Langley has one very nice gym, not two. Langley plays schools in the CAC such as green acres, norwood, Immanuel Christian school, woods academy etc. Langley has dominated over the past 40 years with mainly 1st place awards. Norwood and Langley are rivals in sports in which its always one or the other winning 1st and 2nd place.

Anonymous wrote:I posted the original query -- thanks to all of you for your feedback so far. Must admit I didn't know what "exmissions" was when I read a reply but I get the gist now. (Obviously I am new to this process!) So can anyone comment on the overall culture of the school? Warm and nurturing? Academically competitive? Lots of homework? Sports emphasis or not? Quality of music/art/foreign language instruction? I'm curious about these aspects as I see many posts on the core curriculum... Thanks for any further thoughts.

We are very happy. We like the culture of the school so far. Have you read the community contract? http://www.langleyschool.org/documents/community_contract.pdf This is one thing that we like about the culture of the school. I believe every parent signs an children 1st and up sign. We also have had a great experience with big buddies and beyond that how the older kids are encouraged to be leaders and "mentors" to the younger ones. We do find it to be warm and nurturing.

On academics, the motto is "every child, every day." So far we do see that and see differentiation based on DC's needs. There does seem to be a lot of emphasis from the teachers on not comparing yourself/your child to others and encouraging every child to do their best. At the younger ages they do a lot of play based learning but the things DC knows and tells me from school impress me. They do a really good job at teaching without the kids really knowing it's "school." Homework starts in 1st grade and increases as the children get older. There is no regular homework in K.

Music and art are great. Both were DC's least favorite at our previous school and have definitely moved up. The primary music teacher is wonderful. There are multiple performances each year and a strong emphasis on getting children comfortable on stage and then at older ages with public speaking and drama. Language seems good too. They also have technology, PE and library time. There is a lot besides the core curriculum going on every day.

Sports - not there yet. It seems good. It's not a dominating focus but many of the older kids play on teams. There are also plenty of after school opportunities each season for the younger ones. There are two gyms which are both very nice and a large turf athletic field. They also use the neighboring field for soccer.

They also just kicked off the campaign to build a new middle school building. This will be done well before your child gets to ms and the plans sound amazing.

Good luck with your decision!

Very very warm and nurturing. Great arts program and great foreign language. Not that academically competitive though but everyone does learn in a calm setting...which is nice for a change. Homework is manageable. Oh sports are fine..not the best but an amazing facility.

I posted the original query -- thanks to all of you for your feedback so far. Must admit I didn't know what "exmissions" was when I read a reply but I get the gist now. (Obviously I am new to this process!) So can anyone comment on the overall culture of the school? Warm and nurturing? Academically competitive? Lots of homework? Sports emphasis or not? Quality of music/art/foreign language instruction? I'm curious about these aspects as I see many posts on the core curriculum... Thanks for any further thoughts.

This may or may not be helpful to some people, but here is a link on the Potomac School's website regarding their College Matriculation listing the School and Number of Potomac Students Attending from 2007 - 2011:

http://www.potomacschool.org/campus-life/college-counseling/college-matriculation/index.aspx

Do the K-12's give out that detailed of information on college acceptances? I don't think they do, so you can hardly fault the K-8's in their high school admittances. When you boil it down, its pretty close to an invasion of privacy for the 8th graders if they know their admissions results are going to be disseminated to the public in that level of detail. Especially when the other school's families get ahold of this information and can pinpoint the child by the schools they are attending.

I was actually directed to the website..and was told everyone gets in a great school. I don't know what all these schools do not give out a list each year where the graduating class is attending. I am not interested in hearing things like here are the schools our children have been accepted at in the past xx years..one kid could have been accepted to five great schools. I want the complete breakdown and very few of the k8s will give it out. Course makes me wonder..

Anonymous wrote:Unfortunately it does not give a year by year accounting..so while Potomac is in it..not the number which is very few etc. I have no dog in this fight and I think it's a great school but the exmissions is a problem.

I recall receiving a breakdown of where kids go after Langley during our parent interview. Potomac was one of the top 3 Private HS. It's not fair to look at the number of kids going to Potomac- you need to know how many applied and were accepted. Perhaps many of these kids chose a same sex private over Potomac or some other school. We personally were not impressed with Potomac and won't likely look again for HS.

I can't recall the list but it was impressive. Last year a child went to DH's New England boarding school so that was enough to assure us that exmissions were excellent.

This is cut and pasted from an older thread.

"The Langley School's kids went to several of the nearby public schools, a couple catholic schools, GDS, Potomac, Flint Hill, Maret, Madiera, NCS, WIS, Sidwell, The Heights, St. Albans and a few boarding schools. Seemed to be a pretty good list, and pretty varied with no overwhelming majority."

Unfortunately it does not give a year by year accounting..so while Potomac is in it..not the number which is very few etc. I have no dog in this fight and I think it's a great school but the exmissions is a problem.

Anonymous wrote:Lots of friends at that school and they love it. The only problem with the school is they seem to lose kids to the FFC GT program in third grade and they don't have great exmissions. I can't imagine the issue is education but maybe more that this school takes in Mclean and Arlington (for the most part) and the same families want a close private like Potomac and Potomac only will except a few from the graduating class so there is more exmissions to Madeira and Flynt Hill and public school--all fine schools by the way but not Potomac.

This is a link to Langley emissions so what are you talking about? Perception vs reality.

http://www.langleyschool.org/alumni/lifeafterlangley.aspx

My kids go to Langley and there were only a few new 3rd graders this year so I don't think they could have lost too many to the GT program. Most Langley families are very committed to private school education. Very few, maybe 1 or 2 per year?, end up at public school (non-TJ) for 9th grade after graduating Langley, and I would suspect that is more a family or student-made decision more than an admissions rejection issue.

Lots of friends at that school and they love it. The only problem with the school is they seem to lose kids to the FFC GT program in third grade and they don't have great exmissions. I can't imagine the issue is education but maybe more that this school takes in Mclean and Arlington (for the most part) and the same families want a close private like Potomac and Potomac only will except a few from the graduating class so there is more exmissions to Madeira and Flynt Hill and public school--all fine schools by the way but not Potomac.

We've accepted our spot for DC for k in the fall. There have been a lot of recent posts about Langley. If you search Langley, I think you'll find useful info.

If you have a child at Langley, or you considered Langley and decided not to send your child, please share your thoughts on this school. What is the school culture like? How much differentiated teaching is there? What are the school's strengths and weaknesses? We are considering for our 5 year old. Thank you!