• The KillerFrogs

OT - Need the Board's input on FW private schools

Armadillo

Full Member
I have a friend (and fellow Frog) that is moving back to Fort Worth and is thinking about enrolling their kids at either Trinity Valley or Country Day. Does anyone have input/advice/insight into the differences and/or benefits between the two schools?

I certainly appreciate it and will pass along all pertinent information. Also, feel free to PM if you're more comfortable sharing information that way.
 

Sand Frog

Active Member
I don't think you can go wrong with either. A fellow frog is the athletic director at TVS and his wife teaches there as well. I can give you a phone number if your friend wants to call and talk with him.
 

froginaustin

Active Member
Both those two and Oak Ridge in Arlington are top-notch prep schools from what I have heard. Expensive, though.

Trinity Christian in that other city in the area has a big-time reputation, too (from what little I know about it). Many if not most of their high school-level teachers have terminal degrees in their fields. An impressive percentage of their grads go to Ivys and other ultra-selective colleges.

Really OT: Funny story from friends who are serious supporters of Trinity Christian, and the source of my information/gossip on that prep school. Kids from Trinity are mildly discouraged from looking at SMU by their high school counselors, because the "Christian" part of that high school's mission-definers don't like the exaggerated emphasis on wealth and status in the SMU culture.

I don't have the heart to ask them what they think of Baylor, where they sent their kids pre-Briles. These friends are the sort of wonderful, decent people that I simply cannot connect to the stinky-skanky side of BU.
 

Genbukan

Full Member
I'd rate the FW private schools in tiers - divided by expense more so than quality. There are way too many factors that enter into the "perfect" choice for each child. Just like the choice of university - the right school for some may seriously hinder the advancement of others.

All of these schools are college prep and a large majority from each school receive significant merit based financial aid at university.

Top Tier (MOST EXPENSIVE) - (20-24K annually)
Country Day - More "old" money and a fairly liberal/progressive course content. There is a story floating around that the school's younger kids can recite the "I have a dream" speech but can't tell you what the pledge of allegiance is.

Trinity Valley - More new money. The atmosphere is a little higher pressure academically.

All Saints - Perhaps a slight fraction below CDS and TVS academically but more of an emphasis on the whole - religion, sports, etc. A significant portion of Fort Worth's "Ultra rich" have migrated to All Saints - the Bass's, Bob Simpson etc.

Mid-Tier ($12-19K)

Fort Worth Academy - A more individualistic approach to learning. More self paced, project oriented. Only goes to 8th grade and runs about $17-18K per year.

St. Peters Classical School - A Christian Orthodox College Prep School with more of an emphasis on literature, history, philosophy and theology. The least expensive on this list at about $10K per year for high school.

Southwest Christian - Sponsored by the Church of Christ it has some unique offerings such as Chinese language study in the early grades. $17K for high school. I'm not familiar with Ft. Worth Christian but I assume its close.

Nolan - Tarrant County's only Catholic High School. Sports are more competitive than at many of the other schools listed. About $15K per year for high school.
 

tcumaniac

Full Member
I'd rate the FW private schools in tiers - divided by expense more so than quality. There are way too many factors that enter into the "perfect" choice for each child. Just like the choice of university - the right school for some may seriously hinder the advancement of others.

All of these schools are college prep and a large majority from each school receive significant merit based financial aid at university.

Top Tier (MOST EXPENSIVE) - (20-24K annually)
Country Day - More "old" money and a fairly liberal/progressive course content. There is a story floating around that the school's younger kids can recite the "I have a dream" speech but can't tell you what the pledge of allegiance is.

Trinity Valley - More new money. The atmosphere is a little higher pressure academically.

All Saints - Perhaps a slight fraction below CDS and TVS academically but more of an emphasis on the whole - religion, sports, etc. A significant portion of Fort Worth's "Ultra rich" have migrated to All Saints - the Bass's, Bob Simpson etc.

Mid-Tier ($12-19K)

Fort Worth Academy - A more individualistic approach to learning. More self paced, project oriented. Only goes to 8th grade and runs about $17-18K per year.

St. Peters Classical School - A Christian Orthodox College Prep School with more of an emphasis on literature, history, philosophy and theology. The least expensive on this list at about $10K per year for high school.

Southwest Christian - Sponsored by the Church of Christ it has some unique offerings such as Chinese language study in the early grades. $17K for high school. I'm not familiar with Ft. Worth Christian but I assume its close.

Nolan - Tarrant County's only Catholic High School. Sports are more competitive than at many of the other schools listed. About $15K per year for high school.

Pretty good summary I'd say.

Country Day is theoretically the most socially prestigious school to attend. Trinity Valley tends to have the most prestigious academic reputation. All Saints is kind of a mix of the two, with more emphasis on sports and religion.

I attended All Saints for 6th and 7th grade and had an overall enjoyable experience there. In 5th grade I visited Country Day, Trinity Valley, Southwest Christian, and All Saints.

This was my 5th grade experience almost 17 years ago after getting to spend a day at each school:
Country Day seemed too stuck up. Trinity Valley was pretty intimidating and felt a little too intense. Southwest Christian was very welcoming and kind, but their 6th graders were doing math out of the same book I was doing in 5th grade at Ridglea Hills. All Saints kind of felt like the perfect blend of everything.

All are good schools. Just depends on where the kid feels most comfortable. After two years of private school, we ultimately moved out to Aledo instead, which was very academically challenging and had great sports, all without the price tag.
 
