Anonymous
01/10/2023 10:34
Subject: Best middle school in arlington
fran83 wrote:
It’s a very transient area (state dept) so kids come and go all of the time. If she has decent social skills she will be fine.
You could ask the principal/homeroom teacher if a nice kid in her homeroom could help her get acquainted with classmates/have a seat with them at lunch.
Thank you so much for your time and invaluable information and advice.🙂
Most people here are nice in real life. Don’t judge off of DCUM - it attracts crazies. LOL
Anonymous
01/10/2023 10:32
Subject: Best middle school in arlington
fran83 wrote:Anonymous wrote:fran83 wrote:Thank you for taking the time to reply to my post. We are looking for good academic records, conducive environment for learning, diversity, good discipline, extracurricular activities(swimming would be a plus), 'friendly' educators/teachers. We have been looking at ratings on several platforms and some reviews are concerning. We are worried about bullying since she will be joining in March. So a school with welcoming students will be great. Now, someone mentioned IB, this would be a plus since she has been studying in a british style framework.
If leaning towards IB, I’d go for a home in the boundaries for Hamm/Washington-Liberty.
Hamm has a nice environment for kids - less toxic than Swanson. No significant bullying.
Thank you. We are reassured. Do you have any suggestion for such a region please. Ideally near the metro for commuting to DC?Thank you
Are you looking for apartment, townhouse, or house?
Maps at bottom of this page:
https://www.apsva.us/boundary-locator/
Closer to Clarendon, VA Square, Courthouse, and Ballston metro stops would be ideal. Check specific location though because boundaries are close.
Where is work location approx located?
fran83
01/10/2023 10:29
Subject: Best middle school in arlington
It’s a very transient area (state dept) so kids come and go all of the time. If she has decent social skills she will be fine.
You could ask the principal/homeroom teacher if a nice kid in her homeroom could help her get acquainted with classmates/have a seat with them at lunch.
Thank you so much for your time and invaluable information and advice.🙂
fran83
01/10/2023 10:26
Subject: Best middle school in arlington
Anonymous wrote:fran83 wrote:Thank you for taking the time to reply to my post. We are looking for good academic records, conducive environment for learning, diversity, good discipline, extracurricular activities(swimming would be a plus), 'friendly' educators/teachers. We have been looking at ratings on several platforms and some reviews are concerning. We are worried about bullying since she will be joining in March. So a school with welcoming students will be great. Now, someone mentioned IB, this would be a plus since she has been studying in a british style framework.
If leaning towards IB, I’d go for a home in the boundaries for Hamm/Washington-Liberty.
Hamm has a nice environment for kids - less toxic than Swanson. No significant bullying.
Thank you. We are reassured. Do you have any suggestion for such a region please. Ideally near the metro for commuting to DC?Thank you
Anonymous
01/10/2023 10:25
Subject: Best middle school in arlington
fran83 wrote:
Does your child have social issues now?
No.
What got us worried are:
1)the reviews
2)the fact that she will be joining during the year. In our country she has been growing with the same school friends so we are worried about integration. We live in a region where people are quite familiar so bullying is not really an issue here.
3)one estate agent told us that bullying is present in all schools...
It’s a very transient area (state dept) so kids come and go all of the time. If she has decent social skills she will be fine.
You could ask the principal/homeroom teacher if a nice kid in her homeroom could help her get acquainted with classmates/have a seat with them at lunch.
Anonymous
01/10/2023 10:25
Subject: Best middle school in arlington
fran83 wrote:Thank you for taking the time to reply to my post. We are looking for good academic records, conducive environment for learning, diversity, good discipline, extracurricular activities(swimming would be a plus), 'friendly' educators/teachers. We have been looking at ratings on several platforms and some reviews are concerning. We are worried about bullying since she will be joining in March. So a school with welcoming students will be great. Now, someone mentioned IB, this would be a plus since she has been studying in a british style framework.
One thing to remember about reviews is generally speaking, only people with axes to grind and other malcontents tend to post them. Or, on the other extreme, you get ridiculous boosters who are trying to prop up a school and drown out any dissent or genuine complaints about whatever flaws it may have.
No school is perfect. But generally speaking, the areas you're looking at are going to be remarkably similar and more than adequate.
Anonymous
01/10/2023 10:21
Subject: Best middle school in arlington
fran83 wrote:Thank you for taking the time to reply to my post. We are looking for good academic records, conducive environment for learning, diversity, good discipline, extracurricular activities(swimming would be a plus), 'friendly' educators/teachers. We have been looking at ratings on several platforms and some reviews are concerning. We are worried about bullying since she will be joining in March. So a school with welcoming students will be great. Now, someone mentioned IB, this would be a plus since she has been studying in a british style framework.
If leaning towards IB, I’d go for a home in the boundaries for Hamm/Washington-Liberty.
Hamm has a nice environment for kids - less toxic than Swanson. No significant bullying.
Anonymous
01/10/2023 10:21
Subject: Best middle school in arlington
fran83 wrote:Anonymous wrote:fran83 wrote:We are not in the US yet. We have been looking at ratings, gradings, reviews, videos on youtube...The school system in our country is different. It's kind of hard to choose at a distance. We have chosen Arlington mostly based on its closeness to DC. We also looked at Mclean and Vienna. Looks like the schools are better there?
Honestly, it's all basically the same. These are affluent schools and neighborhoods with many resources. PP is right in the sense that what matters is what's best for your child. You're looking at meaningless metrics/rankings.
Progrmmatically, it's better to look at the high schools. Yorktown most closely matches the county's demographics from a diversity standpoint but not the school population's -- so it's predominately white. It's historically considered the "best" HS in the county on a metrics perspective but W-L has its fans, IB and more recently better success in elite college matriculations (not that any of these schools matriculate a whole lot to the ivies, etc -- you need to go to private schools in DC for that path).
One thing to consider is it can be harder to get into Virginia's better universities (UVA, William and Mary) since they tend to prioritize school ranking and Arlington schools are populated by over-achievers in general. So, the competition for limited spots is more fierce.
Thank you for the info. So we don't have to reconsider our choice regarding staying in Arlington then?
Schools shouldn't drive your decision about where to live in the areas you cite. There will be a few people who jump in and try to argue Fairfax County high schools in the area are "better" than Arlington's but it's all just noise. The reality is all of these schools are populated by privileged kids who will succeed in life. They've all been born on third -- just try to avoid the ones who think they actually hit a triple.
I would let other considerations like commute, housing stock, neighborhood feel, access to amenities drive your decision. You seem a little too focused on the concept of "best".
fran83
01/10/2023 10:20
Subject: Best middle school in arlington
Does your child have social issues now?
No.
What got us worried are:
1)the reviews
2)the fact that she will be joining during the year. In our country she has been growing with the same school friends so we are worried about integration. We live in a region where people are quite familiar so bullying is not really an issue here.
3)one estate agent told us that bullying is present in all schools...