Duchesne and IWA are both considered "Sister Schools" to STH, but every guy I knew at STH with a HS age sister attended IWA. The drive time between IWA and STH is less than 10 minutes.
Anyone have their kids in private school?
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Last: 8 days ago by Buck Turgidson
With the caveat of the best school is in my backyard, here are my thoughts:
I have a son that's a freshman at St. Thomas. He absolutely loves it. Its only been 2.5 months, so hard for me to really comment on anything, but so far I think its been great. There are about 15 boys from his St. Anne class in the freshman class, which is more than any other catholic middle school sent there. But there are boys from all over Houston and every suburb in his class, from both public and private schools.
I have a daughter that's a junior at IWA. To me, it's a fantastic school for her but I could see why it may not be a good fit for others. It is very small, which understandably some don't like. If you don't know anyone going in, I would guess its hard to fit into a group when there aren't a ton of girls. She was lucky, as about 7 other girls from her middle school class also went to IWA. I like the academic side of it, and with the small classes its easy to get extra help. While they have sports teams, athletics are really more of an afterthought for the school it seems.
I have a son that's a freshman at St. Thomas. He absolutely loves it. Its only been 2.5 months, so hard for me to really comment on anything, but so far I think its been great. There are about 15 boys from his St. Anne class in the freshman class, which is more than any other catholic middle school sent there. But there are boys from all over Houston and every suburb in his class, from both public and private schools.
I have a daughter that's a junior at IWA. To me, it's a fantastic school for her but I could see why it may not be a good fit for others. It is very small, which understandably some don't like. If you don't know anyone going in, I would guess its hard to fit into a group when there aren't a ton of girls. She was lucky, as about 7 other girls from her middle school class also went to IWA. I like the academic side of it, and with the small classes its easy to get extra help. While they have sports teams, athletics are really more of an afterthought for the school it seems.
So where's everyone going?
My son is a STH freshman as well. He loves it there and is doing well. Played football for the first time last fall, and playing baseball now.
Academics are challenging, especially the advanced classes. His teachers certainly set a high bar, which is what we wanted. Plenty of help available at the Learning Center when needed.
Really impressed with the school.
Need to look at schools for our daughter (currently 7th). Hopefully IWA for the convenience… so she'll probably choose St Agnes.
Academics are challenging, especially the advanced classes. His teachers certainly set a high bar, which is what we wanted. Plenty of help available at the Learning Center when needed.
Really impressed with the school.
Need to look at schools for our daughter (currently 7th). Hopefully IWA for the convenience… so she'll probably choose St Agnes.
Where'd he go to middle?
Trafton
I think there were 4-5 boys that took the same path.
I think there were 4-5 boys that took the same path.
We still have a year before we have to apply but decided to tour St Theresa, St Rose and St Ambrose this spring to get a feel where we may want to land.
Mine are in Trinity Classic School which is half private, half homeschool. Keeps tuition down.
I bumped the thread because school acceptances came out yesterday. Just curious if anyone else was waiting to hear from schools .
My girl got accepted to St. Agnes and St. Pius. Going to Agnes so will be a super fun commute until she gets her license.
I have friends that applied to St. Michael, St. Mark's (in Spring Branch) and St. Rose.
They didn't get into the first two and are waiting to hear back on the third.
Not surprisingly, applications are way up this year.
They didn't get into the first two and are waiting to hear back on the third.
Not surprisingly, applications are way up this year.
Yep - I've heard as much as 40-50% up from previous years. Lots of kids gettingtfo of the better HISD schools now. It sucks as we love our public school right down the street - but we're probably leaving next year for 5th just to get a little head start.
I think that's a good plan. We did the same. Worst case you reapply the following year. They never guarantee anything, but you usually get a bit more grace the second time around.
My buddies kid is going into 6th so there's a ton of competition. I think they said he was competing with 12 siblings at St Mark's. Crazy.
My buddies kid is going into 6th so there's a ton of competition. I think they said he was competing with 12 siblings at St Mark's. Crazy.
Diggity said:
I have friends that applied to St. Michael, St. Mark's (in Spring Branch) and St. Rose.
They didn't get into the first two and are waiting to hear back on the third.
Not surprisingly, applications are way up this year.
Why are they up?
We were told there were at least 13 applicants for 2 spots at one of the 4 schools we applied to (between our 2 kids) for 5th. Haven't heard numbers on the other schools but have heard there many applicants for few spots.
