Wilmette Catholic Schools

[Anthera]

Originally Posted by Sarah H.

Everyone I know who sends their kids to St. Joe's loves it. I've never heard a bad thing about either school- but if a family didn't like it they probably wouldn't be there. I've heard St. Joe's is a wonderful community. They don't use the Everyday Math program that is used at the Wilmette public schools. Some parents find this a plus if their kids didn't do well with the program. A neighbor said one thing she loves about St. Joe's is the ethnic diversity that her kids are exposed to. She said this wasn't so in the public school they went to prior.

From what I know of Faith Hope (since someone else mentioned it) it's one of the most expensive of the Catholic schools, if not the most, in the Chicago area. It's a great school too but I've never heard it's any better than any of the others. The general reputation of the parents at Faith Hope is that they are high maintenance, always dressed to the nines, and very into their social life. Not necessarily a bad thing but something to consider if your family is more crunchy and child focused.

Good luck with your decision.

I've always found the people I know who are part of the FHC community to be wonderful, down to earth people. I know many. FHC is not a place to send a child with special needs, but other than that it is a wonderful community.

[vesta75]

Thanks for all the feedback everyone.

It sounds like we can't really go wrong. Any knowledge out there on the Saint Francis Xavier Community?

Would it be a big deal to switch from one to the other after preschool? Do people care about that sort of thing?

[cigalechante]

I realize this is an old thread, but I will add our experience at St. Joseph School for those who are researching.

I had two children at St. Joe's, but we decided to switch to the public school around the middle school years. IMO, St. Joe's is acceptable up until about that point. After that, I think the public schools do a better job academically and offer a wider variety of extracurricular activities.

St. Joe's has a wonderful, dedicated social studies teacher -- parents revere him, and I think he's still there -- but I did not see or hear good things about science or English. Math was a mixed bag. Some liked it, others didn't. Many of the non-core classes lacked clear goals or they were just not carried out. Those classes seemed more like glorified babysitting. The public school my children attended did a thorough job teaching those subjects. We particularly liked choosing from a number of foreign languages, including Latin, which is not taught at most of the Catholic grade schools. (I think SFX teaches it now, but I'm not certain.)

The music/band teacher at St. Joe's was enthusiastic, but few students were interested in band. If your child likes to sing, I believe the church has a children's choir. Again, we felt the public schools did a much better job teaching music as well, but they also have the resources and interested students.

St. Joe's also has a strong Opus Dei presence. You will have to decide if that is right for you.

[thoang0622]

We just moved to Wilmette and are now looking at St. Joe and St Francis for our 5th grader. Has any parents have good or bad experiences with these two schools since the inception of this post? Also, any other catholic or public schools in the area have a strong academic standing in Math and Science as our son excels in both subjects. Thank you.

[chet everett]

The factors that cause families in towns with desirable public schools to choose private schools are almost always more social / cultural than academic. The relative academic rigor of the public schools in Wilmette is excellent. Kids that are top students in math or science are abundant and their ability to be successful in the Wilmette public school is likely better than private schools. The families that choose private schools, religious or otherwise, generally are seeking a different focus, that often includes the transmission of traditions.

[4122]

Originally Posted by chet everett

The factors that cause families in towns with desirable public schools to choose private schools are almost always more social / cultural than academic. The relative academic rigor of the public schools in Wilmette is excellent. Kids that are top students in math or science are abundant and their ability to be successful in the Wilmette public school is likely better than private schools. The families that choose private schools, religious or otherwise, generally are seeking a different focus, that often includes the transmission of traditions.

Not necessarily. This is the case often, but there also families that have always wanted their kids to go to a private school no matter how good the public schools in their neighborhood are.

[chet everett]

Um, I am pretty sure that is what I said...

[CBB_bear]

I grew up in Wilmette just a few blocks from St. Francis. Due to the proximity, our block had a mix of Catholic school kids and public school kids, so I had plenty of friends from the neighborhood who went to St. Francis. Of the kids who went to St. Francis, most people went on to either New Trier or Loyola. In fact, a surprising number of St. Francis kids decided to go public for high school.

That said, most families had cultural reasons for wanting Catholic school, because the public schools in the area are so strong. As far as academics go, I can only speak to how prepared St. Francis kids were in comparison to public school kids in high school (granted, this was years ago). Basically, they seemed equally prepared, except maybe fewer Catholic school kids ended up in the most advanced math track. The NT kids and Loyola kids pretty much ended up at a similar mix of colleges, with the exception that all Catholic families seemed more likely to send their kids to Catholic universities.