Private School Admissions 2024-2025 (Paris: professionals, vs, move)

[abeamishday]

Originally Posted by DallasParent86

FWIW, I have a friend who’s son is in PreK at Lamplighter and they said that many of the girl’s parents have mentioned that they will apply to Hockaday every year until they get in. I kind of thought it was a joke until we went to his birthday party and the amount of conversation about Hockaday during the party shocked me. Their eyes are truly on the prize! I know that is an anecdotal experience, but I was blown away.

It also seems like there are a fair amount of people that apply for the first time in Kindergarten versus PreK.

We were those people that were first-time applicants for K last year. Ended up waitlisted everywhere except Parish (declined & then never got off any WL). Hindsight had us really regretting not applying the year before to at least get our bearings/show continued interest. But especially for not submitting applications for PK along with K (spring birthday but after the cutoff for that consideration) - that's something we didn't know we could do until afterwards in our debriefing/WL calls with admissions personnel. Now we know at least one family who did this (applied to PK4 & K) and were accepted into LL at PK4, with student turning 5 over the summer. I guess we can try that this year for K/1st or Primer where they allow it - we just didn't think it was necessary to apply to a lower grade and/or that it wouldn't be a mark against the applicant (like, gaming the system or something) but obviously it isn't.

And we also know LL families that apply their girls every year for Hockaday. That at least makes a little sense since LL ends after 4th they know they're going to be back in the application pool in a few short years no matter what. Last year we were crossing our fingers that either we'd come off the Hockaday WL, or a few LL girls would to open up their LL spot.

[DallasParent86]

Originally Posted by TurtleCreek80

All good advice in the paragraph & also about spots for 1st because of the Primer shuffle. Hock definitely does enroll new students into Primer. A close friend’s daughter started in Primer in very recent years - moved from another private.

I’m not sure if they are continuing to admit into Primer at Hockaday. On our tour last year, they said they were not and mentioned that they had the largest Primer class in their history due to need because of the effects of Covid. We heard that in regards to Primer classes from 3 of the 4 schools to which we applied, actually. Hockaday may revert back into accepting into Primer at Hockaday at some point going forward, but likely not this year as they were not last year.

[Purplecow20]

I know for certain one person was accepted into primer at Hockaday this year. I don’t know if that was a fluke, but definitely a new student (no connections) and placed into primer.

[Diamondsnowball]

Which privates (not including the classical religious schools) don't use technology (ipads, computers) to teach the basics in elementary?

[abeamishday]

Originally Posted by Purplecow20

I know for certain one person was accepted into primer at Hockaday this year. I don’t know if that was a fluke, but definitely a new student (no connections) and placed into primer.

Thanks for sharing that info. Do you know if they were accepted into primer on "decision day" or came off the waitlist? Wondering if they ended up with one less Primer spot taken than was available?

[Purplecow20]

That girl actually applied to K and was put in primer. This was news to me bc I always assumed primer was more for the younger kids not ready for 1st. But, apparently, at H primer can be used either as an “in between” grade for those not quite ready for 1st or as an accelerated Kinder. Some kids do pre K, kinder, primer, then 1st. So, if they started in preK as part of the class of 2036, primer would effectively put them into the class of 2037.

Other kids are placed in primer as an accelerated Kinder at H. So, these may be older Kindergarteners or more socially mature who can hang with the pace of the class. These kids go to primer instead of Kinder. So, they start preK as class of 2036 and then they go primer, then 1st. They continue to be in the class of 2036. Then just did primer in place of Kinder.

This year, about half of primer are those that are doing an extra year between kinder and 1st and about half are doing primer instead of Kinder.

So, the girl who got in applied to Kinder and was placed in primer instead of Kindergarten. But she is still part of the class of 2036 (ie, the Kindergarten class).

Hopefully that was clear as mud. Lol. I assume this is to even the class sizes out.

[abeamishday]

Originally Posted by Purplecow20

That girl actually applied to K and was put in primer. This was news to me bc I always assumed primer was more for the younger kids not ready for 1st. But, apparently, at H primer can be used either as an “in between” grade for those not quite ready for 1st or as an accelerated Kinder. Some kids do pre K, kinder, primer, then 1st. So, if they started in preK as part of the class of 2036, primer would effectively put them into the class of 2037.

Other kids are placed in primer as an accelerated Kinder at H. So, these may be older Kindergarteners or more socially mature who can hang with the pace of the class. These kids go to primer instead of Kinder. So, they start preK as class of 2036 and then they go primer, then 1st. They continue to be in the class of 2036. Then just did primer in place of Kinder.

This year, about half of primer are those that are doing an extra year between kinder and 1st and about half are doing primer instead of Kinder.

So, the girl who got in applied to Kinder and was placed in primer instead of Kindergarten. But she is still part of the class of 2036 (ie, the Kindergarten class).

Hopefully that was clear as mud. Lol. I assume this is to even the class sizes out.

That's really interesting. So basically, she was judged to be a qualified Kindergarten candidate, or extra qualified as they thought she'd be a suitable match with a mix of older girls who already completed a year of K in Primer. Because the numbers will always be full for K (with plenty of girls like mine on the WL), they shifted some girls to primer, skipping K, to make the most of the available spots in both grades.

[barnicles]

Originally Posted by Diamondsnowball

Which privates (not including the classical religious schools) don't use technology (ipads, computers) to teach the basics in elementary?

I just wanted to respond to this for you. I know Alcuin doesn't use technology until much later. There are laptops in sixth grade and very minimal time on a computer prior to that. I don't think there are any iPads being used in the grades before middle school at all, and maybe not even then. This is one of the reasons I love it. There is no screen time whatsoever in early education.

[wheateater]

Curious for opinions from those who've gone through this a time or two ... are the big "town hall"-style admission events/tours worth attending, or are you better off reaching out direct to admissions personnel for information?


I'm already seeing that one of the events is completely booked at one school. I'd held off on registering for it because I felt like it might just be a regurgitation of the material on the website with too many attendees to really get a feel for anything.

[barnicles]

Originally Posted by wheateater

Curious for opinions from those who've gone through this a time or two ... are the big "town hall"-style admission events/tours worth attending, or are you better off reaching out direct to admissions personnel for information?


I'm already seeing that one of the events is completely booked at one school. I'd held off on registering for it because I felt like it might just be a regurgitation of the material on the website with too many attendees to really get a feel for anything.

Those events are for you, to gain a feel for the school and have your questions answered. There are far too many people for them to be using that as a way to get any intel or interest in you. You will do that with your admissions portfolio. If you've already been on campus and had a tour and know you like the school, I imagine it's not necessary. If you are just interested based off of reputation, I would suggest going because I have spent a good amount of time at 10 or so of the main area privates and they all have vastly different vibes/feels.