

yea, the open classroom concept would be distracting.

Sometimes the class sizes are so small that they have to create a mixed grade class. Some people don't mind, but others do. I would. I was in a mixed grade class when I was in ES and didn't like it.

This is not unique to Cold Spring. It happens in a lot of MCPS schools when the numbers work out that with with a 1/2 class in one grade and 1/2 in the next highest or lowest grade. DD was in one for one year and then the numbers changed the following year and she never had another mixed grade class again. We heard it was the only one in a 5-6 year span at the school but we have friends who had had mixed grade classes in other Churchill cluster elementary schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The building is open-space, no walls between classrooms, so it's particularly not friendly to kids that are easily distractive. I had hard time hearing clearly what teacher said during back-to-school-night when everyone is talking. Teacher and students qualities are great. Small community.

yea, the open classroom concept would be distracting.

Sometimes the class sizes are so small that they have to create a mixed grade class. Some people don't mind, but others do. I would. I was in a mixed grade class when I was in ES and didn't like it.

Are you saying that all k to 5th grade kids take classes in a huge room altogether? No door/window or half wall partition or similar? It sounds like gym room to me. What do they do that?

There are partitions, just not full walls. Designed in the 1970s when that was a popular way to build schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The building is open-space, no walls between classrooms, so it's particularly not friendly to kids that are easily distractive. I had hard time hearing clearly what teacher said during back-to-school-night when everyone is talking. Teacher and students qualities are great. Small community.

yea, the open classroom concept would be distracting.

Sometimes the class sizes are so small that they have to create a mixed grade class. Some people don't mind, but others do. I would. I was in a mixed grade class when I was in ES and didn't like it.

Are you saying that all k to 5th grade kids take classes in a huge room altogether? No door/window or half wall partition or similar? It sounds like gym room to me. What do they do that?

Anonymous wrote:The building is open-space, no walls between classrooms, so it's particularly not friendly to kids that are easily distractive. I had hard time hearing clearly what teacher said during back-to-school-night when everyone is talking. Teacher and students qualities are great. Small community.

yea, the open classroom concept would be distracting.

Sometimes the class sizes are so small that they have to create a mixed grade class. Some people don't mind, but others do. I would. I was in a mixed grade class when I was in ES and didn't like it.

Great school. Competition is centered in the magnet, not the regular school.

The building is open-space, no walls between classrooms, so it's particularly not friendly to kids that are easily distractive. I had hard time hearing clearly what teacher said during back-to-school-night when everyone is talking. Teacher and students qualities are great. Small community.

Anonymous wrote:We are interested in a house, and it is zoned to cold spring ES. We have a 2nd grader & a 4th grader. I hear it is a great school, but it is competite. Is it competitie in a good or bad way? Do parents normally send kids to tutoring or enrichment that type of competitive environment? We also need to consider middle school/high school. Any insights?

Under-crowded compared to other MCPS schools. Good student-teacher ratio for a low-farms school. Offers enriched math opportunities not available at other schools.

Cold Spring is a very small elementary school. There are only ~40 neighborhood students per grade. The 4th and 5th grades each have an additional 50 students from other clusters attending the CES.

Is it competitie in a good or bad way? Depends. If your children are good students they will be surrounded by highly motivated and achieving peers. If your child has a learning disability and is behind it may not be the best environment.

Do parents normally send kids to tutoring or enrichment that type of competitive environment? Yes.

We also need to consider middle school/high school. Any insights? The MS and HS clusters there are excellent.

We are interested in a house, and it is zoned to cold spring ES. We have a 2nd grader & a 4th grader. I hear it is a great school, but it is competite. Is it competitie in a good or bad way? Do parents normally send kids to tutoring or enrichment that type of competitive environment? We also need to consider middle school/high school. Any insights?