St. Matthew's / Trinity Middle School / Charlotte Catholic HS (King: catholic schools, live)

[shirlgirl71]

Hi everyone

We will be moving this summer to NC. We are very excited about the move. My children currently attend Catholic school and we would like them to continue in Charlotte.

Just wondering if anyone had experience with either of these schools.
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!!!!

[taben]

I think you will be happy with the Catholic schools here in Charlotte. The Catholic Schools here are part of the MACS (Meck. Area Catholic Schools) system. It is a system that is centralized with admissions, busing, etc. Of the schools you mention:

St. Matts is the largest Catholic elem. in the system and hard to get into because of the number of people that side of town who want into Catholic School. Be sure that you put down your second and third choices for elem. school as there will be no guarentee that you will get into St. Matts. St. Patricks and St. Anns would be close to Holy Trinity, the middle school you mention, and many families who live far south opt for one of those schools to keep the kids near one another or because a parent works uptown. St. Ann is less popular but loved by those who go there because it is very small and diverse. St. Pats has a long history also of being a good school. St. Matts is good...but large and probably a bit more elitist than the others. (There is also Our Lady of Assumption and St. Gabe's, both good for very different reasons).

As for Holy Trinity...it is a true Middle School/Jr. High School. It is 6th-8th grades and filled with the drama and hormones of that age, but also solid sports and academics. Some love it, some miss the k-8 model of traditional Catholic School. A lot of cell phones and dating going on age a young age, but also faculty that keep them in check for the most part. But with almost 1000 kids, it is a large middle school.

Charlotte Catholic is the only high school (Catholic) in Charlotte. Good school, good academics, good leadership. It is a VERY sports intensive school. If your child is not a good athlete or into sports, work hard to be sure they have some interests outside of school or would be happy with the band or performing arts as their interests in high school. Otherwise, they may not find much to be involved in there. Academically it will meet the needs of very strong students and those who struggle a bit...and everything in between. Complaints about Catholic is that is it not very diverse (racially or economically) and that there is too much partying off campus by kids. They are working on the later by random drug testing at school. Otherwise, as the principal has said, he can't do much if the parents keep letting their kids drink and be unsupervised to party. With the former, between the cost and location of the school, there is not much they can do.

Finally, if you live north of the city the choice of schools is generally St. Mark, which is k-8. Most who go there love it. Small, family friendly, welcoming and great for sports and the arts. There is also a new Catholic High School north of Charlotte, Christ the King, that just opened. Jury is still out, but it is expected to be smaller than Charlotte Catholic, more family like, and still strong academically...kind of an extension of St. Mark and that type of environment.

Okay...there you have it. Hope this helps!

T

[buhdooshk]

So Charlotte Catholic or Christ the King.. which is better?