moving to Chesterfield area (Fredericksburg, Matoaca: how much, school districts, to live)

[carissaann]

HI
does anyone have any info on the Mataocoan High school. We have been looking into areas that were in other high school districts and someone suggested the Highlands but I havent heard anything about the schools..
Thanks

[TY01VET]

Fairly new High School in the rural part of the county of Chesterfield. They are technically ahead, just depends on if you want to live that far out in the county or closer in to everthing. I went to the school looked it over and we kept our daughter in Manchester HS. My other daughter will be going to Cosby HS as we are building in Summer Lake and using a great builder.

[onevthoki]

My kids are still in elementary school, so unfortunately I cannot specifically comment on Matoaca. With that said though, I can give you an opinion on Chesterfield schools as a recent relocation.

We relocated here almost a year ago from Fredericksburg/Spotsylvania. The kids did a mid-year move (1st and 4th grades) at the time, and I was a bit worried as to how it would go. Luckily they did great. Some of the things that helped us were the County School website (Chesterfield County Public Schools) where they will link you with the individual school's website. I also checked Great Schools (Matoaca High School - Chesterfield, Virginia - VA - School overview) to see what was said about Matoaca there. The school did not rate too well with the site, but the parent's and student's reviews were good. Also, look into the Specialty Centers. Depending on the interests of your student, they can apply to go to a different high school that focuses more on particular subjects; sorry I can't give more info on that, but still learing myself. This board gets some excellent feedback though, so hopefully someone else will chime in.

Are you coming in from another part of Virginia? Another item that mayl be of interest are the SOL scores; some people use the test scores as a quantifier in how they pick schools.

Anyway, hope this helped a bit! :-)

[carissaann]

Thanks, No we are moving from New York, eastern long island,thanks for the info, I have pretty much seen the same thing, I think we are looking into the area of Cosby High School. Where did you end up?
How do you like it?

[onevthoki]

We ended up in River's Bend on Route 10 between 95 and 295 (which puts us in Thomas Dale zone). It is really convenient for my husband since he is at Ft. Lee. Definitely beats the commute from Fredericksburg to DC, since that is the reason we moved. I have heard good things about Cosby; the one thing I will caution though is that the county does redistrict schools fairly often. Not sure when the next high school is scheduled to open, so you may want to contact the county on that.

If you have any more questions let me know...

[carissaann]

i was wondering about that. so kids get shuffled after starting in a school? Does the county share that with you on the ongoing plans of whats pending?

[onevthoki]

I just looked on the county school website and saw that they have some information on the Capital Improvement Plan (Capital Improvement Program). That may give you an idea of what is in the future. I know there are some upgrades planned to current schools to hopefully increase capacity. And as to the shuffling, depending on how much longer the kids have in that school, they may grandfather them in (but it may be under the condition parents provide the transportation).

I just saw where your husband will be at St. Francis. Definitely a growing hospital and the Bon Secours network is very good. I just started with them as my PCM this month.

[carissaann]

thanks for the info, that was very helpful... there is so much to take into consideration. yes St Francis was very impressive!

[Jazzy22]

We live in Powhatan and our daughter has attended the schools for 6 years. The schools are the greatest - the teachers and coaches, the kids and the parents. Hard to believe, but no drugs, no bullying. Really! ... Actually, I have an extensive comment on the Powhatan City Data Forum. St. Francis is our hospital and where our physicians offices are. Love it! Let me know if I can help with any Powhatan info. Good luck!

[carissaann]

I am trying to find your info, Thanks for the feedback.