Gifted kids -- clueless parent need help with moving to Houston! (Dallas: 2014, construction)

[writingbug]

Hi there,

It looks like I might have to move to Houston and was just about to move to Highland Park in Dallas.
Are there any similar areas in Houston? Similar being.. very safe, architecturally beautiful, community oriented but most importantly with excellent schools?
I have three children all gifted- dont ask me i dont know how - but all need the pace of an academically strong school.. I've heard of the Carnegie Vanguard but wondered what the best academically performing schools in Houston are.
I quite like single sex education and was looking at St Marks and Hockaday in Dallas, does Houston have similar?
It doesnt matter where I live vis-à-vis commute because I work from home.
Any help really appreciated.

[KatieKennedy]

If you are looking for private schools, St. John's School and The Kinkaid School (both coed and K-12) in Houston are generally regarded as the strongest schools academically. They are very hard to get into as they favor legacies to a large degree. The John Cooper School in the Woodlands (K-12) is also a good school. St. Agnes Academy (high school only) for girls and Strake Jesuit High School for boys are also very strong academically. If you were looking at Highland Park in Dallas look at River Oaks, West University, Bellaire, and the Memorial Villages in Houston. Carnegie Vanguard and DeBakey High School in the Houston ISD public system have very high performing kids, but you must test in and then there is a lottery for the spaces. Memorial High School is also very well regarded.

[EasilyAmused]

Living in River Oaks and attending St. John's is about as close as you are going to get to the Highland Park feel. Newer and larger construction in Memorial or Tanglewood, paired with Kinkaid is equally as good but will have a different feel.

For public the route, the Memorial Villages,and their schools,is the best scenerio Houston has to offer.

West U will be a cramped and congested version of Highland Park, and will you have to seriously consider private school after elementry. As to architectural charm, most of its been lost with all the new builds, ala University Park just north of SMU.

The Woodlands and John Cooper will take you an hour outside of the city and into an architecturally bland burb. Think Southlake or Plano. Also, the endowment for Cooper just isn't on the same level as older city schools...so the extras are pretty slim pickings.

Also, I'd like to add Duchense to the above school list. It's the most similar to Hockaday imho. The brother school is Regis.

[Jonathz]

Clements High in Sugar land is also a highly regarded exemplary school. Clements has 31 National Merit Semifinalists Named this year. It is also a very competitive school. Many of their graduates go to Ivies and top tier university

Sixty-Nine FBISD 2014 National Merit Semifinalists Named