OP here. Thank you for all the suggestions. We are a jewish family that lives in Bethesda. Our kid is in an all girls school in the area but want to make sure it's a good and healthy fit for when she moves into HS in '23.

What about Sandy springs friends?

No metro for SAES, but from Bethesda there is a very easy school bus commute to SAES.

Burke has easier access to the city and probably utilizes it more. SAES does some field trips/community service into the city, but also utilizes Montgomery County.

SAES has a campus with its own athletic fields and such.

Burke is totally secular; SAES is "Episcopal light."

Burke is probably almost entirely liberal. SAES is probably 2/3 left and 1/3 right.

Both good schools with very different vibs. The vibe of Maret in some ways is probably closer to SAES than Burke, but admissions are much tougher there.

Are there other schools in the same vein as SAES and Burke?

Anonymous wrote:Where are you located? Consider the commute time to school as well...

Burke is metro accessible while SAES is not.

OP...Oh, I am not an advertisement. 😄I'm a mom who doesn't want to over burden her child. The school she is now is quite rigorous and I'm a bit worried if that's healthy. Child is doing fine though, more than fine, mostly A's and 1 B, so pretty good. My wish, maybe unreachable, is that we would all enjoy life's moments in a slower pace and not live always in a hurry trying to be spectacular in every single aspect of our life. I know...sounds too crunchy.

Thank you all for your responses. Asking for a tour of the school. We live in Bethesda so it's close by.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are looking into options for our rising 9th and think SAES could be a relaxed atmosphere without loosing excellence in academics. Let kids be kids but still provide a solid education with a positive day to day experience. [/b]Thoughts?[b] Our child is a good student; enjoys school but also enjoys free time. No learning differences, well adjusted and enjoys days without homework! 😄

My thought is that you are an SAES "ambassador".

I agree that it is a bit of an odd post, because there is no question asked. Like all local private schools, SAES has record enrollment this year, I don't think they are spending time planting advertisements on DCUM. And as a parent there, I love the place, but I'm not personally looking to drive up enrollment further. We like our small class sizes and warm, manageably-sized community. I'm also unaware of any "ambassador" program.

Anonymous wrote:We are looking into options for our rising 9th and think SAES could be a relaxed atmosphere without loosing excellence in academics. Let kids be kids but still provide a solid education with a positive day to day experience. [/b]Thoughts?[b] Our child is a good student; enjoys school but also enjoys free time. No learning differences, well adjusted and enjoys days without homework! 😄

My thought is that you are an SAES "ambassador".

Where are you located? Consider the commute time to school as well...

Anonymous wrote:Also look at Burke. A very different feel/vibe, but checks all those same boxes.

Agree but the advantage to Burke over SAES is the location. Kids are going to embassies, museums, etc during class all the time. Harder to do traveling by bus from Potomac.

SAES sounds perfect for your child. It’s a wonderful school that truly allows for balance.

Pretty much any school is this. Go to the one that your kid and family feel most comfortable.

Also look at Burke. A very different feel/vibe, but checks all those same boxes.

We are looking into options for our rising 9th and think SAES could be a relaxed atmosphere without loosing excellence in academics. Let kids be kids but still provide a solid education with a positive day to day experience. Thoughts? Our child is a good student; enjoys school but also enjoys free time. No learning differences, well adjusted and enjoys days without homework! 😄