Local catholic grammar school recommendations
Thank you for that list. There are more options than I expected. Anyone have any advice?
My daughter has been at St. Rose of Lima Academy in Short Hills for past 3 years (entering 4th grade). We are very happy with the involved student and parent body. Academics are excellent (named a Blue Ribbon school and high terra nova scores), with high emphasis on technology. Half the students are from Maplewood.
justal, thank you. We will look into them. truth, I had heard good things too but things changed recently from what I am being told now.
We sent our son to OLS for kindergarten last year, he is not returning. Unclear if the fit wasn't good because of us (our personal culture-which it most assuredly could be) or if it was the school culture. Happy to discuss my observations if you'd like to PM me.
Another vote of confidence for St. Rose of Lima. Our 14 year old (now a Freshman at St. Peter's Prep) graduated last June and attended SRLA since pre-K 4. His brother, now in Grade 6 at SRLA, has attended since pre-K 3. Couldn't be more happy with the school and the community of families. If you'd like more details, PM me.
Also an extremely happy St. Rose of Lima family! My son is in 2nd grade and we are so happy with his progress, both academically and socially. It's a great school and family community- supportive, positive, and lots of fun. There is a bus from Maplewood/SO which is also great.
You may want to look also at Lacordaire Academy in Montclair, if you can make the shlep.
Wow, it looks like St. Rose has a lot of fans here. Noseygirl, is the bus a town thing or does St. Rose send it? Everyone is talking about the family community there, which is one of the big problems at Sorrows according to my neighbors.
Thank you Tom. Montclair isn't too far of a shlep if the school is right.
The SRLA bus is provided by the BOE. Your best bet is to make an appointment to meet the Principal and see the school.
ragnatela said:
The SRLA bus is provided by the BOE. Your best bet is to make an appointment to meet the Principal and see the school.
I was about to say the same : ) As far as OLS goes, you may want to do the same and make an appointment. No opinion is as valuable as your own, so if you haven't seen them in person, you should consider meeting with Sister Judith.
ragnatela, thank you. We'll visit St. Rose. Chuck4197, not a bad idea but I don't think it will change anything. The principal might answer my questions about the teachers leaving but I would be surprised to get answers about the other issues.
If you want, PM me and let me know the issues. I'm just a parent, but I used to be heavily involved with the SAB and I would be happy to discuss any concerns if it might help
JaCostelloSONJ said:
ragnatela, thank you. We'll visit St. Rose. Chuck4197, not a bad idea but I don't think it will change anything. The principal might answer my questions about the teachers leaving but I would be surprised to get answers about the other issues.
I have had friends who were/are very happy with both Our Lady of the Lake in Verona and Aquinas Academy in Livingston.
Someone already answered but the bus is provided by the Maplewood/SO school district. You have to fill out paperwork in order to qualify.
Extremely happy at Our Lady of Sorrows. Agree with Chuck, visit both schools and form your own opinion.
Schools go through transition from time to time. Teachers retire, move out of the area or go back to school themselves. Doesn't mean there was some calculated mass exodus from the school...
Talk to the students. They have so much confidence and heart. They are not afraid to ask questions or offer assistance. To me, this speaks more to the school's excellence than anything else.
Best of luck with your search.
This is my family's 7th year at OLS; we have 3 children enrolled. It's a wonderful, warm environment. We've been very happy there.
JacostelloSONJ: I think you should not write off having a meeting with Sr. Judith at OLS. She is charming and very forthcoming. I think you will have all of your questions satisfactorily answered.
Re SRL, was told the class sizes are 25 per class, which, from my memory from my own parochial school days, is high and no different than public school. Do they have teacher aides like Maplewood public has? Part of the reason I was interested in Catholic, besides the religious instruction, was the thought of smaller class sizes.
Re class sizes at St Rose. The max class size is 25. However, the average class size runs 18/20. I have 3 kids in school there, and am more than happy. We have a new principal this year, and as a parent I am excited for what she will bring to the school. The one thing that St Rose has that I love is such a strong sense of community from the kids to the parents. Come visit and I believe you will be impressed.
There are teachers aides in the lower grades. 25 is an unusually large class at SLRA. Our 9th grader graduated last year in a class of 25, but it never felt crowded and he never felt lost. In many cases, the classes pick up students in 6th, 7th and even 8th grades from middle school transfers. But at that grade level, the kids are often split into 2 groups for math, science and in the case of language, some take Spanish and at least half take advantage of the opportunity to take Latin. That's hard to come by.
Robert_Casotto said:
Re SRL, was told the class sizes are 25 per class, which, from my memory from my own parochial school days, is high and no different than public school. Do they have teacher aides like Maplewood public has? Part of the reason I was interested in Catholic, besides the religious instruction, was the thought of smaller class sizes.
Keep in mind that the aides (paraprofessionals) in public schools are placed in classes to assist with specific students with special needs. They are not there to teach or even to lower the adult-to-student ratio. And the aides are not obligated to assist students other than the students they are assigned. On a rare occasion, public school classrooms may get a teacher's aide (a teacher in training doing student teaching)...but that doesn't happen very often and they are not in the classroom the full 180 days.
good points. I just looked at my class pics from Catholic school and there were like 15 kids. Maybe the consolidation of the schools has increased the class sizes. re spanish and latin, do they offer any other languages besides those?
Catholic school class sizes were huge when I was a kid (late 1960's-1970's). There were 79 kids in my 8th grade class broken down into three sections. Then it seemed to dwindle, especially in some parishes where the demographics shifted. In the case of SRLA, I attribute the increase in population to its well publicized Blue Ribbon status and excellent word of mouth more than school closures. I believe it to be the case that most SRLA families are from Maplewood and SO, although the school is located in Short Hills. In terms of languages, Spanish is taught K-8 and Latin is offered beginning in Grade 6. No other world languages are offered at this time. Hope this helps.
i was wrong--there were over 24+ kids in my classes back then. my bad.
We need to find a local catholic grammar school and need some ideas. A few people near us send their kids to OL Sorrows but we're hearing some bad things and want to look at other places.