I have nothing but good things to say about the education my kids are receiving at Nottingham. The teachers my kids have had have all been wonderful--smart, dedicated, love kids, know how to manage their classes --everything that you could want really. I'm sure there are some that aren't so great but that has not been my personal experience. The administration is very responsive and have dealt with the crowding issues as well could be expected. The PTA gets things done and is active but are not overbearing; as a WOHM I don't find them to be to clubby or exclusive. There was no hysteria over the trailers as far as I know; my child loved being in one. It is not perfect and I have my (minor) criticisms, but really it is an embarrassment of riches.

The K class size all depends on how many children show up that year. The maximum K class size in Arlington is 24.

Current Nottingham K parent here. Class size is 21. Really fantastic teacher...not sure if they're all this good though! Yeah, the parents are mostly type-A, but the plus side is that the PTA is very active--meaning tons of iPads for the kids to use, a gorgeously-landscaped courtyard. I toured a few of the other elementary schools in Arlington, and Nottingham is beautiful and full of light (a lot of the other schools were oddly dark).

The principal does have a strong personality, as the PP mentioned, but she is very dedicated to student success. I don't think she has much of a life outside of school! Nottingham also has a fantastic assistant principal.

I've been really impressed with the quality of instruction. My kindergartner was a reluctant student but is now reading and writing and spouting all kinds of facts. I have to think this is in part because the school-readiness of the kids...the teachers were able to plow through the material without too much remediation, which makes Nottingham different from many of the south Arlington schools (I have heard this directly from teachers, I'm not trying to start a class war).

We didn't consider private because we purposely moved into this neighborhood for the public schools.

Me again, sorry to overwhelm, I'm just trying to think of what would've been helpful for me to know.

All the classes now have smartboards, thanks to a "check for tech" campaign that raised PTA funds. We were behind a fwe of the other N Arlington schools in the tech area, and are working to catch up on that. I forget what teh PTA is working on now, but they have a new tech goal.

Some people love the principal, others do not. She has a strong personality which can turn some people off. So far she's been nothing but helpful for us (my son is in the SpEd program, so we meet with administrators a lot) so I have no complaints.

I like it and am happy we're attending. We didn't really consider private, it wasn't in the budget (not after the mortgage on the house to get into the Nottingham district) but overall I can't imagine we'd be much better served other than having all the facilities (cafeteria, gym) better match the size of the school. The relocatables aren't an issue, the common spaces that can't be enlarged are getting to be one.

As I mentioned above, my son is receiving SpEd services - he's got a learning disability, which we didn't know when we started K - and I can't imagine many private schools (other than Lab) focusing on helping him as much as the folks at Nottingham have - we have received truly stupendous services.

Good luck with your choice. I think you are lucky enough to be in a position where neither choice will be wrong, it's just a question of what is more right.

PP here - I was getting annoyed at the formatting, so am breaking my response into two.

In terms of facilities, the school itself is relatively new - like less than 10 years old I think - so it's still light and bright. But we've already outgrown it and do have a chunk of "relocatables" (trailers) in the back. I think all the fifth graders are in a giant trailer pod, but I'm not certain of that. In order to make room for the fifth K class a few years ago, the school lost the computer lab, but now the school is wi-fi wired and everyone works on laptops in their home classes, which seems potentially better to me (no time wasted moving in the halls). There is a beautiful art room, but because of the number of kids/classes not everyone gets to use it - when we were in K the art teacher "pushed in" with a cart to do work directly in our room.

Because of the trailers we have lost a little playground room, but the field is still very sizeable and that doesn't seem to be an issue at all. I am more concerned, in terms of crowding, about accommodating all the kids at lunch time - because the cafeteria is only so big some kids have lunch very early or very late, which can play havoc with my son who has low blood sugar issues, but all the teachers do allow snacks so it's not like you never get to eat all day.

In terms of parent activity, we have a PTA that keeps winning awards for 100% participation, but i certainly don't see hundreds of parents at the meetings - I think it's easy to be involved if you want, but not everyone actually goes. Parents have been generally polite, but I have noticed that at birthday parties or soccer games or just at events SAH parents tend to hang with each other and WOH parents tend to hang in their own group. I think that's probably because the SAH parents get friendly waiting for pickup (many people walk) and it's normal and natural, but as a WOH parent, I sometimes have felt left out. Again, I have a feeling that happens everywhere, and isn't specific to Nottingham.

Our K year (my son is in second grade now, so the year before last) was the first year that they moved from four K classes to five. We were thrilled as that meant our class had 18 kids, the lowest that the county will allow. Even if it's a few higher this year, because they recently moved to five classes I would think (hope? my other son will be in K next year) the classes would not be huge.

Regardless, as the PP said, the K classes do have a teacher and full time aide, so it's actually a better ratio than some junior kindergarten classes we looked at (my second son has a 9/29 birthday and we held him back, he couldn't sit still enough to handle K this year).

We didn't love our K teacher, she was great for many of the girls, but not as stellar with our rowdy boy. That said, I've heard many parents who loved her, and I've heard unequivocally good things about three of the other four teachers. The final teacher was not a K teacher our year (I think she moved down from second grade), she is a K teacher this year, and I expect she will be next year, but I don't know anything about her.

More in a second

Anonymous wrote:Are you in MONA? There was talk about this yesterday.
I believe that right now the K has 21. I expect it to keep growing.

But K usually has a teacher and an aide.

Are you in MONA? There was talk about this yesterday.
I believe that right now the K has 21. I expect it to keep growing.

Arlington has the lowest class size ratio in the region. In fact, it's becoming a budget issue.

http://www.sungazette.net/arlington/education/consultant-higher-class-sizes-could-free-up-funds-for-achievement/article_3cff0c52-9b5f-11e1-901d-0019bb2963f4.html

I'm a Jamestown parent but know many Nottingham parents who are very happy there.

Our child is in private pre-k and we have to make a decision very soon about K next year (like in the next 2 weeks). I very am happy with the school mainly bc of very small class size and the faith based component, but not sure it is worth what we will have to pay (and the drive over the river every day etc etc.)

I am looking for some Nottingham folks to give me the sales pitch as that is where we are in bounds for

Are there rumored to be a ton of rising K students? How many classes? What about facilities? Parent involvement? Did you consider private then decide on Nottingham or vice versa? I am posting here because I need to hear the good, bad, and ugly.

Thanks in advanced.