Bucks County Education Guide 2023

Considering Private Education?

Although academic outcomes are the main reason to consider a private education for your children, there are also other compelling reasons

By Mary Crystal

The comparisons between a private and public education usually focus on outcomes, specifically in terms of test scores and grades in the next level of education. These are good reasons to send a child to a private school, but they are not the only reasons, and academic performance is not the only reason why parents choose private schools, nor why they choose a particular private school.

A sense of community and belonging is very important to both students and their parents. Public schools offer this through sports and extracurricular activities. Sports get everyone involved, foster school loyalty and a sense of belonging to those who may only know the school song and colors and do not actually play sports. And most private schools have sports and activities that promote school loyalty and a sense of belonging. But there is more to a community than cheering a team.

Real community in a school setting begins with people knowing each other. Private schools have smaller classrooms, which allow even the shyest of students to know the names of others and most impor-

tantly to be known by others. Lifelong friends and future networking often begin at school.

Community, whether big or small is based on a set of shared values. Parents can choose a private school based shared beliefs. For example, religious families can send their children to schools that promote and teach their religion and it values—something a public school cannot legally do. This, not only fosters belonging, but brings together a preexisting community. There are many choices when it comes to shared values promoted by private schools.

Private schools also foster community by specialization. Some schools have a strong emphasis on sports and athletic accomplishment, drawing students who want to excel in these areas. Schools can also emphasize an academic discipline such as math, science and languages. Students gifted Some schools help gifted students by specializing in music, art, and other pursuits. Specialization promotes community based on common interests and a shared purpose.

Besides community there are choices between consistent

Maria’s House Montessori

Montessori is not a method. It isn’t a style, an approach or a set of materials. It… rather she… was a person, a physician and researcher, a 19th century girl with a dream who grew up to be an indomitable woman, a voice of reason in a dehumanizing industrial age, a reformer who challenged institutions and governments to look carefully at the young souls around them, to see their faces hope and their innocence, and to offer them the dignity and compassion that we all deserve.

Maria Montessori. In 1896, she was the first woman to earn her Medicinae Doctoris (with distinction) from the University of Rome. Industrial Europe’s appetite for coal was exceeded only by its appetite for working-class males whose 12 hour days six days a week kept factories running. Boys were expected to follow their fathers into the workhouses. Prussian-model factory schools prepared them for that work, separating them from their families at 6 years old, dividing them by age, and confining them with an instructor whose primary job was to produce compliant young men. After nearly a hundred years of this type of compulsory servitude, boys (being boys) had become unwilling to cooperate. In response, city officials began arresting dissenting youths, deeming them “incorrigible”, and sentencing them to… (wait for it)… factory work.

In 1897, Maria chose to spend her residency years working in the relatively new field of psychiatry. “My colleagues,” she wrote, “are far too ready to apply medical treatments to children whose only illness seems to be that they are too healthy to be treated as slaves. We have raised children instinctively for tens of thousands of years. Surely that process is not broken.”

And so began the mission that would consume the remaining 55 years of her life. From her first days as a public health physician at Rome’s San Lorenzo tenement in 1907, Dottoressa Maria Montessori was drawn to the work of restoring, protecting and enhancing the natural processes that drive human development. An insightful systems thinker with a singular aptitude for research, Maria produced hundreds of intricate, elegantly designed works and lessons for children ages 2 through 12, offering her world (and ours) an organic, holistic view of the wonders of early childhood. It’s our privilege, our pleasure and our passion to study and practice Montessori at Maria’s House Doylestown. The children around us are remarkable, always curious, constantly becoming. They truly are our heroes.

Experiennce e e required...

educational philosophies. This has to do with how a parent wants their child educated. An example is Montessori education, which is based on eight principles that Montessori schools put into practice. Other philosophies may include classical education, progressive education and so on. The point is that private schools have the ability to adopt and be consistent with a particular philosophy of education, and well-informed parents can choose among these philosophies and methods.

Finally, there is no doubt that private schools have an edge when it comes to academic outcomes. U.S News reports, “The most recent NAEP data shows what other research has found: Private school students score better in almost all subjects … On college entry tests such

as the SAT, NAIS found that students in private schools consistently outperformed their public-school peers in all subject areas.”

Students attending private schools make up 25 percent of all students. They are there because of parental choices based on intangibles like community, values and a sense of belonging, and more tangible things such as smaller classrooms, more individual attention, better academic outcomes, specialization, and choices between educational philosophies. Private schools offer parents and students choices and outcomes. v

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Mary Crystal is a freelance writer who specializes in business, education and public relations.

