St.John's or Kinkaid Admissions (Spring, West: apartment complexes, townhomes, elementary schools)

[mechteach]

We will definitely look at River Oaks Elementary. Thanks for the recommendation of the RE agency and RE agent, too. Our RE companies up here are completely different, so it is all a blank slate to us.

(If our daughter somehow miraculously gets off of the waitlist at either school, we will definitely take that, but we need to make plans for if that doesn't happen, and regardless of that outcome, we do need to think about our son as well. All of your help is VERY much appreciated with these difficult issues!!)

[EasilyAmused]

Many buy into the Memorial Area as a "back up plan" if private doesn't work out, or you are unable to get in. Also, you are spared with having to play the whole a magnet or vanguard game. I would look at trying to get as far eastward in the area as your budget allows. There is a lot of demand for private education in central Houston, and not enough schools to keep up with the demand.

Other options for you daughter would be to get into a "feeder" middle school for Kinkaid and St. John's, however most likely they are full as well. River Oaks Baptist, St. Francis, Aos, etc. At least this way you can get into the system and learn more about other schools in the area for your daughter and even you son. Strake, Episcopal, St. Agnes etc. You also may learn that one of these other schools,and the student body, are a better fit for your children.

We've put our boys through Kinkaid and Episcopal. Two did/are doing very well on the Kinkaid track, the other was definately a better fit for Episcopal. One went through Kinkaid K-12, the other went in at 9th grade. We used St. Francis for 2 of them, in lower and middle school, and I felt they were very prepared.

Good luck.

[mechteach]

Originally Posted by EasilyAmused

Many buy into the Memorial Area as a "back up plan" if private doesn't work out, or you are unable to get in. Also, you are spared with having to play the whole a magnet or vanguard game. I would look at trying to get as far eastward in the area as your budget allows. There is a lot of demand for private education in central Houston, and not enough schools to keep up with the demand.

Other options for you daughter would be to get into a "feeder" middle school for Kinkaid and St. John's, however most likely they are full as well. River Oaks Baptist, St. Francis, Aos, etc. At least this way you can get into the system and learn more about other schools in the area for your daughter and even you son. Strake, Episcopal, St. Agnes etc. You also may learn that one of these other schools,and the student body, are a better fit for your children.

We've put our boys through Kinkaid and Episcopal. Two did/are doing very well on the Kinkaid track, the other was definately a better fit for Episcopal. One went through Kinkaid K-12, the other went in at 9th grade. We used St. Francis for 2 of them, in lower and middle school, and I felt they were very prepared.

Good luck.

I really wish that we had applied to ROBS, Duchesne, Awty, etc. When I talked to them, they all required visits at different times of the month, which was hard to do when we don't live in the area. It would have been worth the costs of the flights, car, hotel, etc., though to be in a better position now.

[marksmu]

Originally Posted by EasilyAmused

Many buy into the Memorial Area as a "back up plan" if private doesn't work out, or you are unable to get in. Also, you are spared with having to play the whole a magnet or vanguard game. I would look at trying to get as far eastward in the area as your budget allows. There is a lot of demand for private education in central Houston, and not enough schools to keep up with the demand.


Good luck.

I agree that many buy into the Memorial area as a back up plan for private school admissions...However, the farther East you go, the worse the public schools are. I would look to buy in the schools zoned to Memorial middle school. If you get east of Bunker Hill Dr, you are in Spring Branch Middle, which, while much better than HISD middle schools, can be a little bit rough, especially compared to private schools.

Maybe there is a stigma about being west of Bunker Hill that I don't know about, but if there is such a stigma, it only exists among the top 1/10th of the top 1% of Houston.....

If you moved West of Bunker Hill, you would still be within 15 minutes of most of the private schools should you get in later.

That is my opinion...its also what I did personally.

[Houston parent]

The more you do your research, the more you will find that there plenty of other strong private school options - you are not limited to SJS/Kinkaid or public. St. Thomas Episcopal is a very solid K-12 program in the Bellaire area, and Second Baptist is a respectable K-12 option in the Memorial area. If you are looking solely at academics and your child is the type to thrive under an extremely heavy work load, then SJS is the best fit. If you are looking for good academics but a more reasonable work load, there are several solid options. If you want weekly chapel & Bible instruction, SJS & Kinkaid will not work, as they are purely secular (and given to spasms of PC trendiness). There are some good Catholic options as well, but are usually single-sex schools. Strake Jesuit and Duchesne are fantastic schools, for example.

[BabyDoctor77]

What are the best elementary schools in Spring Branch ISD?

[Houston parent]

There are several strong SBISD elementary schools. In my opinion, however, the optimal area is the area zoned for Frostwood Elementary, Memorial Middle School & Memorial High School. That is generally between BW8 on the west, Bunker Hill on the East, I-10 on the north and the bayou on the south.

[BabyDoctor77]

Can you please comment on other good elementary schools in the region as well?

[BabyDoctor77]

How do the Memorial schools compare to St. Johns and Kinkaid?

[marksmu]

I think nearly all the elementary schools are great. Bunker Hill & Frostwood are the best I have heard. Student & teacher quality is the same at both schools, but Frostwood has a brand new facility (completed 2014) and Bunker Hill is a little bit older.

I can't compare the two to private though...I have never had any kids in private school....My oldest is still Pre-K...Though we did put her in wildcat way which is the SBISD Pre-K, and we are quite happy. She had been in a small private montessori, and the montessori program and the montessori environment was too relaxed for her...she needed discipline and forced learning....she went in unable to even write her name in January, and now she can write simple sentences, and is doing sounding to be able to read more than just sight words.

She is the last in her class right now b/c we started so late, but the improvement from our perspective is tremendous.