The HISD mess. Lots of kids from the better HISD schools looking to go private.
We apply for private HS next year and I'm a little concerned with increased applications. Will likely apply to Second Baptist, Houston Christian Academy and maybe one other.
For people out west/northwest, Cypress Christian is moving into a brand new campus in the Bridgelands for the start of the '25/'26 school year (in other words, the current campus closes in two months). It's going to be a really nice campus compared to what they are in now and compared to a lot of private schools around Houston. You can see updates here:
https://www.cypresschristian.org/about-ccs/bridgeland-campus-updates/
https://www.cypresschristian.org/about-ccs/bridgeland-campus-updates/
Jerzzy said:
We still have a year before we have to apply but decided to tour St Theresa, St Rose and St Ambrose this spring to get a feel where we may want to land.
Are y'all Catholic so only looking at Catholic schools?
If not, tour OSL as well for that area.
We toured and really liked St Theresa.
Yes we are catholic and our kids are baptized. So we plan on attending catholic school. We attend church at one of these schools already. But I have heard good things about OSL.
We toured St Theresa & St Ambrose, liked both and was very impressed with St Theresa. We missed the last St Rose tour opportunity for the spring so will tour in the fall.
I keep hearing about the exodus from HISD so we will apply to all 3, and have them ranked. Hopefully it all pans out. This feel more like a collegiate process than Kindergarten.
We toured St Theresa & St Ambrose, liked both and was very impressed with St Theresa. We missed the last St Rose tour opportunity for the spring so will tour in the fall.
I keep hearing about the exodus from HISD so we will apply to all 3, and have them ranked. Hopefully it all pans out. This feel more like a collegiate process than Kindergarten.
how was the HS application process coming out of Trafton? My son is in 6th grade there now, so won't be long before we go through it (for the first time).AggieT said:
Trafton
I think there were 4-5 boys that took the same path.
its been a minute, both of my boys are both TAMU graduates. They both attended Corpus Christi Catholic School for Elementary and Middle, located just outside the 610 loop on Stella Link then attended St Thomas Catholic HS.
Corpus was a great fit and experience back then. I have no clue at its present condition. But if you have not visited, and the location is acceptable, you may give it a look.
Back then, We toured St Theresa, St Ambrose, St Anne, St Vincent as well as St Thomas Moore.
St Vincent for me was the only Hard NO, St Anne was a No but could of lived with it. Liked St Thomas Moore and St Theresa, really like St Ambrose and Corpus. Chose Corpus simply because of location over St Ambrose.
Was it perfect? NO, but it worked out really well in prep for HS.
Oh, did not visit Trafton, but had several friends whose children attended, They all had glowing reviews and the children went on to be successful students at the HS and Collegiate stops.
My views are a bit dated but I hope this helps in some form or fashion.
Corpus was a great fit and experience back then. I have no clue at its present condition. But if you have not visited, and the location is acceptable, you may give it a look.
Back then, We toured St Theresa, St Ambrose, St Anne, St Vincent as well as St Thomas Moore.
St Vincent for me was the only Hard NO, St Anne was a No but could of lived with it. Liked St Thomas Moore and St Theresa, really like St Ambrose and Corpus. Chose Corpus simply because of location over St Ambrose.
Was it perfect? NO, but it worked out really well in prep for HS.
Oh, did not visit Trafton, but had several friends whose children attended, They all had glowing reviews and the children went on to be successful students at the HS and Collegiate stops.
My views are a bit dated but I hope this helps in some form or fashion.
Farmari Bojuji
Not fun! But not that bad. The school took tours everywhere, stayed on the kids about application deadlines, ISEE, etc. Definitely talk to teachers about what high school they see as the best fit for your son. My son's English teacher almost insisted we send him to St. Thomas, and every reason he gave has been correct. All of my son's friends got into the schools they wanted.
I definitely feel like our son was well prepared for high school.
The only thing I would do differently is start everything earlier. Tours, open houses, shadow visits, ISEE prep and testing, application essays, etc. It all becomes a huge time suck.
I definitely feel like our son was well prepared for high school.
The only thing I would do differently is start everything earlier. Tours, open houses, shadow visits, ISEE prep and testing, application essays, etc. It all becomes a huge time suck.
