Category: Beyond The Brochure

More Private Elementary School Buzz

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Marlborough School has 100 feeder schools: “As you can imagine, having good relationships with our feeder school principals is essential to our success in promoting Marlborough School’s reputation throughout the Los Angeles community,” Director of Admissions Jeanette Woo Chitjian said. Although the student body comes from roughly a hundred feeder schools, the Admissions Office would like to increase that number, Woo Chitjian said. (source: Marlborough School New Ultraviolet Newletter, 2009). 

– One top Westside preschool director is so concerned that parents at her preschool are only applying to the same very difficult-to-get-into three schools (John Thomas Dye, Brentwood, Carlthorp) and not getting in, that she has begun inviting other schools to visit her preschool in an effort to encourage parents to apply to a broader range of private elementary schools.

– Marcia Capparela, Asst. Head of School at Wildwood and longtime friend of Beyond The Brochure Co-Author, Anne Simon, will be leaving her position to join Westland School on Mulholland. Good luck in your new position, Marcia!

 

Willows School Volunteer Options For New Parents-What Would You Choose?

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Here is the list of The Willows School volunteer activities any parent can sign up for. As you can see, there’s lots to do at my kids school and at most private elementary schools. This isn’t even all of the volunteer positions that need to be filled (committee co-chairs, room parent and other leadership positions are generally offered to parents who have volunteered in one or more of the positions below first).

 

Hint: When you are writing your applications, look at the school’s events and volunteer activities to see if your skills or interests match their needs. If so, mention it in your application!! I’ve worked on the Book Fair, Co-Chaired the Auction, Served as class captain for the annual giving campaign and more. Everything I’ve done has been based on my interests and skills.


Most popular: #5 (Book Fair), #7 (Gardening), #8 (Hot Lunch)

Least Popular: #10 Lost and Found, #3 Auction Solicitation

1. AUCTION: Assist the Auction Co-Chairs in planning, organizing, and publicizing the Annual Auction and Party. (This is the biggest parent-run fundraiser of the year, so please join in the fun, there’s lots to do.)


2. AUCTION CATALOGUE CREATION: Help with writing, designing and formatting the catalogue entries for silent and live auctions

3. AUCTION ITEM SOLICITATION: Join the team in procuring fabulous auction items and sponsorships.

4. AUCTION ITEM MANAGEMENT: Database input and management of auction items.

5. BOOK FAIR: Help plan and organize the Fall Book Fair Celebration.


6. CULTURAL PROGRAMS: Help committee to promote a greater understanding of the history and diversity of cultures and people.

7. GARDENING: Garden with your child’s grade (DK through 2nd) in the learning garden on a semi-regular basis

8. HOT LUNCH: Assist the Hot Lunch program Co-Chairs. Act as a “lead” hot lunch server. “Lead” servers are asked to commit to overseeing the serving of hot lunch one day, every other week throughout the school year. (Hours are from 11:30 am –1 pm).

9. LIBRARY: Work with the Librarian and the Library Co-Chairs to assist in maintenance of the school library, Birthday Book Program and special projects. (Must commit to involvement in Book Fair and end-of-year inventory.)

10. LOST & FOUND: Help keep lost and found organized. Sort and deliver items with names to classrooms. Volunteers are asked to commit approximately one hour every other week.

11. PACIFIC PARK PIER EVENT: Help plan and organize the spring family event.

12. POSTER/SIGNAGE COMMITTEE (A): Looking for Graphic Designers to create posters/signage and invitations for school events. Knowledge of Photoshop and other design programs required.

13. POSTER/SIGNAGE COMMITTEE (B): If you are not a graphic designer, you can volunteers to print posters/signage on our large format printer, and then mount for use at school and special events. We will train on printer. Some knowledge of Photoshop required.

14. SCHOOL PHOTO COORDINATION: Work with co-chair to coordinate activities between photographer, yearbook staff, teachers, administration and parents. Coordinate scheduling for portraits, all school photo and class photos. Organize parent volunteers for photo shoots.

15. T-Shirt Sales. Assist in the organization, sales and delivery of Willows T-shirts, both regular and event (Book Fair and Pier Party) throughout the year.

16. VIDEOGRAPHY: Video various school activities and daytime/evening events as coordinated by Willows staff. Supply Communication/Media with footage we will share on our website and use in school video productions. Responsible for downloading footage to our Willows Yearbook server. Willows will supply a digital camcorder that can be checked out for use at the school. Download is easy with a DV memory card. It’s important to have some computer knowledge for downloading to a Macintosh.

17. YEARBOOK: Assist in the planning, assembly and production of the annual Willows yearbook.



T-S

 

Expect The Unexpected. It Happened. Now What?

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The worst happened. You went 0/x. “Declined Admission” or “Wait-Listed”. The words no parent wants to hear. We posted about this topic on 3/29/10, but here’s more on the topic since if you went 0/x you are probably thinking about reapplying for Fall 2011.

