Anonymous wrote:My DCs attended Barrie and I regret our decision. The grade sizes are too small and as a result, my DCs did not mature appropriately. They were sort of stuck at the level of the other kid of the same sex in their class. They caught up but it was a mistake on my part to not realize the importance of class/grade size

Agree - I would be very very cautious about small class sizes once you get to middle school and high school. We sent one of our kids through middle school at another very small school (CES). Among high school peers, there was a notable difference in his lack of maturity and limited social skills when we observed him interacting with other middle schoolers from bigger schools once he got to high school. It’s not really worth it in the end - the social part is just as important as the academic. Should your kid end up in a really tiny class - say 10 kids - you have to try and make it work no matter what. There is no escape. I don’t think it’s healthy after a certain age.

Barrie is a fantastic school for students in the pre-middle school years. It’s a robust Montessori environment that encourages exploration and self-determination.

The same educational model just doesn’t work as well for older kids, in my view, and as a consequence you don’t get enough kids in those cohorts to make it worthwhile. But if you want your young kid to get a really good head start before taking them public or magnet, you’d be hard pressed to find a better option than Barrie.

- a former student who loved it and got out at the right time

The last couple of years, I have sat on the admissions review committee (I'm a teacher) at my school, and we have seen an increase in the number of Barrie students applying for lower school. Majority of the applicants are families of color, which makes me think something is going on. Could be coincidence, but worth considering.

We looked at Barrie a couple of years ago for our rising 6th grader. I was excited about Barrie. We son’t mind small. But, Barrie was the only school requiring that our child take a standardized test as part of the application process. (And yes - we were applying to a couple of schools that DCUM considers prestigious and this was not a requirement for those schools.) At a Barrie open house event, we asked about this requirement and the response was that they need this to help them assess whether a student is a good fit for Barrie. We found this response startling - the other schools can make this determination without a standardized test score so why can’t Barrie? It made me think that their admissions team must not know how to evaluate applicants and that therefore they rely heavily on a test score. Their response and dismissiveness about this was also in direct opposition to their presentation which leaned heavily into highlighting social justice projects and the importance of human rights at home and abroad. And their diversity. We did not apply - we were not going to require our child to take a standardized test just for Barrie. Not to mention that we did not like how dismissive they were when we put forward a relevant and valid question.

Not the original poster who decided against Barrie for 9th grade but another family who seriously considered Barrie for 9th grade and we decided to stay at SSFS. We love SSFS and although the upcoming 9th grade took a big hit in enrollment because of the financial turmoil and unfortunate messaging, we believe things are moving in the right direction. And, even with the upcoming 9th grade being small (although not smaller than Barrie 9th grade), the overall upper school total is still a lot larger ...like a whole lot larger than Barrie.

For the family that decided against attending for 9th grade, can you share where you ended up?

Anonymous wrote:My DCs attended Barrie and I regret our decision. The grade sizes are too small and as a result, my DCs did not mature appropriately. They were sort of stuck at the level of the other kid of the same sex in their class. They caught up but it was a mistake on my part to not realize the importance of class/grade size

I would second this...as a former family, the size became very limiting for our child socially. While the messaging during tours was about the inclusive environment, we actually found the students to be clicky and social groups were well established and hard to enter as a new student. Not sure this is something the school can address without thinking more strategically about size. After all, the adults can only do so much without it turning in to social engineering.

I would also second the note about the curriculum (and not just the humanities). We were very unhappy with the MUS leadership and saw very little rigor within the HS coursework. While the school has some promise, I think the new(ish) HOS and BOD need to do some soul searching about what the MUS is trying to deliver or cut it loose. It's just floundering in some ways and the appointment of an interim MUS leader for next year (as lovely as she is) seems like it is going to be another year of transition (after a new HOS the year before and a MUS head that was only there for two years and announced her departure AFTER commitments for next year were due). Not sure things will get better without a lot more engagement from the HOS/BOD to establish a more clear direction for the HS.