Anonymous wrote:Alexandria has converted Jefferson Houston elementary to a K-8 school, and I think I heard they will likely be doing the same at Cora Kelly elementary and one other campus in coming years.

Avoid both of these schools if you can help it.

Alexandria has converted Jefferson Houston elementary to a K-8 school, and I think I heard they will likely be doing the same at Cora Kelly elementary and one other campus in coming years.

Thank you!

Yes Falls Church City is pretty small. I think they had five K classes this year, but the school itself only has a few grades.

Anonymous wrote:I'm looking into places for us to move and wondering if there are any small middle schools or any k-8 public schools in the VA suburbs. Looking for a more or less average kid who isn't likely to qualify for any special programs on either end of the spectrum, but who seems likely to get lost in the shuffle of a big school with constantly changing teachers.

Thanks!
Catherine

I think you want Falls Church City public schools

The middle schools in FCPS tend to have "team" teaching concept. So even though there may be 1000 kids in the middle school, they try to break it into the A team, B team, C team, etc. (these are not references to ability level -- A team does not mean it's the highest level, it's just a team name). So, in a group of 400 7th graders, there might be four "teams." Each team has the same set of teachers for all subjects, but the kids switch among different teachers for all subjects. When there is a problem in one class, the whole team meets with the parent. The idea is to make the world a little smaller for the kids, but they do switch teachers for every subject.

OPer here Thank you. And thank you for the insight on kids changing classes at the grade school level. My kid does that now in grade school, but he still has one teacher responsible for him overall. Not trying to avoid switching teachers altogether. Thinking that a smaller school makes that more manageable. Many kids get lost in the shuffle of a big school with a different teacher every period. I was a very bright and hardworking kid and that still happened to me.

Not trying to start an argument just trying to find out if such schools exist in the DC area suburbs.

Thank you.

Lemon Road is the smallest elementary school in Fairfax County and it has looping where for kindergarten and 1st and then 3rd and 4th the children stay together in one mixed classroom with the same teacher. The program is called Success by Eight. You can search for the program for other schools if you like the looping strategy. You can also search FCPS schools by membership to see how large each school is. Vienna Elementary is another school that is very small. Both are around 400 students for K-6 and have 2 teachers per classroom. I went to a small school like this and personally wish I had been to a larger school where there were three classrooms for a little more variety. Some of the schools are too large though. I have a friend who's in Montgomery County and each grade has eight classrooms and the children switch every year! How can children have a best friend with a school system like this?

It is typical for MS to have different teachers for different subjects, so I would think you'd have a very hard time finding a school that has one teacher for all subjects in a 7th or 8th grade classroom.
If your child is average/not SN, he really should be fine. Kids learn their schedules very quickly. Many parents are anxious about this transition, but the kids really do just fine. Yours will be okay, I'm sure.

I'm the prior poster -- I mean the same thing that you meant when I spoke of switching teachers. Some schools have the kids switch for different subjects even if first grade. Other schools do not switch the kids to different teacher just as a policy.

OPer here. Constantly changing teachers: I was not referring to staff turn-over, but to having to to change classes each period.

Thanks for the responses!

Typo -- I meant to say that some of the smaller schools ARE...

There are no k-8 public schools in FCPS. It's either K-6 or a few have K-5; Middle schools are 7-8th or a few must have 6th grade included.

Some of the smaller schools is Sleepy Hollow and Franconia. Many schools have 800-ish students. How many kids in a classroom varies dramatically by school, but it's not because the school as a whole is big or small.

At the elementary school level it just depends on the school whether they switch teacher for math and reading or whether they stay with the same teacher and try to break into smaller groups within that classroom. My kids school has a philosophy of NOT swithching teachers a lot b/c they think the teacher/student relationship is really important in the elementary grades. Other schools do switch even in first grade. So, it depends.

not sure why you think small schools don't have staff turnover ...

High schools with under 700 kids within an non-obscene commuting range of Arlington:
Clarke County
Rappahannock County (has a K-7 elementary and everything)
Falls Church City (George Mason)
Shenandoah County (Strasburg, Woodstock Central, Stonewall Jackson-Quicksburg)

These are between 700-1000 kids
Warren County (Warren County and Skyline)
Winchester City (John Handley)

I'm looking into places for us to move and wondering if there are any small middle schools or any k-8 public schools in the VA suburbs. Looking for a more or less average kid who isn't likely to qualify for any special programs on either end of the spectrum, but who seems likely to get lost in the shuffle of a big school with constantly changing teachers.

Thanks!
Catherine