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ScottPatrick

Active Member
I'd rate the FW private schools in tiers - divided by expense more so than quality.

Nolan - Tarrant County's only Catholic High School. Sports are more competitive than at many of the other schools listed. About $15K per year for high school.

Did they close Cassata?

(looked it up, its still there. Not sure I would recommend it but always liked visiting there).

I remember playing basketball at the old Laneri High School gym...
 

Frog-in-law1995

Active Member
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TCUdirtbag

Active Member
We've been doing some initial looking too. We painstakingly looked at moving into Tanglewood / LB Clayton vs. going the private school route. We ended up punting by buying a house that we'll turn into a rental in a couple years before our first starts school.

It's hard to think spending all that money ($20k/yr!) is worth it for your 5 year old to learn addition, subtraction, spelling, and the water cycle. We also don't want to / in some instances can't send our (Jewish) kids to one of those private schools where you have to sign one of those uber-Christian conservative statements (a "covenant school").

Anywho, we're looking hard at All Saints and Trinity Valley. I'm interested to see what All Saints' move to TAPPS means for the school as a whole. You know how they say you can tell a lot about a person by the company they keep? The same applies to private schools IMO. And All Saints is leaving SPC schools TVS, Country Day, Oakridge, Greenhill, ESD, Cassidy, Cistercian, St. Mark's, St. John's, Hockaday, etc. -- all among the most prestigious academic schools in the region -- for TAPPS schools like Trinity Christian of Cedar Hill, FW Christian, Southwest Christian, Frisco Legacy, the Muslim school in Garland, Grapevine Faith, etc. (which has some great schools but not the elite level of academic schools overall as SPC).

It mostly just frustrates me that FW doesn't have better public schools. Especially as much as property taxes are.
 

Tre J

Full Member
We have a kid at TVS. We did the whole tour thing last year. We really liked TVS and All Saints, but convenience won out. Country Day was a little off putting. If you werent a known name to them at their coffee info session, then nobody really talked with you. It was funny how when application time came, we started getting calls from them wondering why we werent applying. Southwest Christian was a little too focused on relating everything to Christian principles for my liking, which is why like Maniac said, i dont think the academics there are as strong.

It was a tough process and we did hear about the stress of TVS, but the more we talked to people and kids there, our concerns were alleviated. One year in, and we love it. Oh, and 70% of the families are dual income families, which relates well to my wife and me.
 

Genbukan

Full Member
My kids went to All Saints and loved it

Jamie Dixons kids, Del Conte's kids and Boschini's kids go there.

My oldest son went to Nolan for a year before going to a public school to play a higher level of football. My youngest son attended All Saints before transferring to North Crowley to play basketball. Thank goodness they were into sports - it saved me a BUNCH of money.

My daughter visited most of them and decided that Southwest Christian was the best fit for her child (my grand daughter).

They do have very different feels. As others have mentioned its worthwhile to visit a handful - especially the ones that are a little lower down your list as they are the ones that will most often provide a pleasant surprise.
 

TCUdirtbag

Active Member
My kids went to All Saints and loved it

Jamie Dixons kids, Del Conte's kids and Boschini's kids go there.

Right in with CDC and CJD. Pebley's may, too. Boschini sent 2 to Country Day (he was on the board there at one point) and 1 to TVS. Not sure about the youngest. Schloss's go to TVS.
 

ScottPatrick

Active Member
We've been doing some initial looking too. We painstakingly looked at moving into Tanglewood / LB Clayton vs. going the private school route. We ended up punting by buying a house that we'll turn into a rental in a couple years before our first starts school.

It's hard to think spending all that money ($20k/yr!) is worth it for your 5 year old to learn addition, subtraction, spelling, and the water cycle. We also don't want to / in some instances can't send our (Jewish) kids to one of those private schools where you have to sign one of those uber-Christian conservative statements (a "covenant school").

Anywho, we're looking hard at All Saints and Trinity Valley. I'm interested to see what All Saints' move to TAPPS means for the school as a whole. You know how they say you can tell a lot about a person by the company they keep? The same applies to private schools IMO. And All Saints is leaving SPC schools TVS, Country Day, Oakridge, Greenhill, ESD, Cassidy, Cistercian, St. Mark's, St. John's, Hockaday, etc. -- all among the most prestigious academic schools in the region -- for TAPPS schools like Trinity Christian of Cedar Hill, FW Christian, Southwest Christian, Frisco Legacy, the Muslim school in Garland, Grapevine Faith, etc. (which has some great schools but not the elite level of academic schools overall as SPC).

It mostly just frustrates me that FW doesn't have better public schools. Especially as much as property taxes are.

Educationally it is hard to beat Paschal HS, but as a whole FWISD is not very good but are any large cities?
 
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Sand Frog

Active Member
It mostly just frustrates me that FW doesn't have better public schools. Especially as much as property taxes are.

Ditto and I refuse to pay the money to live in Tanglewood and then spend the money for TVS or CD for middle/high school. Daughter goes into kindergarten in August. We are about to make the jump to Aledo, Haslet, or Colleyville as much as it pains me.
 

Frog-in-law1995

Active Member
Sand...we love Keller ISD. Ought to look here, too. Will be moving in a year or two, though...narrowed it down to Keller high, Eaton or Nelson (both in NW isd), Carroll, or Westlake Academy.
 
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