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Old 12-06-2011, 09:49 PM
 
23 posts, read 47,809 times
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My husband may be transferred to Irvine in mid-January. This is way unexpected. We currently live on the East coast and have a child in kindergarten. My first concern is his schooling. Our son currently attends a Catholic school - preschool through grade 8 - with under 500 total students. I am looking for something comparable in the Irvine area. We've been told to consider housing in Irvine, Mission Viejo, Rancho Santa Margarita or Lake Forest. Yes, I've read all the comments about these areas being "boring," "sterile," "plastic," "too safe," etc. To me, "too safe" is a definite pro and with regard to the other adjectives, the way I figure it, life is what you make it. Anyway, can anyone recommend a Catholic elementary school in any of these areas? Also, does anyone have any personal experience with such a school? Can you give me an idea of what the tuition is? I'm going a little nuts right now trying to figure things out, so I thought I'd start with the most important thing - our son's safety and well-being - and continue on from there. Many thanks for any help you can give.

Caroline
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Old 12-06-2011, 10:31 PM
 
Location: RSM
5,113 posts, read 19,681,943 times
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I'd check with some of the Catholic High Schools in the area and see what feeder schools they suggest. Mater Dei, JSerra, and Santa Margarita are commutable to that area and I'm sure have recommended schools. Considering the desire for "too safe", Santa Margarita Catholic High School may be the place to check with first. I can't tell you of the quality of the elementary schools, but the high schools provide high quality educations, and I would trust their recommendations(with my own personal research to back it up, of course).
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Old 12-06-2011, 11:19 PM
 
Location: Duvall, WA
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I have heard great things about St. Mary's in Aliso Viejo.

V. =)
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Old 12-06-2011, 11:58 PM
 
298 posts, read 624,011 times
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Serra Catholic in Rancho Santa Margarita is well thought of in this area. It is a feeder school into Santa Margarita High School or J Serra High School in San Juan Capistrano. I have several friends whose kids attend Serra Catholic and have heard all positive comments. I am not familiar with Catholic schools in the other mentioned areas.
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Old 12-07-2011, 01:15 AM
 
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I would recommend Serra Catholic and Santa Margarita for when he gets to that age. If you are planning to send your son to private school, you can be more open to where you are looking in terms of housing. There might not be a need for you to settle for a tiny slice of Irvine because you would be paying a premium for the public school system. I live in RSM and have three children, so feel free to message me with any questions.
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Old 12-09-2011, 08:14 AM
 
23 posts, read 47,809 times
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Thanks, everyone. Going to get started with my research. If you have any other words of advice to a lifelong east coaster about living in CA, I'm all ears. Thanks again.
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Old 12-09-2011, 12:17 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by caroline108 View Post
Thanks, everyone. Going to get started with my research. If you have any other words of advice to a lifelong east coaster about living in CA, I'm all ears. Thanks again.
Just a thought - but Irvine Unified is one of the best school districts in So Cal. Last time the OC register did an article ranking Elementary schools IUSD schools had like half of the schools in the top ten and many more in the top 25. If you decide to buy a home in Irvine you will be paying a considerable premium just to have the opportunity to send your kids to an IUSD school.

If you want Catholic schools because of spiritual reasons, thats great, but if you doing it to ensure quality of education, there's no need to do so if you live in Irvine. There are also alot of other quality scools in other South County districts. South OC is known for above average schools.
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Old 12-09-2011, 04:14 PM
 
23 posts, read 47,809 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by OC Investor2 View Post
Just a thought - but Irvine Unified is one of the best school districts in So Cal. Last time the OC register did an article ranking Elementary schools IUSD schools had like half of the schools in the top ten and many more in the top 25. If you decide to buy a home in Irvine you will be paying a considerable premium just to have the opportunity to send your kids to an IUSD school.

If you want Catholic schools because of spiritual reasons, thats great, but if you doing it to ensure quality of education, there's no need to do so if you live in Irvine. There are also alot of other quality scools in other South County districts. South OC is known for above average schools.
Thanks, OC Investor. That's good to hear about the schools. We do want the Catholic school because of spiritual reasons and because that is what our son is accustomed to. I appreciate the information and anything else you want to send our way.
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Old 01-23-2012, 10:18 PM
 
1 posts, read 6,799 times
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Well I live in OC and I went to a catholic school+high school so let me shoot out all the names I remember

For the Santa Margarita area you are basically stuck with Serra Catholic or you could try Mission.

As for the Catholic High Schools in the area your choices are Mater Dei, Servite, Jserra, Santa Margarita, St. John Bosco, and Rosary/Connelly.

Mater Dei is basically a High School USC (if you are familiar with that college) it's situated in the heart of Santa Ana which can be a turn off for some but I cannot remember any incidents ever occurring there related to the surroundings. Mater Dei is coed with around 2400 students

Servite is in the heart of anaheim, same "bad" area as Mater Dei, Servite has about 1000 students and is an all boys school

Jserra is about 5 years old at the moment and is having some issues such that it isn't actually affiliated with any catholic diocese, some people have accused as using catholicism as a selling point so IDK if that's a problem with for you, it has about 1200 kids right now, coed, brand new campus, "Safe" area I put safe in quotations because it isn't necessarily inner city like Mater Dei and Servite but it is kinda in redneck territory, well as redneck as CA can get.

Santa Margarita is an oddball, it costs mcuh more then any other school I listed but its hidden away in the middle of Rancho Santa Margarita so it's the only "safe" school, although a scandal did break this year where it was found that two staff member were growing pot, and possibly selling it to the kids and they remain employed there. It is a very have have not oriented school though if your financial situation can't support it.

As for catholic grade school Santa Margarita doesn't really have many, it has Serra Catholic which is fairly large, around 600-800 iirc and Mission which is a bit smaller.

Orange County has plenty of schools though

St. Cecilia in Tustin has about 250 students it's a nice school if a bit smallish. average tuiton costs

St. Norberts in Orange has a brand new church and gym, but they have had violence issues lately avergae tuition costs

St. Jeannes in Tustin has about 500-600 kids and is a very well maintained school, if not a bit pricey

Holy Family in Orange is in a very safe area, right next to Chapman University, Holy Family is fairly large school about 500-600 kids high tuition

St. Francis in Anaheim Hills is a very isolated campus literally on top of a cliff (I kicked a football over the fence and down the cliff once) average tuition

Our Lady Queen of Angels in Huntington Beach is fairly nice, fun little trivia is that Kobe Bryant goes to church there and his daughters go to school there. Fairly large school with pricey tuition.

I personally went to St. Cecilia and Mater Dei, I'd really recommend against Santa Margarita or Jserra, I know your looking into the Irvine area but I'd also reccomend Tustin or North Tustin, its a small area of land with some very nice houses, literally right next to Irvine, it also avoids all the negative connotations of Irvine/RSM and your situated in the middle of Orange County.

This is all from personal experiance but everywhere I had to drive as a kid for various activities, beach, mountains, sports, movies, shopping, school was around 10 minutes away.
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Old 01-23-2012, 10:22 PM
 
Location: Back in the Southland
1,054 posts, read 1,784,886 times
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Just to let you know that if you move to Irvine, a lot of what you are paying for your home is because of the public schools there. They are fantastic and are better than the catholic schools in the area. I just want to let you know because for the size of the homes they are expensive and it is because of the schools and the safety of the city.
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