Our daughter is starting school this year and we are trying to decide which school to choose. I have read a lot both positive and some negative from both schools but would be very grateful if some of you here could add in with your experiences?
What has been little of my worry (from reading online, so I am not sure about the accuracy) that St. Georges are mainly attended by kids with wealthy families and that the focus is not so much about the academic? Our daughter is very focused on school and aiming to attend a good Uni later on. She is also very active in the athletics mostly soccer, swimming and lacrosse.
Hi @Lisen12 ! My son is a new 10th grader at St. George’s this year, and he absolutely loves it. I can’t compare it to Portsmouth Abbey because I know very little about the school and don’t know anyone who goes there, so I’m sorry that I can’t help you with a direct comparison. You may be able to compare SSAT scores & SAT/ACT scores?
But as far as SG goes, we have been very impressed by the academic focus. It is a fairly traditional prep school with a rigorous academic program, small classes and committed faculty. Athletics are important, but the arts are also very strong & quite popular at SG. In terms of “wealthy families” yes, there are some at SG and in fact you will find them everywhere. Being from NYC maybe I have a skewed view of things, but if you asked me where most of the “wealthy families” send their kids to boarding school, SG would be nowhere near the top of that list
What we love about the school is that the kids are happy. They take their academics seriously, but are not stressed out wrecks. They participate in sports, but it’s not a “jock culture”. They have wonderful, fun traditions as well as a forward-thinking commitment to new teaching methods and research. The new Head of School is fantastic (she just started this fall) and has already had a very positive impact.
It’s a beautiful part of the world for sure, and the proximity to Newport and the beach is a huge bonus. St. George’s makes the most of their location and I would imagine that Portsmouth Abbey does the same. Please feel free to ask more specific questions, and I’ll try to answer them for you!
My daughter’s crew coach this past summer just graduated from SG and she’s now at Harvard. Granted, she’s an amazing rower but you still need the scores. My daughter was accepted there a couple of years ago but chose another school because of her sport. The school she chose is probably far more populated with the NYC crowd than SG.
I have friends who have sent kids to both. (Different families, no family that has had kids at both. ) All have been happy. Of my friends, the more academic kids were at Portsmouth Abbey and the more athletic ones at SG. I would definitely not extrapolate from their kids about the whole student body!
While some schools do a better job than others of creating an egalitarian community, all of them have their share of very wealthy kids. I might focus more on what the school does to minimize the impact of wealth inequality at the school than whether it is there at all.