Just curious why you say this as I have heard nothing but good about SV (...and my dad was a baller there in the middle ages).Quote:
St Vincent for me was the only Hard NO, St Anne was a No but could of lived with it
We liked St. Anne a lot, even though we chose to go elsewhere.
My kids are at St Anne. Getting a new principal for next year. Current principal is leaving after 26 years and seeing the school receive 2 National Blue Ribbon awards.
New principal is from Epiphany of the Lord in Katy and before that lower school principal at Regis. He is also an Aggie FWIW. On paper he sounds good and was a student of the out going principal. I know St Anne has plans to expand to create some new opportunities and enroll more students while making class sizes smaller (3 classes of 20 instead of 2 classes of 25). Hopefully he has the experience and leadership to bring about these improvements.
I heard they had over 40 applications for 1 spot in 6th grade this year. Also had largest number of applications for PK3 and Kindergarten this year. Numbers are definitely going up due to HISD mess.
New principal is from Epiphany of the Lord in Katy and before that lower school principal at Regis. He is also an Aggie FWIW. On paper he sounds good and was a student of the out going principal. I know St Anne has plans to expand to create some new opportunities and enroll more students while making class sizes smaller (3 classes of 20 instead of 2 classes of 25). Hopefully he has the experience and leadership to bring about these improvements.
I heard they had over 40 applications for 1 spot in 6th grade this year. Also had largest number of applications for PK3 and Kindergarten this year. Numbers are definitely going up due to HISD mess.
It does help, appreciate all the insight and everyone's experiences, opinions etc.
We did have more schools on our initial list but drive time does play a factor. Even if google maps says "20 min" we all know in Houston traffic that reality is closer to 45 some days.
We are just north of 610. If we lived in the loop, I think some of the more southern located schools would be on the radar but those drives from our current location would be brutal. And I went to st Thomas more as a kid, doesn't seems a feasible option now due to distance.
We did have more schools on our initial list but drive time does play a factor. Even if google maps says "20 min" we all know in Houston traffic that reality is closer to 45 some days.
We are just north of 610. If we lived in the loop, I think some of the more southern located schools would be on the radar but those drives from our current location would be brutal. And I went to st Thomas more as a kid, doesn't seems a feasible option now due to distance.
We're in GOOF. Kids are currently at St. Theresa and the drive in the morning is not bad. Especially because it's mostly on the way to downtown and Post Oak. Also relatively easy to head west on i10 after drop off.
Might be pulling our oldest to attend OFE for 1st grade next year. Nothing to do with St. Theresa other than the cost really adds up. Recently found out we're expecting #4, so we're having to reassess. Hopefully we can get back in for 6th grade.
Might be pulling our oldest to attend OFE for 1st grade next year. Nothing to do with St. Theresa other than the cost really adds up. Recently found out we're expecting #4, so we're having to reassess. Hopefully we can get back in for 6th grade.
I find it has more to do with timing when you leave. I live over by Memorial City Mall and it takes about 23 minutes to get to St Anne (Shepard and Westheimer) but I try and leave the house by 715 to give myself some delay time buffer. Getting out of there after school isn't hard either. But if you are picking up after work a 5pm it is a cluster.
yeah, 4 kids would make it very tough.txcincinnatus said:
We're in GOOF. Kids are currently at St. Theresa and the drive in the morning is not bad. Especially because it's mostly on the way to downtown and Post Oak. Also relatively easy to head west on i10 after drop off.
Might be pulling our oldest to attend OFE for 1st grade next year. Nothing to do with St. Theresa other than the cost really adds up. Recently found out we're expecting #4, so we're having to reassess. Hopefully we can get back in for 6th grade.
K-8 is bad enough at around $12K per kid, then start thinking about high school at around $30K/per.
I would just move to the Woodlands at that point.
And some of the K-8 are $25+. It is hard to stomach but the HISD schools are just so bad.
No doubt. I couldn't do it
those of us that live in the area love the 'turning into St Anne and blocking Westheimer' parents!Cibalo said:
I find it has more to do with timing when you leave. I live over by Memorial City Mall and it takes about 23 minutes to get to St Anne (Shepard and Westheimer) but I try and leave the house by 715 to give myself some delay time buffer. Getting out of there after school isn't hard either. But if you are picking up after work a 5pm it is a cluster.
I kid, but not the easiest place to get in and out of it appears. Love hearing their church bells, though.
Congrats on the rich!
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