NoVa Sweetspot? (Springfield, West Springfield, Fredericksburg: low crime, middle school, universities)

[ses5909]

West Springfield high school in springfield is supposed to be one of the best in the area/ One thing to think of when looking at the school scores is they are relational to the other schools in the area. So if a school in fairfax county gets an 80%, that isn't compared with the rest of the country; only those schools in the same district. No matter how good all of the schools are, there needs to be some sort of ranking.

The elementary schools in Burke are great as well. We moved here last year and my son went into first grade. I had a great experience and we are excited for 2nd grade.

[Borge]

For mid 500's you can buy a very nice single family home in a good school district. I suggest looking in areas around Chantilly, Westfields, Lake Braddock, or Robinson High Schools.

[handy man88]

Originally Posted by Denton56

I have to disagree about Falls Church high school. It is not a well regarded school and its population is dropping. I would avoid that school.

The high school in the city of Falls Church, George Mason high school, is well regarded as are the other schools in the city of Falls Church.

I am a TJ and Madison Mom and I like both, very much. Stick with Vienna!

Don't rule out Falls church just yet. Zip code of 22043 is West Falls Church which is basically McLean. Kids there go to McLean HS and Longfellow MS. Haycock ES is in this area, and could be the best ES in FFX Cty. Longfellow is probably the best MS in FFX Cty, while Mclean is the 2nd-3rd best behind TJ and possibly Langley.

[handy man88]

Originally Posted by NOVA.123

Well, my nephew was accepted at this school and chose not to go. So your YEAH RIGHT, is YEAH WRONG.

He was an extremely intelligent child but did not want to leave his friends that he had grown up with and continued to stay at his current public school and is doing quite well in life and making a very good living. He graduated from Harvard and didn't have to go to TJ to achieve that.

Which HS did your nephew attend?

[NOVA.123]

Robinson High School in Fairfax. My nephew and niece went there. Niece is in final stages of Vet. school. My brother and I graduated from there and have done well. My SIL graduated from there along with her two sisters and they have all done well. My brothers SIL has three kids that go there except for one which graduated the year before last and is in college now in Chicago and doing very well.

[handy man88]

Originally Posted by NOVA.123

Robinson High School in Fairfax. My nephew and niece went there. Niece is in final stages of Vet. school. My brother and I graduated from there and have done well. My SIL graduated from there along with her two sisters and they have all done well. My brothers SIL has three kids that go there except for one which graduated the year before last and is in college now in Chicago and doing very well.

Robinson is a good school. I just heard that it's huge...a lot of students.

[NOVA.123]

I was in elementary school when Robinson was built. It was the largest school in NOVA at the time. Lake Braddock came along and was bigger (I think).

Before I left elem. school, they took you for a day or two to Robinson to adjust you because this school was HUGE (remember, Robinson is 7-12).

But, it is a very good school and still is. You do get a good education there. Fairfax has grown and sure the last time I went by the school they had some trailers, but I hardly know a Fairfax County school around these days that doesn't. It is a very "all around" school as I call it.

Now I'm having memories of sock-hops, football & cheerleading with Fall approaching!

[knopfler]

With a 500-550 budget you'd do really well to check out the W.T. Woodson school district in Fairfax and some areas of Annandale. Woodson is consistently ranked as one of the very best public high schools in the country, and it'd fit your budget.

[wintergreenrez]

Hi there - I just joined this forum and saw your inquiry. I've got some experience, both as the parent of a h.s. grad (Fairfax Co.), an educator who worked in the school system, a past home renter and owner, and a military spouse.

We lived in the noVa area multiple times between 1992 and 2006. We rented in the West Springfield area first, where my daughter attended a magnet elementary school and my husband "slugged" to the Pentagon. When we returned to the area again for our daughter's last two years of high school, I did exhaustive research on homes and school districts. We decided to purchase in the W.T. Woodson district and were very, very happy with that decision. You will be able to find a number of homes in your price range there (we bought in the Truro neighborhood). This area is well sited for commuting as it's just off the interstate - there's an exit next to the NVCC-Annandale campus. Woodson is one of four northern VA high schools - along with T.J., McLean and Langley - which made this year's U.S. News & World Report's "top 100" list.

Please don't be too distracted by the T.J. discussion. It is a fine school, but does come with its own challenges. As we were moving back in the middle of our daughter's high school years, we chose not to jump through the admissions hoops necessary to enroll at TJ. Our daughter graduated from Woodson as an AP scholar, went on to the University of Virginia (UVA) where she took the top honors in her program, and will graduate from UVA Law School this spring. Many of her UVA classmates were TJ grads who did well but were indistinguishable from other noVA students by the time they graduated.

[wintergreenrez]

ps - forgot to mention Metro options from the W.T. Woodson area. There are Metro bus stops throughout the area, of course. As for rail, we had a 10-minute drive from the Dunn Loring Metro (Orange Line, one stop in from Vienna). My daughter interned at the State Dept. one summer and used Metro faithfully. The Vienna stop was just a couple of minutes farther from our house.

Good luck to you!