<p>Hi, We are moving to the Boston area and considering both public and private schools for our sons. Both kids are well-rounded and are in many activities, music, and sports. Among the schools we are considering: Lexington, Belmont, and Newton High Schools, what is your opinion? Our sons are interested in many clubs and sports activities. What are the best towns to live near Milton with many professionals, academics? Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>The towns you mention have very good public schools. You have tons of options if you are west of Boston. Any of the “W” towns–Weston, Wayland, Wellesely also have excellent public schools. Naturally, homes in these towns are above average in price. Also take a look at Brookline.</p>
<p>You also have plenty of private school options, day and boarding. Depends on the age of your kids. If you are considering boarding HS and are willing to let your kids go a little further (say w/in an hour drive of home) your options greatly expand.</p>
<p>Feel free to PM me and I can give you more details. We live north of Boston, but am very familiar with the towns west (used to live in Brookline and Newton). We also looked at many of the area boarding schools, including Milton.</p>
<p>Sunrise1, what age is your youngest child? Some private high schools in the greater Boston area begin with grades 6, 7, or 8. </p>
<p>Boston Magazine ranked local high schools this fall: [School</a> Rankings](<a href=“http://www.bostonmagazine.com/2010_school_rankings/index.html]School”>http://www.bostonmagazine.com/2010_school_rankings/index.html). I don’t vouch for the ratings. Much of the ranking system is based upon features which directly correlate with a town’s wealth. I suspect that a ranking of the wealthiest towns in Massachusetts would match Boston Magazine’s ranking.</p>
<p>Another blog post: [Top</a> ten schools, 2010 - Boston Real Estate - Boston.com](<a href=“http://www.boston.com/realestate/news/blogs/renow/2010/09/top_ten_schools.html]Top”>http://www.boston.com/realestate/news/blogs/renow/2010/09/top_ten_schools.html).</p>
<p>As you do your own research, try out this tool: [School</a> and District Profiles](<a href=“http://profiles.doe.mass.edu/]School”>http://profiles.doe.mass.edu/). You will be able to see the MCAS scores for different towns, with the results broken down by subgroup. </p>
<p>In general, if you think you might go private, it is better to live to the east of a private school, particularly near Boston. That means that you will be able to drive against the flow of traffic during rush hour. If one parent’s commute to work could pass by the school, that could work, too.</p>
<p>PM me if you wish.</p>
<p>Thank you NEDad. I’ll pm you. We’ll look into Brookline and W towns also. Our boys will be entering 9th and 5th in 2011. Is there good train service into the city from any of these towns Lexington, Belmont, Newton?</p>
<p>For train service, visit mbta.com. You’ll find maps and schedules of the commuter rail and T. I think bus routes are included as well.</p>
<p>Periwinkle raises an excellent point about traffic flow. Some routes get pretty jammed up, sometimes only in 1 direction depending on time of day. If you go private and work in Boston, there are some good options in or near the city.</p>
<p>Periwinkle, Thank you. The choices of schools around Boston seem limitless. Hmm… more work for me to figure things out. My S2 is 9 years old now and will enter 5th in 2011. So I need to look for both elementary and high schools. I’ll pm you.</p>
<p>Best of luck and welcome! It’s important to know that the school system is town based. If you are interested in private schools, you’ll need to work on that ASAP. Application deadlines are Jan. 1 (I think) and most schools require a standardized test (SSAT or ISEE) that can take a bit of work to schedule. Commuter rail is pretty good in Newton. I think a bit tougher in Belmont.
[Association</a> of Independent Schools in New England](<a href=“http://www.aisne.org%5DAssociation”>http://www.aisne.org) will tell you a lot about the private schools.
There is a slightly different, but greatly overlapping set of sports in the public and private schools - if your boys are big on one, that might be a factor.
The correlation between school system quality and average house price is pretty strong.
Boston Magazine caters to the upper class - if you look at it, you can figure out the upper class areas. Take anything it says about schools with a large grain of salt.</p>
<p>Thank you nemom. I’m researching all the great info posted here.</p>
<p>I go to BC high and I really enjoy it…It is located in the Dorchester area of Boston. I take the commuter rail and red line and it has worked out just fine for me.</p>