Anonymous wrote:Norwood parent here. We have kids at the school in the middle and lower school. Generally, we are happy with the school but I’m honestly shocked at the posters who think the school doesn’t have issues. We stay because my kids are happy, and I think they are learning (lower school is not very rigorous, middle school can be if your kid is self motivated).

There had been a lots of turnover in my kids grades, and many of the families and kids who have left had good reasons to leave (nice kids and nice families). I’m not interested in bashing the school, because there are a lot of great things about it, but it’s not perfect and neither are all the decisions from the admin.

Middle school seems to be as kind a place as a middle school can be - but there are still cliques and bullying and mean behavior. I don’t think schools can really stamp that out.

I honestly doubt there is that much difference between Norwood and Lowell - unless you see something that really bothers you when you check them out, I would pick the one that is the most convenient.

Anonymous wrote:Norwood parent here. We have kids at the school in the middle and lower school. Generally, we are happy with the school but I’m honestly shocked at the posters who think the school doesn’t have issues. We stay because my kids are happy, and I think they are learning (lower school is not very rigorous, middle school can be if your kid is self motivated).

There had been a lots of turnover in my kids grades, and many of the families and kids who have left had good reasons to leave (nice kids and nice families). I’m not interested in bashing the school, because there are a lot of great things about it, but it’s not perfect and neither are all the decisions from the admin.

Middle school seems to be as kind a place as a middle school can be - but there are still cliques and bullying and mean behavior. I don’t think schools can really stamp that out.

I honestly doubt there is that much difference between Norwood and Lowell - unless you see something that really bothers you when you check them out, I would pick the one that is the most convenient.

Anonymous wrote:My child is dyslexic and was really struggling in the public school system to keep up academically and socially. Norwood has been wonderful about giving her the support that she needs - esp. for her language-based learning needs. She is still 2 grades below grade level, but she is making progress.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't recommend Lowell right now, or at least until they clean their administrative house. They have a lot of things to sort out in that department. Drama aside, their MS academics also leave a lot to be desired. There is some solid teaching happening there, but potential is limited by an administration that can't seem to get out of its own way.

Can you say more?

Admin is just super nasty, especially to teachers behind closed doors and to parents who raise issues. They're also not good educators. They seem to be concerned first and foremost with shutting down any sort of discourse that could be perceived as a challenge, which has a chilling effect on all aspects of the school's culture. Many, many talented teachers and great families have left over the past six or seven years as a result. One administrator is currently embroiled in controversy over his/her treatment of a thirteen year-old sexual assault victim when she reported what a fellow classmate had done to her. She has become an advocate for sexual assault victims and posted about her experiences at the school. One such post went viral on Instagram, which is why the school had to take their faculty and board lists off their website and disable comments on their social media accounts. The school is also reckoning with a very serious string of bullying incidents in one grade. Questions have arisen about why problematic students were admitted in the first place, and why the school didn't take more action once they had been advised about serious harm being done. Seems the board can't or won't do anything about these situations so they continues to fester. Not a good place.

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Anonymous wrote:We have 2 kids graduated from Norwood in recent years. Both had very good experience there although they are very different type of students. Nice and caring teachers, friendly and welcoming parents community, very strong leadership team. Mr. Gould is the best head of school. Both DCs went to a private school in DC. Maybe the pace of learning at Norwood and DC schools are different, both DCs struggled a little at the first semester at HS, but thrilled to get strong academically later. If I have to say cons of Norwood, I would say the school is a little short of expertise and resources to support learning difference kids. Overall I would definitely recommend Norwood.

My kid has learning differences and Norwood has been terrific about supporting her.

Anonymous wrote:The only "incident" I know of with Norwood and bullying happened 3 years ago. Those kids who were in 8th would be in 11th now. It was a different (and useless) Head of Middle School at the time.

We have 2 kids in middle right now there. Yes, there have been some typical middle school issues but they jump all over it if you bring it to their attention. We had a situation with a student bullying one of our kids for a few weeks and BAM. That was locked down so fast it made my head spin. They handled it amazingly well.

The current head of Middle School and Assistant Head are absolutely not going to let even a side-eye happen on their watch.

Anonymous wrote:We had our son at Norwood for two years and then pulled him out because he just was not challenged in the classroom. Too many of his classmates needed support for impulsive control and had language based learning needs. We were told to try to supplement outside of the class. We left and started at another independent school and are so glad that we did. I'd skip Norwood.