Moving to the D.C. Area and Would like to Know Where the Best Schools Are.

Look in zipcode 22308 (Alexandria, VA). The elementary schools are Stratford (with a GT program), Ft. Hunt (with a Spanish immersion program), and Waynewood...all of these are great schools and don't have any "bad" areas that funnel into them.

The middle school is Carl Sandburg and the high school is West Potomac. My husband and I met at Sandburg and we both graduated from West Potomac about 10 years ago and my younger brother and sister currently go there.

You could also have the option of Thomas Jefferson High School (zipcode 22312). It's a pubic school, but there is a certain criteria to enroll, as well as an application process. Here's their website - http://www.tjhsst.edu/.

We love it here! :o) Good luck in your search.

Arlington VA is a great area. 1/2 hour metro to DC. Driving takes a little bit longer with traffic. My kids aren't in school yet (4 yrs and 9 months) but there is a wonderful variety in choices of schools and you really can't go wrong - they are all good for different reasons. We live in the neighborhood of Glen Carlin in South Arlington and love it! There are lots of kids in the neighborhood, a library, parks, woods and right off route 50. Housing is not necessarily cheap - (I guess it depends where you are coming from). House prices go down as you get a little more outside the beltway but then the commutes increase to an hour or longer. Arlington and Alexandria are 2 good areas to look into - feel free to contact me if you want to talk more I have lived here for about 15 years.

____@____.com

T. H

Welcome! You should look into http://www.JustSettling.com. It has tons of info. about the Fairfax area: schools, doctors, activities for children, shopping, home help, etc. Take a look and hope it helps!

The best schools in DC and Prince Georges County are private schools. Your best bet is probably in Montgomery County. You will be able to buy more house for the same $ in PG County, but I would recomment private schools. I live in PG county and My children went to Catholic schools (and are not catholic,) received a great education, both got into good colleges and the difference in the house prices paid for their private education! It was a win/win for me. Taxes are less in PG. Houses in DC are extremely pricey. Sections of Montgomery County are affordable, but still much more than PG. I have a 5 bedroom, 3 bath house with a fireplace in the rec rm and an eat in kitchen as well as an L shaped LR with the DR at the end of the L.

Hi G. and welcome! I am fairly new to the area myself, but I'm a teacher and I can highly recommend you try to be anywhere in Fairfax County. The schools in the district itself don't have a very good reputation (no offense to anyone, that's just what I hear), but I have some experience with Fairfax County and I'm VERY impressed. The areas I hear the most good about are the Burke area, Fairfax, Vienna, McLean, Chantilly, Centerville and Oakton (but that's much of the county!). I have been teaching here for a year and a half now and the standards are very high and the quality is excellent. Good luck finding a place!

Hi G.,
www.schoolranks.com is a good over all look at the schools. Mclean is the highest ranked but also has very high home prices. Most of the schools in Fairfax County are very good especially when ranked against other parts of the country. In this web site you will see how they rank against each other. I am also a realtor, I primarily work in Northern VA, and if I can help you find a home (renting or buying) let me know. Congratulations on your husband’s job and moving to the area.
K.

Welcome to the area! You're very lucky as far as schools go - you're moving to an area of the country that has some of the best schools in the nation. In many cases, the public schools here are better than even the best private schools in other areas. I would say that your housing budget will dictate a lot of where you decide to live - housing prices can vary greatly depending on where you live. Once you decide that (MD vs. VA vs. DC), then you can look into the different school districts. I'm in Northern VA - my son is only 3 and is just in pre-school. However, I know that many of the schools in Loudoun County are fantastic. Cascades and Lowes Island are great neighborhoods, as well as the Ashburn area. There are great schools at all levels and lots of stay at home moms in those areas.

Again - welcome. Please let me know if you have any other questions about the area.

C.

