Private Schools around Irvine/Newport Beach

E

earthbm_IHB

New member
<p>Ok, so now that I have arrived in OC, I need to find a permanent place to live within 3 months. Rather than reviving the excellent "Irvine Schools" thread, I think I start a new one, focusing just on private schools. Because, apart from possibly being nicer (I think this is debatable, but don't have much first hand experience), they allow you more flexibility in choosing where to live.</p>

<p>While there is a lot of good info on public schools (scores, social breakdowns, etc), there seems to be no data at all on private schools.</p>

<p>So the question is pretty simple: what are the best (academically) private schools in Irvine/NB area?</p>

<p> </p>
 
<p>So, do they like it?</p>

<p>Our Lady Queen of Angels seems like a large school... Looks pretty religious though? Does that mean they don't teach evolution there? Is Christian ed obligatory?</p>
 
I would tend to agree with CM_Dude. I do not know how good the private schools are, but the public schools are great in Newport and Irvine. Why bother with private?
 
I agree. People pay a premium to live in Newport or Irvine so that their kids could attend good public schools. Why go private?
 
Many of the young families I know in Newport send their kids to Mariners Christian School. The parents seem to be very involved in the school and quite happy with it.
 
I'd suggest visiting the public schools in Newport. Depends on where you live. Andersen Elementary is amazing, and serves the Port streets. Eastbluff Elementary serves Eastbluff, Harbor View serves Corona del Mar, Lincoln Elementary serves CdM, and the areas east of Back Bay, Newport Elementary serves the Peninsula (and wins the award for best school location EVER, as it sits on the sand), Newport Coast Elementary serves Newport Coast... Parental involvement is usually VERY high at these schools, as are the scores on standardized tests. IMHO, there is a misguided bias towards "private schools" that is inappropriate in communities like Newport and Irvine. Just because you have to pay for it, does not mean it is better. Certainly, some private schools are phenomenal, but you don't have objective ways of grading their performance in many cases.
 
The lack of highly competitive private schools is actually a huge problem in Orange County. As someone who attended both as a child, and lives in an area with some of the best public schools in Silicon Valley yet chooses to send their kids to private schools, I can offer some perspective.





First, Newport schools aren't that great,especially as you hit high school. Why? What is the common denominator in any area of CA with excellent public schools? High Asian population. Not much in Newport. I don't see CdM and NH sending more kids to UCB/Stanford/Ivies (or even for that matter USC which today is much more competitive than 10 yrs ago) than Uni or Troy High (for OC schools). In other words, no one moves to Newport for the schools - its the prestige of the address. On the opposite side, foreigners buy property in Turtle Rock or San Marino or Cupertino or Saratoga or Palo Alto just for the schools.



Second, anyone with high achieving children will tell you the angst they feel when they making the decision over public/private. Private schools will always offer more upside to the academically gifted child. Public schools are fine for normal kids, but high achievers risk being bored (which can manifest into behavior issues at the lower grade levels) in a public school environment. In fact, my wife and I view public school as an option to let our child more easily dominate academically as compared to the exclusive private schools,which is also a factor that colleges look at.



Third, OC lacks great private schools, and also a world class university to drive those priavte school kids to. In L.A. you have Pasadena Polytechnic (across from CalTech), Harvard Westlake, Brentwood School, Webb in Claremont, Flintridge Prep. Westridge, Mayfield, Loyola etc etc etc. OC has mainly Catholic schools more known for sports than academic prowess. Uni and Troy are the most rigorous high schools in OC. I can't think of another major metro area where this is the case.



Up here in the Bay area, we are blessed with a plethora of private schools. I think this is driven by the high achieveing entrepreneurial nature of this area, and the fact that the entire high tech industry was borne out of Stanford, the one school that everyone up here aspires for their children. A school like Harker will funnel them directly in - at a cost of $35K/yr starting at Kindergarten. Of course, up here people have the money and place the importance on education so this school has an annual waiting list. Many others like it, along with the Catholic schools.



In OC, I would agree that it is better to look for excellent public schools as the best are a better option than the limited private school choices that exist there.
 
Boston,



Public schools in Newport Beach must take all comers, so that may dilute the percentages, but that in NO WAY takes away from the quality of the schools themselves. I took all AP classes at CdM and was very successful. The quality is there. The teachers were awesome.



