Good Private/Catholic schools near Northwest Philly

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by FKD19124

Philadelphia Public Schools are abysmal.

Sorry, but that blanket statement does not apply when the district also operates one of the 50 best public high schools in the nation and the #1 and #8 ranked high schools in Pennsylvania, according to Niche.com.

And did you read that Schools Issue article I wrote? (You should find a link to it upthread.) I had the idea for it planted in my head when two (affluent, white) Germantowners (both women) buttonholed me after services one Sunday at First Presbyterian Church in Germantown to tell me what a good education their children were getting at Anna Lingelbach Elementary on the Germantown/West Mount Airy border (GreatSchools rating: 3/10; Niche grade: C+).

One of their kids had gotten into that top-50 national high school (Julia Reynolds Masterman, which most students enter in the sixth grade) by the time I actually wrote the story.

As I noted above, there's a substantial body of research that has found that factors outside the classroom actually play a larger role in determining student outcomes than those inside it. Several studies of correlations have found that the single strongest correlation with student performance in school is the household income of the student's family.

[Shaymom]

Originally Posted by chessimprov

Online schools are worth considering. I know that might not be ideal. Might be better for when your child(ren) are in middle or high school.

Currently both me and my husband work, so we wouldn't be able to do online or home school since we're not around to watch her. She's also super young for that (she'll be 3yo in the fall) so I don't think she would have the attention span yet. We're hoping to get her interacting with more kids her age too, especially now that COVID rates seems to be dropping and schools are going back to being somewhat normal.

I think the 3 mentioned Catholic Schools - Norwood Fontbonne, Ancillae Assumpta, and Our Mother of Consolation are still at the top of my list to check out for the first few years and then I can see how things go once she gets a bit older (i.e Magnet, Charter or Public options). Between cost, distance, diversity etc, all 3 seem to have pros and cons but if anyone is familiar with them or similar schools outside of just their websites, I'm definitely still welcoming those comments! Thanks again!

[PHL10]

It's a bit further down the road from the other choices but St. Francis Xavier in Fairmount might be worth checking out - great school community with a diverse student body.

[Maddie104]

Originally Posted by Shaymom

I recently moved to Northwest Philly (Roxborough) and haven’t gotten to learn the area yet. My husband and I are looking for a private pre-k through elementary school for my soon to be 3yo daughter with max annual tuition of 15K (doesn’t have to include extended care or summer camp). We have another baby on the way, and thinking ahead to two kids, we will likely move and switch to public education for high school (if not before for middle school as well).

Based on just internet search we like Norwood Fontbonne in Chestnut Hill (about a 10 min drive), and Ancillae Assumpta in Wyncote (about 17 min drive), but for both, the reviews we found are a couple years old. Anyone have personal experience with these schools or know what the current status is?

I’m biracial and my husband is Hispanic, so wondering how our daughter will do in a not so diverse environment. We place more value on overall experience than overall academics, though obviously looking for a school that is decent all round. Also open to additional recommendations if they are within 20 or so mins from where we are.

Thanks in advance!

My daughter went to Norwood Fontbonne many years ago so my experience is dated. As you may know, NFA has two programs -- Montessori, accredited by AMS and Traditional. It was too late for my daughter to enter Montessori so she was enrolled in the Traditional. In hindsight, I believe she would have been better suited to Montessori based on my first hand observation of the program. In the traditional program, there was a teacher and a teacher's aid (who was also a certified teacher) to twenty students in the early grades. The teacher's aid would work one-on-one with any student to make sure they did not fall behind.

The strong positive of NFA was the spirit of community. There was strong involvement of the parents/families in the many religious services and all the family events, i.e., "family fun days". We spent many fun weekends at NFA and met some wonderful people. There were many diverse families and everyone was welcoming.

[cwalton]

We live in Mt. Airy and my son goes to Regina Coeli in Abington and we absolutely could not be happier with the education he's getting. It is very Catholic, so that's something to consider.

[Shaymom]

Thanks for the other suggestions and also Maddie104 for the personal review. NFA is the priciest of the options but does seem to have a lot of the things we're looking for, including a strong and welcoming community.