This is one of those things where we’ll have to rely on the “love the school that loves you” philosophy.
Does anyone know about Pomfret’s academic support?
I have heard very good things about Pomfret’s academic support. The educational specialist that performed our son’s testing did some research for us. She was very impressed with the program at Pomfret. Her feedback put Pomfret at the top of our list.
Now that acceptances are rolling in and being posted, I’m seeing a distinct lack of schools mentioned in this thread. The acceptance rates seem so scary at the schools mentioned. I’d love to see some stats and love thrown toward the schools mentioned here. They seem so overlooked and like a great fit for so many kids.
My 2nd daughter has mild Dyscalculia and this Admissions season has been very interesting. I had her apply to the Churchill school (private LD school in NYC just to see if she needed that type of academic support setting and was immediately told she’s too high functioning and would be stifled there. I was happy to hear this and thought…great, that means a good small private school with strong academic support is what we will apply to. We also had another hurdle…we need FA.
We applied to a few BS, Solebury, Hun, Marvelwood, Darrow, Forman and Purnell. The first two RJ her, Darrow accepted her with FA, Forman Accepted her BUT placed her on the FA WL, Marvelwood has her also on the FA WL and Purnell’s application is still not complete (applied late due to Early RJ and needed to add more schools).
If I would have started this much earlier, I would have applied to more schools but I’m happy she has one acceptance with FA. Like I’ve learned on this site many years ago, Love the School that Loves You! It’s Darrow for us!
@NYCMomof3 congrats! I’m glad she found a home. This sounds like the boat we will be in. A LD school wouldn’t be a good fit.
@momof3swimmers thank you. I am just happy she has a spot.
Our daughter has been very happy at Darrow and the school is definitely a hidden gem. More families needing a progressive, project based and nuturing school should give it a look. Particularly strong in the arts and one of the few schools who can academically challenge a bright student while also supporting LDs. Plenty of kids there who don’t require support as well. Go Ducks!
I had assumed schools with stronger support would have tiny endowments and minimal fa?
We won’t qualify for FA, but it will be a struggle to pay for four years of BS. One thing I did notice on Forman’s website is that since it is specifically a school for students with a diagnosed LD, tuition may be tax deductible.
Darrow’s endowment is comparatively tiny but they also have a tiny number of applicants. Support is extra but included in FA. I think parents due their kids a disservice when they assume that only larger “name brands” will provide FA because you end up competing against a huge pool of applicants.
Hooray, @NYCMomof3 ! Now you may meet @chemmchimney IRL!
@gardenstategal thank you! I do hope that @chemmchimney and I will meet IRL. She’s been great with answering all of my Darrow questions. I’m excited for my daughter and Darrow.
As for Small schools and endowments…we are currently at a NYC private which is also a small school (240 kids from nursery school to 8th gr). I was shocked to see how much they have for FA and they are truly generous. They gave us FA for two children and made it possible for us to send both. This school we are at is a lot like Darrow…small and progressive. They do a lot to raise money for their FA. Just last week they raised over a million dollars at the school auction for FA. Not only does their FA help with tuition but if a FA child needs academic support or testing, they’ve been known to take care of the bill. It’s truly an amazing community.
@vwlizard, I marvel at the seeming focus of this forum as a whole on TSAO schools, but this thread belies that!
We revisited Proctor today and were extremely impressed. Many schools are talking about experiential learning but they have been practicing it for a long time. The current students seem relaxed, confident and happy.
To add one I haven’t seen, Lawrence Academy in Groton, MA formally offers support for ADD/ADHD.
Spoke to many parents and kids from CA, IL, MA, NH, TX (Dallas and Houston) and the UK (London). Others schools these families mentioned for revisiting included Berkshire, Brewster, Cushing, NMH, and Suffield.
Proctor has small dorms of 5-18 students, mixed grades, EXCEPT 9th grade boys have their own dorms and own rules. For example, room doors open during study hall. No parents of 8th grade boys were surprised…
They create an academic profile for every student, learning support or not, and have an advisor program (max 6 students each) that meet the kids weekly along with individualized programs, assemblies etc.
That’s why I asked for this to be pinned. It seems these schools get very little mention on this site, but they are really great schools. I truly believe (hope) there is a school for everyone.
Did anyone mention the Pennington School? Hubby and I were discussing kids we know, and I thought of one who was apparently very happy and successful there after being unhappy and possibly unsuccessful elsewhere. It’s mostly a day school but they have 125 boarders (I just checked).
It’s an interesting program. While I think it has many components my son needs, he’s not the kind of kid that would take well to being in “parallel” classes. And once you add on the learning skills program, it’s more expensive than Forman. If we lived in the area, I’m sure it would be on our list.
I was really struck by the post from @gardenstategal about some schools imposing a lot of structure, and other schools have the resources available but want the kids to operate more independently to use those resources. Can anyone here help me identify which of the schools being talked about fall more into the former (structure imposed) camp?
My 7th grader doesn’t have a formal LD diagnosis yet, though he has had some neuropsych testing done. He’ll get another done to give a diagnosis before he starts looking at schools. His issues are around lack of focus and maybe some executive functioning. But he’s also – not to put it too finely – a slacker of the highest magnitude. He only ever wants to do the bare minimum (if that) assigned, and is the master of excuses about why he didn’t/couldn’t do some piece of homework. But he’ll do whatever the norm is without too much complaining. So if a school had a structured study hall every night that he was required to attend, or required one on one sessions with a tutor or teacher, he wouldn’t have a problem with that. On the other hand, if those things were available but somewhat dependent on the kid to avail himself of them, it would never happen. Maybe he’ll get to the independent, asking for help place sometime, but I don’t see that happening any time soon.
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At Brewster, study hall was dependent on grades. I think the highest level was that you could pick where you were during study hall time, the mid level was in your room and the lowest level was assigned to the library. It was definitely a place where you could not fall through the cracks. They meet as a team to discuss kids 4 days a week. Each week the kids send a report home with their grades and some comments.
I think many schools start with supervised study for 9th and 10th and loosen up a bit as they get older. Also, in many schools you can access some level of support without a diagnosis. Even the level of meeting with an academic support specialist might not require a diagnosis, but usually is a paid service. Some schools have a fee for supervised study hall.
@soxmom I’ll discuss Solebury. They have required study hall for all grades. With that said, after freshman year, you can get different levels of study hall depending on your grades. My daughter was pulling High Honors from sophomore year to senior year and even though she could have had her study hall in her room (because of her grades), she opted to go elsewhere. She knew that if she stayed in her room, work wouldn’t get done. I just finished touring a few boarding schools for my younger daughter and found similar study hall rules at the formal and the progressive schools.