 

If you applied to private elementary schools with your fingers crossed, but received the news that your child wasn’t accepted to the schools where you applied, you may be wondering what to do next. We all know this is an uncertain process. Expect the unexpected is the rule, not the exception for most families who apply. So, if you’ve decided to reapply for Fall 2011, here are a few things to consider:

 

If you haven’t already done so, meet with your preschool director and ask her to call the schools where you applied, to help you understand why your child was declined admission or wait-listed.

 

Understand that the reasons why your child wasn’t accepted may be that your child was too young or not ready for kindergarten (in the school’s opinion) or some other reason that has NOTHING to do with your child or your family. Reapplying will mean these factors could work in your favor the second time. One of our readers was accepted this year (Fall 2010) for kindergarten to one of the most competitive schools after applying last year and being declined admission.

 

Perhaps as parents you weren’t forthcoming about behavioral or learning problems your child has struggled with in preschool or at his/her current school and if you reapply you need to be more open about these challenges. It is so important for you to be open with the schools.

 

Your child wasn’t prepared for “testing/visiting” day at the traditional schools. This is common, especially if your child attended a preschool where the reading, writing, etc, were not emphasized.

 

Something out of your control happened i.e. a scheduling mishap or a parent interview that went badly.

 

There were too many siblings that took priority for that year.

 

You only applied to two schools and need to expand your options with more schools.

 

You did everything right and things still didn’t go your way.

 

Think about working with an educational consultant who may be able to help you understand how you can improve your application process. We’ve posted several Question and Answer interviews with some of LA’s top consultants so you’re aware of all the resources available to you for your school search.

 

The important point to realize is that each application year is very different and your family’s persistence may pay off. By all means reapply to schools where you would like your child to attend. But also expand your options and apply to more schools, new schools you didn’t apply to last year. And, above all else, expect the unexpected the second time around too. Only this time maybe the unexpected will be the good news you’re hoping for!

See What These Moms Say About Our Book…

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“The L.A. Private school application process is extremely intimidating and stressful. At every turn you will be greeted by panic, hysteria and misinformation…that is, until now! Read this book, follow their advice and you will increase your chances of acceptance exponentially. How do I know? It worked for us when we got into our first and only choice, in a year of record breaking applications.”

– Dayna Devon, former Co-Host, Extra

Curtis School, Developmental Kindergarten, Fall 2010

“Beyond The Brochure’s insider’s tips and suggestions gave me a calm confidence in navigating the private school waters. What can be a daunting and overwhelming process was made more manageable as it was outlined in a step-by-step manner and came with recommendations such as not becoming too fixed on a predetermined idea of what the “best” school is. Porcha, Anne and Christina’s research was right: there is an incredible array of wonderful private schools out there.And, with composed perseverance, you will end up with the right fit.”

– Julia Trainor

Oakwood School, Kindergarten, Fall 2010

“Beyond the Brochure: An Insider’s Guide To Private Elementary Schools In Los Angeles is fantastic! It helped us navigate the admissions process from beginning to end! I don’t know what we would have done without it. Every chapter was so informative that I can’t even begin to choose which chapter(s) were the most helpful. This book is an absolute must-have for anyone applying to private elementary schools!”

– Linda Suslow

Laurence School, Kindergarten, Fall 2010

Congratulations, Dayna, Julia and Linda!

Second Guessing Your Choice of Schools? Please Don’t

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Now that you’ve had a few months to resume life as you knew it before LA private elementary school applications, a little nagging voice inside you may be whispering, “we made the wrong school choice”. After all the applications, interviews, nightmarish testing days? Yes! It’s possible to have doubts, second thoughts or worse, moments of total panic where you decide that it’s all wrong and your child really should be with her best friend at school x and why didn’t you, as her parent, make this decision that could impact her for life? You decide in a moment of complete delusion, to call the school on Monday and see if you can undo your admissions offer and get her into her best friends school even though you declined their offer. Then, you come to your senses and realize that’s a terrible idea.

 

You’ll keep hearing things that may make you pause and get that little voice inside you stirred up again…a friend whose daughter already has two best friends and school hasn’t started yet. Someone else you know who met a bunch of moms from the new school who invited her to Cabo for the week. And so on and on and on…That little voice only needs a tiny nudge to get its wheels spinning in your head, convincing you that you picked the WRONG SCHOOL. And school hasn’t even started yet. There are many years left for that voice to work its magic.

 

It’s totally normal to hope you’ve selected the right school for your child. And, once you start attending events–even before school starts–you may have more moments of panic. I did. What if another child is unfriendly to your child? That happened to me. A child at a welcome event scared the you-know-what out of my daughter and she screamed in terror. What if parents you meet from your new school have interests you don’t share? What if you host family isn’t a great “host”.

 

Any and all of this stuff can happen. Sometimes events are “parent- run” and the school has no knowledge about what is going on. Speaking from experience, it took me a long time to meet parents I really clicked with. My daughter had a rocky transition to kindergarten. It was really tempting to have thoughts of another school at those moments when things weren’t going so well. The first few months of school are not a great way to judge the school experience, either your child’s or you own. Give it more time. Lots more!