We met with the principal and she gave us the tour and answered all of our questions. The school is undergoing a pretty major renovation that began in April 2010 and will mostly be complete when school opens back up in September. Evey room is being redone in some way, and we got to see the brand new (and huge) library, new classrooms & new blacktop and playground area. The school has two levels and made Blessed Sacrament seem tiny.
When we got to the school, all of the kids were in the gym watching a performance by the 5th graders who studied World Civilizations this year. They were all dressed up and singing cultural songs...it was quite a production! I was amazed by the diversity of the kids sitting in the audience...looking out over the sea of students there were so many different faces. The signs for the bathroom were in English, Korean, Spanish and Vietnamese. That's a sign of the diversity for sure!
In terms of size, it's a big school...there are 4 classes each for grades K-3 and 3 classes for grades 4 and 5. Each class has only 18-22 students! Compared to BS, Quinn had 32 kids in his class and Keely 25 so that will be a much nicer ratio. They also have advanced programs available to all children, both in class and in an advanced learning center. I was really impressed with the facilities and opportunities for advancement!
The school day runs from 9:15 AM to 3:55 PM, and they do have child care before and after if needed. They also have a morning program run by teachers at the school with various activities (i.e. gym games, drama, music, art, math, science) - you can drop the kids off at 8 AM and they can pick a different activity each day. This is free and occupies the kids from 8 until school starts - a great option to extend the school day for working parents. Obviously we don't need any of these extended options initially but it's great to know they are there!
While we were there, I got all of the registration paperwork and I've started filling it out and getting all of the supporting documents. I think we were all excited by the school visit and the kids are looking forward to starting in September!
As a side note, the cleaning continues at the house. The house has had only 2 owners, D (since their last name started with a D) and S (similarly because of their last name). D lived in the house from 1953 until 2000. S for the last 11 or so years. Apparently, S had a theory when they moved out - leave anything that was D. Their other theory was not to clean out anything, just pile their stuff in with D and then take it back out (or so it seems). Hence the goodies from before 2000 and sometimes as early as the 50s that we are finding throughout the house. So anyways, we have two sheds in the backyard...both good size and in good shape on nice concrete slabs. The bigger one is going to be a true shed and James told Keely that she could have the smaller one for a playhouse. In cleaning out the smaller one yesterday, they found an old copy of the Washington Post from April 3, 1994!
It was fun to browse through it last night...relive some of the stories that were prominent in that year and see some of the grocery ads and how cheap things were 18 years ago. Too bad the paper wasn't older, it may have been worth something! Ah, the joys of buying a 1950s house continue :)
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