Daughter is at Rochambeau (ES). It’s a French school located in the US, which means instruction is in French with a mostly French curriculum from 2 years old to 12th grade, except English and US History classes (maybe something else, but it is full immersion in French throughout) with some adaptations for local culture (such and language, US History). The academics are rigorous and the students are excellently prepared for college in the the US and abroad. We chose it (European family, not French) for the quality of the curriculum, the IB program, immersion, several languages taught (Spanish, German, Arabic, Latin…), teaching cursive (neurological benefits of practicing cursive, like integrating different types of information), also the network of French schools worldwide that provides for an easier academic continuity in case we move), the diversity of cultural backgrounds (which is common in DC anyway but maybe not as much in other cities if we move), I found it a very nice warm community. The new campus for ES is great (indoors and outdoors).

Can’t talk for WIS but there’s a lot on WIS in this forum. Just take all this information with a bit of a filter as this is an anonymous blog and some people have a particular agenda for or against private or public schools, or immersion, or a particular school, or a onetime bad experience, stereotypes etc…Tour the schools if you can, talk to families in the schools you are interested.

All the best with your decision process.

having been at WIS and now at a different private, I would choose Rochembeau. I think the French is better and they will learn more grammar, and other languages as well.

No one mention that Rochambeau is a much better value.

Washington International School. That’s WIS.

Franchement, je ne pourrais pas mettre mon fils dans le système français…il a eu de la chance et a eu une place en immersion avec MCPS (Maryvale et Sligo Creek). J’en suis très satisfaite. Il a l’école américaine, mais en français. C’est top.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you want to send your child to NCS or Sidwell, don’t assume she will be able to get in at middle school after doing French immersion. It sounds like you’re ignorant, not arrogant but both schools have extremely competitive admissions at 6th and 7th. WIS and Rochambeau are not considered to be academically strong schools. Your daughter will be competing with kids from MoCo magnets, NPS, St. Patrick’s, and schools like Sheridan and Norwood. All these schools are more competitive for entry to NCS and Sidwell than WIS or Rochambeau.

The best chance of entry to NCS is sending your daughter to Beauvoir PK then applying at 4th bc of the special status given Beauvoir applicants. The best chance of entry to Sidwell is in PK.

Oh please.

WiS is MORE rigorous than whatever you call top 3 or top 5 or whatever dc-centric ranking you have in mind.

It is true that few kids go from WIS to those because....why would you go backwards?

What is WIS? Is it short for the Whittle school? I thought that closed a while ago.

Anonymous wrote: My only experience is both of my children playing against Rochambeau in soccer. Never have I seen more obnoxious children, coaches and families, even in ES. Coaches screaming at children and referees, parents screaming at referees and children, etc. So. Much. Screaming.

Of course everything was screamed in French, and they assumed no one else could understand. Except that we were a team made up of international families and many understood. Every word.

Based on this experience, over 12 years, 2 different teams, one boy and one girl, I would never allow my child to attend that school.

+1. I was so surprised the team and parents would behave this way, wearing the school name, playing against travel teams as though students on those teams don’t speak French or have parents who work at places like the World Bank or IMF or places where the other parents’ identities would be known or uncovered

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you want to send your child to NCS or Sidwell, don’t assume she will be able to get in at middle school after doing French immersion. It sounds like you’re ignorant, not arrogant but both schools have extremely competitive admissions at 6th and 7th. WIS and Rochambeau are not considered to be academically strong schools. Your daughter will be competing with kids from MoCo magnets, NPS, St. Patrick’s, and schools like Sheridan and Norwood. All these schools are more competitive for entry to NCS and Sidwell than WIS or Rochambeau.

The best chance of entry to NCS is sending your daughter to Beauvoir PK then applying at 4th bc of the special status given Beauvoir applicants. The best chance of entry to Sidwell is in PK.

Oh please.

WiS is MORE rigorous than whatever you call top 3 or top 5 or whatever dc-centric ranking you have in mind.

It is true that few kids go from WIS to those because....why would you go backwards?

I think a lot of people unfamiliar with the IB primary years program mistake what is a multi-disciplinary, inquiry based approach that is very much a do not teach to the test education model as lack of rigor. But it all prepares kids and builds them up for the very rigorous IB diploma program. If you don't intent to keep your kids in for the IB diploma pay-off, I agree there are probably other options to consider than WIS for elementary. But, if you want your child to be highly prepared for both college and life in an increasingly complex, global world then you can really do no better than WIS for the totality of their education.

Anonymous wrote:If you want to send your child to NCS or Sidwell, don’t assume she will be able to get in at middle school after doing French immersion. It sounds like you’re ignorant, not arrogant but both schools have extremely competitive admissions at 6th and 7th. WIS and Rochambeau are not considered to be academically strong schools. Your daughter will be competing with kids from MoCo magnets, NPS, St. Patrick’s, and schools like Sheridan and Norwood. All these schools are more competitive for entry to NCS and Sidwell than WIS or Rochambeau.