Sure, there are slackers who couldn't give a rat's butt how they do, and they will affect the overall percentage of kids who go to college. But I agree with your point about the dearth of good private schools. I dated a teacher at a private religious school, and was shocked to find out how little she was paid and that she had no formal educational training. She taught third grade in a VERY wealthy neighborhood. Who knows what the standards are for private schoold teachers...
 
There are a lot of reasons to use private schools, not the least of which would be smaller class size. I live in Northwood, and my kids would attend Canyonview, but I don't send them there.



Some private K-8 schools to consider:

Harbor Day School, Newport Beach (K-8)

St. Margaret's Episcopal, San Juan Capistrano (PK-12)

Oakridge Private School, Orange (PK-8)

Red Hill Lutheran School, Tustin (PK-8)

St. Cecelia Catholic School, Tustin (K-8)

St. Jeanne de Lestonnac Catholic School, Tustin (K-8)

Waldorf School of Orange County, Costa Mesa (they have a new high school, I believe)

Carden Hall, Newport Beach (K-8)

Fairmont Private School, Tustin and Anaheim (PK-12)

The Pegasus School (for gifted students), Huntington Beach (K-8)

Prentice School (for dyslexic students), Orange (PK-8)
 
[quote author="CM_Dude" date=1202168474]Boston,



Public schools in Newport Beach must take all comers, so that may dilute the percentages, but that in NO WAY takes away from the quality of the schools themselves. I took all AP classes at CdM and was very successful. The quality is there. The teachers were awesome.



Sure, there are slackers who couldn't give a rat's butt how they do, and they will affect the overall percentage of kids who go to college. But I agree with your point about the dearth of good private schools. I dated a teacher at a private religious school, and was shocked to find out how little she was paid and that she had no formal educational training. She taught third grade in a VERY wealthy neighborhood. Who knows what the standards are for private schoold teachers...</blockquote>


Without giving any specifics, I know that the OC High School with the largest number of accepts to Princeton this year was CdM --- with hardly any accepts from IUSD schools. So as CM Dude notes, there seem to be at least a few kids at CdM who are realizing some academic success.
 
We purposely moved to Irvine from Long Beach so that our kids could go to good public schools as we don't have the $$ to send them to most of the schools listed above. Also most of of these are a pretty good drive from Irvine, so unless you are either fortunate enough to be a stay at home mom or work in that city, it would be a lot of work to get your kids there. Irvine works hard to keep the class size under 20 students for K-3rd and under 30 for 4th - 6th. What are the class sizes at the private schools?



I went to a Catholic All Girls School for 6 years in Dallas. I absolutely hated it. The nuns were crazy and there was no real oversight there, so they stayed forever. I still remember them telling me that I must be possessed by evil because I was left handed and refused to try to write right handed. I was thrilled when I got to attend public school and my parents were amazed at how much my grades went up. So, just because you have to pay to send your child to school somewhere does not automatically make it a better school than a public one.
 
Everyone thanks for all the great information.



My reason for moving to OC is also based on my daughter's education.

She is 5 years old and I want her to have the best education available.

As a single dad, raising a 5 year old girl is difficult enought.



Also, I want her to be in good company as she grows up.

I want her to have a good circle of friends from Kindergarden to High School.



And from reading everyone's posts, I am making the right decision to move down there.



I was so confused as to sending my daughter to public or private school.

Previously, she attended "Pinecrest Academy", in Thousand Oaks, Ca.



I am glad I will have a choice of both private and good public schools for my daughter in OC.



Again ....I am really glad I came across this forum. (completely by chance).



Thanks Again Everyone,

UZY
 
Hmmmm.....viper is a single dad of a 5 year old girl... looking at $20million houses.... irvinesinglemom is rethinking her initial snarky attitude toward him! :)
 
<blockquote>Hmmmm.....viper is a single dad of a 5 year old girl? looking at $20million houses.... irvinesinglemom is rethinking her initial snarky attitude toward him!</blockquote>
LOL.
 
[Jaws theme music]



ha ha!



We are thinking of looking at private schools also. It just depends on if and when the adoption goes through (and what age).

Take it easy





-bix
 
<blockquote>We are thinking of looking at private schools also. It just depends on if and when the adoption goes through (and what age). </blockquote>
Awwww - keep us updated, and good luck!
 
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