I'm so confused about the suburban school districts (Richmond, Mechanicsville: homes, neighborhood)

[mwr]

We are relocating to Richmond, and I have scoured the web and asked around for school information... but I still come up confused. We are looking at private Kindergarten to buy some time, but we want to buy a home only with "the best" schools (Elementary all the way through HS, so we've narrowed it down).

It seems pretty clear to me that Deep Run High School in Henrico County gets great ratings, particularly Nuckols Farm, Shady grove, Twin Hickory, & Rivers Edge elementary schools. I have NO clue about middle schools, though.

Midlothian High seems to get good ratings as well, but less so with the feeder elementary schools. Does that sound right?

Chesterfield also seems to get decent ratings, but only Cosby and Midlothian High Schools. Correct? For elementary schools, only Bettie Weaver, Robious, and Woolridge...? And again, I can't find ANY information on middle schools.

Finally, Goochland seems to get awesome ratings as a district, yet none of the individual schools show up as rating well. Any idea what that is about?

Help.

[chestermom]

For middle school, Midlothian Middle and Tomahawk Creek are the top schools in Chesterfield County. They both feed into Cosby and Midlothian High School, along with James River HS, which is also a top high school.

[sls76]

Middle schools in Henrico to target: Short Pump, Holman, Pocahontas.

For high school, Godwin is also an excellent choice in Henrico.

I ran through all the stats and choose Shady Grove/Short Pump/Deep Run (five years ago). Absolutely no regrets.

Other elementaries I would consider: Short Pump, Nuckols Farm, Rivers Edge, Echo Lake, Twin Hickory. I may be leaving a few off. There also is a new one opening in the far Western corner. It pulls from very expensive homes and I would expect it will be as good as the other ones mentioned (but newer with more up-to-date technology).

District ratings are irrelevant IMO. I wouldn't send my kids to public school in Goochland. Mechanicsville might be another option. Lots of excellent schools (and getting better by the year).

Also, keep in mind that many of the best students go into the IB program in middle school and stay in it in high school or go to a specialty center or to Maggie Walker.

Also, if you think your child might be gifted you might want to understand how the districts carry out gifted education. By 4th grade in Henrico, gifted students are basically taught in all gifted classes. I think Chesterfield might do the same, but I'm not sure--just another consideration.

Finally, there is serious red shirting (holding summer birthdays and even spring and winter birthdays back) going on in the West End.

[onevthoki]

Lord a mercy, I've never heard the term red- shirting applied to holding kids back! I've got a daughter with an August 31st birthday and I was skipping into the school the first day I could sign her up for kindergarten! Time to cut that umbilical cord!

Anyway, with that being said, please do not buy a home with a particular school in mind, but instead more of a general approval of the district as a whole. In heavily populated areas, school redistricting occurs often, just ask the folks who are currently zoned Cosby but will be attending Manchester next year!

As to gifted education, Chesterfield uses Center-Based Gifted locations for their students starting as early as the third grade. And then you can apply for a Specialty Center for high school. Pretty lengthy proces sin Chesterfield - the students have to get teacher recommendations and then depending on the school, do other things - perhaps sit through an interview (Leadership School at James River), take a test (Engineering at L.C. Bird), or perhaps audition (Performing Arts at Thomas Dale). Just depends on the focus of the Specialty Center

Best of luck with your move!

[Charlesaf3]

James river high school is excellent

[sls76]

Originally Posted by onevthoki

Lord a mercy, I've never heard the term red- shirting applied to holding kids back! I've got a daughter with an August 31st birthday and I was skipping into the school the first day I could sign her up for kindergarten! Time to cut that umbilical cord!

Anyway, with that being said, please do not buy a home with a particular school in mind, but instead more of a general approval of the district as a whole. In heavily populated areas, school redistricting occurs often, just ask the folks who are currently zoned Cosby but will be attending Manchester next year!

Best of luck with your move!

My daughter was still 4 for a week when she started kindergarten (preschool teachers insisted she was ready and she's a straight A student in the gifted program in 4th grade so they were right). She had a little boy in her kindergarten turn 7 before the 100th day Most of the kids are a year older than she is. Honestly I think a lot of it is done so it is easier to be identified as gifted. I just can't imagine turning 19 my senior year of high school.

Henrico no longer has gifted specialty centers at their "top" schools (which are the ones the OP asked about) because they have enough "gifted" kids to fill a class or two at every elementary school which is nice IMO (I'm all for keeping the kids in the neighborhood as long as possible). All students identified gifted in both math and language arts have to be taught by certified gifted teachers in all academic subjects.

Only other thing I will say is I generally agree with you and am happy that in my corner of Henrico the schools are uniformly excellent. But, I am pretty confident living a quarter mile from our elementary with sidewalks all the way to its front door that we're safe there (really wanted a neighborhood elementary that the kids could ultimately walk/ride bikes to). But that is somewhat of an exception. Middle could be switched (although unlikely since Short Pump is under capacity) and I suppose some day they will build a new high school in Western Henrico. Also, there are guidelines on school reassignment that might help determine how at-risk a neighborhood might be to a future reassignment.

[sls76]

onevthoki--here is an article that I just saw on yahoo (from ABC News)
Redshirting in Kindergarten Still Subject to Debate - ABC News

[mwr]

Thank you to all of you for your insight. So valuable! I am reading and digesting all of it, so keep it coming!

[barakasauras]

Deep Run and Godwin are the two best schools in the West End with both being fairly similar in performance, Deep Run has newer facilities though. Pocahontas, Short Pump, and Holman I recall feed into Godwin and Deep Run. Elementary schools include Nuckols Farm, Shady Grove, Twin Hickory, Short Pump, and probably a few others I don't recall.

Freeman trails them slightly, but I still recommend Deep Run/Godwin over it. Goochland isn't as high quality as Deep Run or Godwin, and I haven't really heard much good or bad out of Patrick Henry. Usually the rule of thumb is that the "country" schools are inferior to the suburban schools.

I don't know much about Southside/Chesterfield, but I know for a fact Midloathian is pretty good, as is James River.

[everyday]

Originally Posted by onevthoki

As to gifted education, Chesterfield uses Center-Based Gifted locations for their students starting as early as the third grade. And then you can apply for a Specialty Center for high school. Pretty lengthy proces sin Chesterfield - the students have to get teacher recommendations and then depending on the school, do other things - perhaps sit through an interview (Leadership School at James River), take a test (Engineering at L.C. Bird), or perhaps audition (Performing Arts at Thomas Dale). Just depends on the focus of the Specialty Center

I don't want to hijack this post, but I would love to hear more about the gifted programs and how they work in Chesterfield County (as well as Powhatan and Henrico).

Once they get into the program do they stay in? In elementary school are they grouped by class? How does it work in middle and high school? Thank you so much!