WES is a great school. My DC goes there in K. My DC is always busy. DC takes science, PE twice a week, music and movement twice a week, art and Spanish. They frequent the library weekly. I think all kids would benefit, as they aren't stuck in one class all day long! They have a nice playground too. The only down side is the mass amount of emails you get in reference to events related to the school and DC.

odd? pp, can you elaborate?

WES is not worth the money, no matter the families' financial position. The atmosphere is sort of small and a little odd. The academics are ok, but don't match either public schools or most private schools. Their specials are nice, but do you want to pay 27m for that? Unless there are special circumstances, look at other schools.

My experience at WES was that they want to keep the wealthy parents happy. We paid full tuition, but it was a stretch for us and we did not make big donations. We really felt like we were left on the "outside," in terms of the administration. We're so happy to be done with that place.

pp, what is your current school? Sounds like a place that would fit our DS better than WES. He's all boy.

My DS never misbehaved at WES - not in his nature. But he was a boy's boy and the teachers didn't seem to get him by their comments at conferences. Frankly he checked out a bit and was not happy. Fast forward - switched schools and he has been thriving for years, top academically. loves school, his friends and his sports. New school is as or more traditional and frankly more academically demanding. I see other kids where WES is a good fit and there were parts that our kids enjoyed like some of the specials. just wasn't for us.

I know a family on FA who are very happy at WES. Their parents obviously don't have a million dollar income (or they wouldn't have qualified for FA) and the kids love WES.

What exactly is the "WES way" from a child's perspective? And what makes one part of the club of parents?

I'm so happy to have happened across this forum. As a WES parent, I feel vindicated. I see my initial thoughts about the school, which I have been keeping bottled up inside all school year, are true. WES claims to be a "nurturing" school, but that cannot be any further from the truth. There is indeed bullying, only it's a little more covert than the cases you hear in the media. The children can be overly pretentious, bossy and mean-spirited to any child that doesn't exactly fit the "WES Way." My daughter is very eccentric, extremely outgoing and unfortunately has parents who don't exactly have a million dollar income -- those children spotted her a mile away. Unfortunately, the teachers and administrators can get caught up in elitist behaviors too. They definitely cater to and stroke the more wealthier families (and their children, no matter how ill-mannered they may be). These are things I observed this year as a first-time WES parent. For months I struggled with talking to other parents to see if I was crazy or my feelings were actually true. The sad thing is WES parents are extremely clique-ish. If you're not part of the club, forget about it. It's very much a good ole boy environment. Just one parent's opinion.

Anonymous wrote:Oh because saying sit down works lol

I think 2303 was jesting.

Oh because saying sit down works lol

I think it is outrageous that 3 boys were sent to the school nurse for a hearing check. The boys must have been completely embarrased, so much so that no doubt their sense of self worth is permanently damaged. The better way, of course, is to simply tell the boys to sit down. I hope that teacher was fired, immediately. Unless, of course, the school nurse was a pretty blond.

I'm pretty sure that my kids' egos could have survived going to have their hearing checked, or being put in "balcony seats." These teachers are using humor to make their points. The kids are totally in on the joke, and yet these are effective methods. DC even suggested that we adopt one teacher's "chair of despair" to teacher his little sister some manners.

If my children were too fragile to withstand these mild ways of correcting behavior, I'd think that we'd need to consider home-schooling.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One teacher sent 3 boys to have their hearing checked by the school nurse. Very true story.

Yup - this school is not what I would call nurturing.

Sorry, I think this was pretty clever of the teacher. Get a life! What should the teacher do after a while? Please, Johnny, sit down.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:please explain "balcony seats"

Traditional schools use balcony seats or timeouts to punish bad behavior during group activities (for example: interrupting the teacher during story time, etc.); progressive school use a very different approach. In a "balcony seat", kids are allowed to observed but not participate in group activities (so they do not miss out on the classroom activity and can readity participate in the next activity).

so what do the progressive schools do and is that better? TY