Dear G.,
Welcome to the area. Definately Fairfax. I used to live in Arlington, love it there but the schools were not good. We went to the school rankings and chose the area among the 25% best ranked schools. We ended in Burke, at first I thought it was far commute for my husband, but it ended up just 20 min more on the bus than when we lived in Arlington, because the bus takes the express lane.
I love Burke, my son got into the GT center last year and he is very happy. Burke was ranked the 31st best place to live according to CNN http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bplive/2008/top10...
Check it out.
Tel

McLean, Va Easy commute to DC...Churchill Road Elementary or SPringhill feed into Cooper Middle and Langley high. Great Neighborhoods right around all three schools. My five and six year old go to Churchill. Great PTA organization that offers lots of extra curriculum activities for family and in class...such as art appreciation, outdoor odyssy...and Churchill has the giftd program in it starting 3rd grade.

If you'd like to chat, feel free to email me direct or call. ____@____.com ###-###-####

G. - welcome to the DC area. There are many wonderful schools around here. We are just starting to investigate better schools for my daughter keeping in mind our commute to DC. We are finding Falls Church City and North Arlington have great schools. But, they both have expensive housing and not as much diversity. You'll have to weigh the commute with everything else. Good luck.

Hi G.,

I would highly recommend Waynewood as a place to live. It's a very family-oriented community in Alexandria (22308)located off the GW Parkway near Mt. Vernon. It's a pretty easy commute to D.C. Waynewood Elementary is rated very highly and the middle and high schools (Carl Sandburg and West Potomac also have pretty good ratings). There are so many kids in this community, and so many kid-oriented activities, it's pretty amazing. There's a community pool, playground and tennis and basketball courts all kept in good shape. We've lived here just under 2 years and love it!

Good luck to you!

L.

We've searched around and Lakewood Elementary is a great school. A 10 out of 10 mark.
It feeds into Robert Frost Middle School and Wooten High School (ranked #34 on the top 100 best high schools in the US). There are some others in this area on this list as well...i.e Fairfax High School (Thomas Jefferson, I think) and Winston Churchill High School and Robert Montgomery as well.
This area for Lakewood Elementary is in Rockville, Maryland or some addresses might be North Potomac, Maryland.
Check out Avalon at Traville Townhomes (for rent in this area)if you haven't decided to purchase a home yet.
It's minutes away from Shady Grove Hospital and close to shopping and restaurants in Traville and Fallsgrove Shopping Center.
It's a great area and I believe safe.
Hope this helps.

Arlington, VA! We just moved out of that town and miss it! We lived in the Courthouse/Clarendon neighborhood and loved the area, the commute, the restaurants, the eco-friendly community, the green space. Didn't experience the schools first hand, but I have friends who teach there and they like it, and the reputation is very good. Good luck!

Hello - I live in Alexandria, VA. 10 minutes or so from DC. There are some great neighborhoods here. I currently live in Brookville. It is off of Van Dorn street. It is a very nice quiet neighborhood with 2 elementary schools within blocks. The middle school is about 1/2 mile away and the high school is about 3 miles. I have lived here for 3 years and have lived in Alexandria my entire life.

About me, I have been married for 5 years. I have a 2 year old girl and a 7 month old boy. Please let me know if I can help you in any way.

We love our school district...bradley hills elementary, pyle middle school and whitman high school

Hi G.! I have lived in Northern VA for on and off for 14 years. We moved to our current neighborhood 3 years ago. It's our 3rd house in 6 years and is definitely my FAVORITE neighborhood. It's called "Briarwood" in Fairfax (22032) I have a 7 year old daughter in second grade at Laurel Ridge Elementary. She is very happy there - very proud of her school. I also have an almost 5 year old who will be in kindergarten there next year. My only qualm about the middle/high school (Robinson Secondary) is that it is really big. But apparently they do a lot of things over there to make it smaller (put kids into groups, etc.) Anyway, I would say about 90 percent of the moms in this neighborhood stay home with their kids. The bus stop has tons of kids and parents, all so friendly. I know if there is ever an issue of me getting to the bus on time in the afternoon there would always be a friend to get my daughter. Everyone looks out for everyone else. We are very happy! Good luck :)

I would recommend Prince William County, VA specifically Lake Ridge. Good schools, lots of houses on the market. Good Commute on the HOV (high occupancy Vehicle) lanes into downtown DC.
Get ready for the fast pace of the DC area.