- This topic is empty.
-
Posts
-
-
My son was accepted into Bell RGC and Hawthorne for Kindergarten both of which were our top choices. We also have offers to Catherine Cook and Alphonsus Academy of the Arts. I’ve toured all the schools and they all seem great! They also all seem to be very strong academically despite being varying in class sizes. Bell RGC is the furthest away being 20-25 minute without traffic. All the others are 10 mins away. We are currently at LPP and he thrives in the play based learning. His strenghts are stem and literacy. We also have a younger sibling to take into consideration, and I would need to utilize after school care. Finally community is a big priority for our family. Would love to hear feedback! Thank you!
-
Bell and Hawthorne were our top choices as well. I’d personally lean towards the one with easier commute out of the two. Some folks feel very strongly about being in all selective class – I am on the fence about that. No info on the other schools
-
Top RGC mom. You will be surrounded by the best of the best in RGCs, and Hawthorne will be a great community with a mix of different kids. It is so hard to get in to those RGCs nowadays, just take that offer and create an amazing environment for your kiddo! That being said, if commute is long, this is a huge factor. You do not want your kid to hate being in a car..
-
For Hawthorne it honestly really depends on the class you’re in. Overall, it’s a strong school but amount of homework and stress over scores is certainly something I’d want to avoid. Kids are stressed out. Some classes have a lot of behavior issues. That’s one of the reasons I’d likely choose Bell.
-
Can you elaborate on how kids are placed in different classes? Is it based on an assessment of different skills level or is it random? The stress aspect unfortunately seems to be a recurring theme across schools.. I read something similar about SN.
-
-
I can speak about our RGC. All students are grouped into small groups for math, book clubs, reading sessions, etc., based on their i‑Ready and Star360 scores. Those groupings can, of course, change over time, but what you can be certain of is that the rigor in RGCs cannot be compared to Hawthorne. Even the strongest student at Hawthorne can still struggle in an RGC.
We have friends whose children are now in the academically strong class at Hawthorne, but when their kids were tested for RGCs in elementary school, their scores were never high enough to qualify for those RGCs. That is something to keep in mind. Hawthorne is a lottery school, and while it does try to support advanced students, it is not exclusively focused on them. In contrast, at SEES you are surrounded by the strongest and brightest students, and the schools are intentionally focused on further challenging and supporting those advanced learners. I am biased, of course, but I wanted to share my two cents.
-
