My family was very lucky to find this diamond. Warm community, excellent administration and teachers. My son spent two years at Grace and we are very fortunate to have had the Grace experience. I've questioned private schools especially during the early years, and honestly my opinion has swayed. I personally got some what lost during my grade school experiences. With the small classroom sizes and excellent attentiveness your child will not get lost as some may in a public school. This was my first experience with an independent school and I really appreciated the help with moving on to middle school. Grace has an excellent music program and the athletics has been instrumental to my son’s development. Although our son graduated this past year we'll continue to support GEDS.
Submitted by parent on January 10, 2013
Both of my children have attended Grace, and we couldn't be happier with the experience. Although the school went through a rough patch when the Head of School left after many years and the community struggled through a long search process, the new Principal, Malcolm Lester, is absolutely first rate. The school does an excellent job of providing an education comparable to the "fancy" private schools - in fact several of Grace's teachers have come from places like Beauvoir -- but Grace is much more down to earth and diverse than many other private schools in the area. Both of our kids read at least two grade levels above their current grade, thanks to good teaching, but they also WANT to read and really love learning. They are also able to name what they are feeling and deal well with conflict in a remarkably mature way. The parents form a loving and supportive community. I want to second another parent's comment below that bullying is really nipped in the bud. Grace is the place.
Submitted by parent on February 29, 2012
While we had a wonderful experience in the 3's class, we had a very negative experience in the pre-K (4s) class last year. Children were labled early on as good or bad, and all but two of the six boys in the class were asked not to return for kindergarten. When the parents asked to meet with administrators as a group to discuss classroom dynamics and why so many of the boys had been labeled as having behavior problems and referred for psychological evaulation, the administration flat-out refused our request and we were advised that the Board supported that decision. In the space of a few months, our daughter went from a bright, fun-loving, energetic child to one who hated going to school because she was tired of always being in trouble. Notably, all of the so-called "trouble-makers" are now doing wonderfully in various public schools in the area and have not had behavior problems. Quite frankly, we feel we wasted a lot of money sending our daughter to Grace last year. It is still hard for me to comprehend how 2 teachers were unable to handle 10 children. I would not recommend the pre-K program to anyone.