Catholic Grade Schools in Winnetka & Wilmette??? (Chicago: catholic schools, colleges)

[UKtoChicago]

We are an American family relocating from London to Winnetka or Wilmette this summer. We are not from the Chicagoland area, so the North Shore will be new territory for us. We are looking for a private school for our daughter who will be in the 2nd grade next year. I have gone through the schools websites and on "Great Schools" website, but I wanted to get a range of opinion from parents in these communities. Our daughter currently attends a private school that is progressive, well cultured and full of extra activities (art,music, drama, sport etc.) We feel she is better suited for a school with great community and of course good education. Are there differences between parish school regarding extra curricular activities? Who has the best and must welcoming community? I am sure there will be more questions, but let me start there!

[chet everett]

The reason that families on the North Shore choose private school is nearly always because of their own experience / tradition-- parents who went to private school as kids want the same expereince for their children.

The public schools in Winnetka and Wilmette are excellent, they have traditionally been far more progressive than the parochial schools, as well as having a broader range of art, music, and drama. The opportunity to participate in the limited range of sports (typically just basketball, volleyball and track are offered in 6-8 grade...) may be a little better in the parochial schools, due to their very small class sizes, but even that is offset by the wide range of community supported sports open to everyone -- that includes soccer, lacrosse, swimming, golf, gymnastic, hockey, basketball, tennis, US style football, and baseball.

Families that choose Catholic schools typically rank the incorporation of religious instruction high as a reason for their preferences. To be sure, kids that go on to the private high schools (one of the more well regarded schools on the North Shore is Loyola Academy) are well prepared for good colleges, but number of kids that end up competing for the most selective schools is much larger from the public high school, New Trier...

The experience of many families that relocate to the region find the public schools are well suited to help new students adapt; in contrast, it is much more common for the parochial school families to be part of longer history / generational type situations...

[Paige65]

Agree with Chet but if you are looking for a Catholic school I can recommend Sacred Heart in Winnetka. A neighbor's children went there before transitioning to Loyola.