The best chance of entry to NCS is sending your daughter to Beauvoir PK then applying at 4th bc of the special status given Beauvoir applicants. The best chance of entry to Sidwell is in PK.

Oh please.

WiS is MORE rigorous than whatever you call top 3 or top 5 or whatever dc-centric ranking you have in mind.

It is true that few kids go from WIS to those because....why would you go backwards?

My only experience is both of my children playing against Rochambeau in soccer. Never have I seen more obnoxious children, coaches and families, even in ES. Coaches screaming at children and referees, parents screaming at referees and children, etc. So. Much. Screaming.

Of course everything was screamed in French, and they assumed no one else could understand. Except that we were a team made up of international families and many understood. Every word.

Based on this experience, over 12 years, 2 different teams, one boy and one girl, I would never allow my child to attend that school.

Anonymous wrote:If you want to send your child to NCS or Sidwell, don’t assume she will be able to get in at middle school after doing French immersion. It sounds like you’re ignorant, not arrogant but both schools have extremely competitive admissions at 6th and 7th. WIS and Rochambeau are not considered to be academically strong schools. Your daughter will be competing with kids from MoCo magnets, NPS, St. Patrick’s, and schools like Sheridan and Norwood. All these schools are more competitive for entry to NCS and Sidwell than WIS or Rochambeau.

The best chance of entry to NCS is sending your daughter to Beauvoir PK then applying at 4th bc of the special status given Beauvoir applicants. The best chance of entry to Sidwell is in PK.

I just wanted to mention that in 4th grade at NCS they take maybe 5-10 girls that are not BVR girls. I guess those numbers in 9th, but not my a lot. I think OP you need to decide how much you want NCS and Sidwell and how much you want French immersion.
We have friends at both Rochambeau and WIS and my kids are at BVR/NCS so I know quite a bit.
Both Rochambeau and WIS seem like great school and Rochambeau is also a lot cheaper which is nice (maybe half the price). It is much more academic in elementary than BVR from what I can tell. I don’t have friends in middle and high school so I don’t know about the higher grade. Our friends at WIS love it too, but we’re not impressed with the PK/K years… it got a lot better after that.

We love BVR and NCS and academically they are top notch. I am pretty sure the smartest most competitive students will be at NCS/Sidwell.

Good luck

If you want to send your child to NCS or Sidwell, don’t assume she will be able to get in at middle school after doing French immersion. It sounds like you’re ignorant, not arrogant but both schools have extremely competitive admissions at 6th and 7th. WIS and Rochambeau are not considered to be academically strong schools. Your daughter will be competing with kids from MoCo magnets, NPS, St. Patrick’s, and schools like Sheridan and Norwood. All these schools are more competitive for entry to NCS and Sidwell than WIS or Rochambeau.

The best chance of entry to NCS is sending your daughter to Beauvoir PK then applying at 4th bc of the special status given Beauvoir applicants. The best chance of entry to Sidwell is in PK.

We looked at both for the early years because we wanted our child to develop fluency. I personally found Rochambeau a far more welcoming and positive environment though it was less convenient for us. We ultimately chose a school with a conventional US curriculum but Rochambeau left us with the most positive impression of the local international schools. We know lovely families at both but strongly preferred Rochambeau.

Have you gone to visit both? I imagine they are quite different. You can't rely on what people on DCUM 'like better'. Tour the schools and decide which one is a better fit for your family. Keep in mind that both Sidwell and NCS are competitive schools and she may not get into any, so pick a school you'd be happy with if she had to stay through.

Anonymous wrote:Hi,
We plan to send our daughter to either NCS or Sidwell. I am French so I would like to send her to a French Immersion elementary school. Which one do you like better? Rochambeau or WIS?

En termes d'education WIS est tres different de ce que j'ai connu grandissant en France.
En primaire, les enfants apprennent beaucoup moins de faits que dans le systeme francais mais participent beaucoup plus, font plus de projets individuels ou en groupes, et sont beaucoup plus soutenus (positive reinforcement).
Si cela peut paraitre un peu leger du point de vue academique et en termes d'exigence (en primaire, car le programme IB est bien plus exigeant que le bac francais), les methodes de travail qu'ils apprennent leur servent beaucoup par la suite, au college et au lycee. Ils sont aussi beaucoup plus confiants (et semblent plus heureux) que des enfants ayant ete corriges systematiquement pour la moindre faute d'orthographe.
Au total, mes enfants sont tres contents a WIS et parfaitement bilingues. Personnellement, j'aurais aime avoir le type d'education propose par WIS, meme si cela voulait dire que j'en saursis moins sur nos ancetres les gaulois. J'ose esperer que le systeme francais a evolue depuis mon enfance, mais l'ecart est si grand que je serais vraiment etonne que Rochambeau propose maintenant une approche semblable a celle de WIS.
Juste un risque a signaler: bcp des enfants qui commencent a WIS y restent apres le primaire...