Anonymous wrote:Do not go to Norwood. It is a horrible school. We are there now and absolutely made the wrong decision. They are not honest in their events to recruit new students. There is a huge discipline problem. The teachers are fine but the administrators are absolutely subpar, especially the middle school head of school. A lot of parents I have spoken to regret sending their children there for one reason or another.

When did you get here because no one ever has said anything negative about Norwood on this board. It's the only school that pretty much has zero complaints. Have you read all these pro-Norwood threads for the past several months and not piped up? Or did something irritate you recently so you decided to seek this board out, or any online forum, to voice your complaint.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do not go to Norwood. It is a horrible school. We are there now and absolutely made the wrong decision. They are not honest in their events to recruit new students. There is a huge discipline problem. The teachers are fine but the administrators are absolutely subpar, especially the middle school head of school. A lot of parents I have spoken to regret sending their children there for one reason or another.

The school has a huge bullying problem. For example, there were many anti-Semitic comments made in the middle school by various students. The school held an assembly denying the experience of the Jewish students. Very disappointing. Physical harassment by other students is tolerated. Many families are disappointed with the head of the middle school. While there are some amazing teachers, the leadership in the middle school is just not strong enough. I heard of incidents when we were in the lower school but thought that things would get better. It hasn’t.

We haven’t had that experience at all. My daughter hasn’t seen any bullying happening and, as for the experiences of Jewish students — we are a Jewish family and have felt completely accepted. The school has a Jewish culture club and they just did a celebration of Purim.

Anonymous wrote:Please elaborate on your post raising concerns. Who was not honest in their events to recruit new students and in what specific ways? Which administrators are absolutely subpar and in what ways? This will be a huge financial stretch, and it is so important that I have detailed information to help me decide. Thank you for sharing your insights.

The administrators have to put their best foot forward. I believe the school is strong academically. And there are some great teachers. But the school does not support all kids equally. Many other students are allowed to interfere with other children’s educational experience whether it be in the classroom, on the playground, etc. The middle school principal is no one’s favorite. He has the credentials on paper but is not a strong principal. He really does not have a handle on the school or students.

In many previous posts, others mention the bullying problem. This is absolutely true. We have had a horrible experience with bullying. And the school always tries to blame the child suffering. I have seen this in my situation and with other parents who have a child who is being bullied at Norwood. The school does not do enough to protect all of the students.

Anonymous wrote:Do not go to Norwood. It is a horrible school. We are there now and absolutely made the wrong decision. They are not honest in their events to recruit new students. There is a huge discipline problem. The teachers are fine but the administrators are absolutely subpar, especially the middle school head of school. A lot of parents I have spoken to regret sending their children there for one reason or another.

The school has a huge bullying problem. For example, there were many anti-Semitic comments made in the middle school by various students. The school held an assembly denying the experience of the Jewish students. Very disappointing. Physical harassment by other students is tolerated. Many families are disappointed with the head of the middle school. While there are some amazing teachers, the leadership in the middle school is just not strong enough. I heard of incidents when we were in the lower school but thought that things would get better. It hasn’t.

Please elaborate on your post raising concerns. Who was not honest in their events to recruit new students and in what specific ways? Which administrators are absolutely subpar and in what ways? This will be a huge financial stretch, and it is so important that I have detailed information to help me decide. Thank you for sharing your insights.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do not go to Norwood. It is a horrible school. We are there now and absolutely made the wrong decision. They are not honest in their events to recruit new students. There is a huge discipline problem. The teachers are fine but the administrators are absolutely subpar, especially the middle school head of school. A lot of parents I have spoken to regret sending their children there for one reason or another.

This is completely at odds with our experience. We have loved it there, as has our daughter. We haven’t met any parents who are unhappy.

+1

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do not go to Norwood. It is a horrible school. We are there now and absolutely made the wrong decision. They are not honest in their events to recruit new students. There is a huge discipline problem. The teachers are fine but the administrators are absolutely subpar, especially the middle school head of school. A lot of parents I have spoken to regret sending their children there for one reason or another.

This is completely at odds with our experience. We have loved it there, as has our daughter. We haven’t met any parents who are unhappy.

this is completely at odds with just about everyone we've encountered, including most of the lower school and many middle school parents.

Anonymous wrote:Do not go to Norwood. It is a horrible school. We are there now and absolutely made the wrong decision. They are not honest in their events to recruit new students. There is a huge discipline problem. The teachers are fine but the administrators are absolutely subpar, especially the middle school head of school. A lot of parents I have spoken to regret sending their children there for one reason or another.

This is completely at odds with our experience. We have loved it there, as has our daughter. We haven’t met any parents who are unhappy.

I’m surprised! While no private is perfect and all have some issues, every current Norwood parent I’ve spoken to loves the school. It seems really popular with parents that grew up in DMV private schools and choose Norwood for their DC. What promises did they make during the admissions process that weren’t kept?

Would be curious to hear from others. What types of discipline problems?

Do not go to Norwood. It is a horrible school. We are there now and absolutely made the wrong decision. They are not honest in their events to recruit new students. There is a huge discipline problem. The teachers are fine but the administrators are absolutely subpar, especially the middle school head of school. A lot of parents I have spoken to regret sending their children there for one reason or another.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Current Norwood middle school parent here - we too loved it when we were admitted and DC was younger. Realize now that it is a small school and your child's social experience will depend heavily on the make up of the other kids in their grade. We have had some great teachers and some terrible teachers which is probably true at any school. The school has definitely had issues in the past few years in my DC's class with social/emotional learning/bullying incidents - again, this could be cohort dependent. The art and music have been great and the ability for all kids to play on the sports teams is also beneficial for my kid. Hoping for good outplacement.

Current Norwood lower school parent here — just curious about whether the bullying showed up earlier or whether it was more recent? DD doesn’t report any issues right now, but we are in lower elementary, so I know that can change.

Different poster here, not the one above. It is really grade dependent, as I have heard at many local privates. There can be years with a great group, and years with a few challenging kids like at any school. Sometimes the boy group is great, and not the girl group, or the other way around. If you look at threads in the private school forum you will see this at most area schools. The school can be great, and then one year out of four there is a cohort with more challenges. The nice thing is the grades are usually big enough that there are enough kids to find social alternatives, which is harder at some other smaller privates.

Just as a heads up - this is going to be no different at a Big 3 or Big 5 - in lower grades or in HS. If you get unlucky with a cohort socially, there's not much you can do.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are some of the WL schools

My DC at Norwood told me today that one student got into St. Albans, and one got into GDS off the waitlist.
Pretty impressive if accurate.

Wow that’s excellent!

This is true. Both from normal families without any strong hooks as well.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are some of the WL schools

My DC at Norwood told me today that one student got into St. Albans, and one got into GDS off the waitlist.
Pretty impressive if accurate.

Wow that’s excellent!

Anonymous wrote:Current Norwood middle school parent here - we too loved it when we were admitted and DC was younger. Realize now that it is a small school and your child's social experience will depend heavily on the make up of the other kids in their grade. We have had some great teachers and some terrible teachers which is probably true at any school. The school has definitely had issues in the past few years in my DC's class with social/emotional learning/bullying incidents - again, this could be cohort dependent. The art and music have been great and the ability for all kids to play on the sports teams is also beneficial for my kid. Hoping for good outplacement.

Another Norwood parent here and this has also been our experience.