Aglobal school with local roots, George School is a Quaker, co-ed, boarding and day high school in Newtown, PA located on a picturesque, 240-acre campus of open lawns and beautiful woods.

Long committed to providing a global learning experience, George School is one of only a few US boarding schools that offers the International Baccalaureate (IB) program. Our distinctive and customizable Signature Academic Program truly allows students, as stated in our mission statement, “to treasure learning for its own sake and use it to benefit a diverse world.”

A George School education is designed to open intellectual and creative doors and keep them open. Our academic program lets students chart their own path—one that is as challenging as it is rewarding. Graduates attend the most selective colleges and universities worldwide, and become confident and capable leaders rooted in self-awareness, self-sufficiency, and the ability to listen deeply to others.

Notre Dame High School

Since 1957, we’ve helped thousands of students reach new levels of understanding by challenging them to think, imagine, and participate in extraordinary moments. From seminar-style discussions to hands-on learning, AP courses to internships, meaningful academic challenge awaits each student at Notre Dame. We meet our students wherever they are and stretch them as far as they're willing to go. Whether you're interested in the arts, science, economics, or something else entirely, Notre Dame's faculty and staff are committed to your success. We'll help you chart your course to college and beyond, ready to seize whatever your future holds.

Notre Dame High School prepares young men and women for lives of purpose built upon a foundation of Catholic faith with a commitment to service. Every day at Notre Dame is filled with breakthrough moments within the classroom, on stage, in the athletic arena and in the communities we serve.

At Notre Dame, SAT, ACT and AP scores are well above the national average, and 98% of our graduating seniors go on to higher education, including some of the nation’s finest colleges and universities, carrying millions of dollars in scholarships with them. Students come to know that diligence has its rewards.

Located on 100 beautiful acres in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, Notre Dame is just five miles from Princeton and a short trip over the bridge from Bucks County.

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Newtown Friends School

Newtown Friends School is a private independent school serving pre-kindergarten through eighth grade students in historic Newtown, PA. We give students throughout Bucks County and nearby New Jersey communities an exceptional academic foundation, stimulating enrichment opportunities, and an affirming campus community that builds confidence and inspires a love for learning. Students and their parents find Newtown Friends to be a place of warmth and acceptance where they can truly feel at home.

Open to families of all faiths, Newtown Friends School embodies the timeless Quaker traditions of simplicity, peace, integrity, community, equality, and stewardship — values that prepare our students to make a difference in the world.

Villa Joseph Marie

Nazareth Academy High School

Villa Joseph Marie is a private Catholic college-preparatory high school for young women located on 55 scenic acres in Bucks County. The Villa experience is fully focused on the needs and strengths of young women, empowering them through exceptional expectations and support. With small class sizes, Villa delivers a global education on a personal scale, developing women with character, confidence, and a passion for learning. Life at Villa is filled with friendship and fun, enriching extracurricular activities, local and international travel, and opportunities to serve. Whatever the challenge, Villa girls work together to exemplify the Villa mission—Always more, Always better, Always with love.

1180 Holland Road, Holland PA 215.357.8810 • www.vjmhs.org

Nazareth Academy High School is the only private, Catholic high school for young women in Philadelphia. Offering more than 40 clubs, 12 athletic teams, and 10 performing arts groups, Nazareth Academy empowers its students to develop their interests and become lifelong learners in a global society. Young women who attend Nazareth live out the school’s mission each day by embracing faith, family, and education as they are challenged to attain their full potential academically, spiritually, and personally.

For more information, visit NazarethAcademyHS.org/Admissions, or contact Ms. Alexandria Derassouyan ‘09, Director of Admissions, at 215.268.1026 or at Admissions@NazarethAcademyHS.org.

Buckingham Friends School

At Buckingham Friends School, an independent K-8 school, we believe deeply that each individual, at every age, offers unique and powerful promise. We cultivate that promise through our flexible and responsive curriculum, within our comprehensive specials programs that add breadth and depth to their individual learning experience, across our expansive 44-acre campus that encourages play and risktaking, and within a diverse and inviting community. We are excited to get to know you, and discover together how your child can thrive with Buckingham Friends School.

Individual Promise. Inspiring Curriculum. Inviting Community.

The best way to truly understand our community and what BFS can offer your child is to visit our school. To learn more, register for an open house, or schedule personal tour, visit www.bfs.org or contact our Director of Admission and Financial Aid, Melissa Clayton, directly at mclayton@bfs.org.

v5684 York Road, Lahaska, PA 215.794.7491 • www.bfs.org