Anonymous wrote:
You mean Brent Elementary, the in-boundary public school several blocks north? This school is certainly still a little "worse" than CHDS academically, but unless you have piles of cash, your little kid might actually get a better education if you send him/her to Brent and use the money you're saving to pay for enrichment.

In our case, paying for CHDS would have meant giving up our Chinese-speaking au pair, making it difficult to raise our daughter bilingual (my husband only speaks Chinese to her, as does the au pair), month-long annual trips to Hong Kong to visit family and work on her Chinese, the Johns Hopkins CTY camps in Alexandria (where she focuses on math), and probably music lessons.

You clearly live in a different income bracket than I do -- no au pair, no month-long vacations to Asia, and you live in-boundary for Brent, e.g., arguably the most affluent section of the Hill.

For some of us who live on Capitol Hill but are in-boundary for other elementary schools, the calculation looks very different, even at lower income levels. Fortunately I bought my house before the 2000s run-up in property values, so CHDS tuition is manageable (if barely) with my modest mortgage. If I lived in-boundary for Brent, my child would probably go there -- but CHDS has been a great choice, a lovely community, and a good foundation for a love of learning.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do CHDS grads regularly go onto STA/NCS or Landon/Holton?

I think CHDS is more of a feeder to Sidwell, GDS, Maret, Burke, Field than those schools.

Can someone post exmissions for 2012?

It's on their web site.

http://www.chds.org/podium/default.aspx?t=204&nid=627187

+1. I sent my girls to CHDS ten years ago, when Hill mortgages for young families were a lot more manageable than now, but wouldn't bother these days, at least not if my kid were under age 7 or 8. Brent's new principal, Peter Young, is leading the charge to build a gifted and talented program. And the PTA is raising more than the other Hill PS schools combined to round out the not-so-hot DCPS curriculum.

Anonymous wrote:It probably relates to the very poor administration and the quality of teachers. The school exists because the local public school is possibly worse than CHDS. If CHDS was located in NWDC its doors would have closed already.

You mean Brent Elementary, the in-boundary public school several blocks north? This school is certainly still a little "worse" than CHDS academically, but unless you have piles of cash, your little kid might actually get a better education if you send him/her to Brent and use the money you're saving to pay for enrichment.

In our case, paying for CHDS would have meant giving up our Chinese-speaking au pair, making it difficult to raise our daughter bilingual (my husband only speaks Chinese to her, as does the au pair), month-long annual trips to Hong Kong to visit family and work on her Chinese, the Johns Hopkins CTY camps in Alexandria (where she focuses on math), and probably music lessons.

Brent isn't a bad option these days. CHDS parents who tend to write-off DC public schools as a category may be surprised to find that Brent has a nicer playground than CHDS, and an equally nice media center/computer lab with brand new Macs, a lovely library and a seriously good after-school program. Remarkably, the percentage of the kids getting free or reduced price lunch has plummeted in the last decade from nearly 3/4 to around 15%. Our child was admitted to CHDS but we passed. We wouldn't have sent her to any other Hill PS, and won't stay in DCPS beyond 5th, but we couldn't see that private ES was worth it, not on Capitol Hill in 2012.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do CHDS grads regularly go onto STA/NCS or Landon/Holton?

I think CHDS is more of a feeder to Sidwell, GDS, Maret, Burke, Field than those schools.

Can someone post exmissions for 2012?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is anyone out there applying for admission for K? I'm just curious what other schools you may also be looking at.

Any admitees out there for 2011-2012? Will your DC be enrollees?

Bump for 2012-13.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do CHDS grads regularly go onto STA/NCS or Landon/Holton?

I think CHDS is more of a feeder to Sidwell, GDS, Maret, Burke, Field than those schools.

Agree. A few girls have gone to Holton. I can't think of many boys who have gone to Landon. I think it's mainly because the majority of families live in DC and VA, and some in PG county, so the distance is a challenge. Quite a few girls have gone to Madeira, and some to other girls boarding schools.

Anonymous wrote:Do CHDS grads regularly go onto STA/NCS or Landon/Holton?

I think CHDS is more of a feeder to Sidwell, GDS, Maret, Burke, Field than those schools.

Do CHDS grads regularly go onto STA/NCS or Landon/Holton?

We love the small, intimate feel of the place. DH is just frustrated that it does not seem to have a lot of "name recognition." Yes, he is concerned about status and the like. His only fault, really. But the bottom line is our children are happy and thriving. So no complaints from us.

It's a great school and the renovation is going to it. The new headmaster has been doing a really terrific job. I've been impressed with it (and I have dcs at a lot of different schools for various reasons).

How does this school compare to Lowell?

Anonymous wrote:Will the renovation lead to the addition of grades past 8th?

No, it will remain PK-8.