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Originally Posted by suburbandad
Does anyone have a useful link or insights re private (including Catholic) schools in or near White Plains for a Kindgergarten program. Tuition (even approximations) would be helpful, too.
Also interested in hearing thoughts about White Plains public school Kindergarten program.
Thanks!
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I have one child who went to public kindergarten and one that went to Catholic kindergarten. Two Catholic schools in WP are Our Lady of Sorrows and Good Counsel. Our Lady of Sorrows (OLS) cost $5700 for parishioners and $6400 for non-parishioners. I think Good Councel is a little less. About 90% of OLS's students are from White Plains. Good Counsel attracts students from all over Westchester County.
With WP being a city, there is quite a disparity between the students in public school. The kindergarten teachers in both schools were excellent, but in my experience, the teachers in the public school were forced to teach to the lowest common denominator. While my child was happy in public kindergarten, she spent almost the entire year learning what she had already learned in nursery school and was not challenged. My other child who went to private Catholic kindergarten had the opposite experience and learned a great deal. When the children get older, the public schools do offer "pull-out" groups for the children who are ready for more difficult material. Unfortunately, they do not do this at the kindergarten level.
Socially their experiences were also quite different. My child who went to public school got invited to very few playdates and birthday parties, while my child who went to private got invited to tons. I think this had a lot to do with the language barrier between the Spanish-speaking parents and the English-speaking parents.
I hope this helped. Good luck to you.