Interview with Crescent School PARENT, Janet and Manor Haas
Janet and Manor have two sons attending Crescent School. They felt that the decision to move their sons to Crescent was very easy once they attended open houses at Crescent. The transition for both their sons was very smooth and the boys are happy at school. Janet and Manor appreciate the diversity present at the school and are impressed with how much character and community are valued at Crescent School.
Highlights from the interview
We started going to open houses, we started talking to parents that were in the school. We saw how Crescent shined, really shined in so many ways. Our question was, should we keep them in the school that they were in until that school was Grade 8, or should we pull them out earlier and move them into Crescent? It became an easy decision. The physical environment at Crescent was so pleasant. And then also the opportunities that Crescent gives them for education. We didn't know at this age if they'd want sports, art, science. Crescent literally gives boys all those opportunities on a top-notch scale. We have not regretted it one bit whatsoever.
The size of Crescent is an important factor. We came from a very small school, which was wonderful when the kids were young. Crescent has a perfect size, not too big. It still feels very intimate, has a nice community feel, but it's not too small where after a while, things get a little too familiar for the boys. I think we wanted to challenge them with new friends every year and a larger breadth of opportunities for them educationally. Crescent offered all of those things.
We were so pleased to hear that our boys were happy from the start. They loved their old school. For one of them, moving to Grade 7 and into Crescent, he really wasn't eager to move and change schools because he was going to leave his friends. When we started at Crescent we asked him, ‘How do you feel? How are you doing?’ They responded exceptionally well. It was way better than we thought, even though they weren't eager to move.
If you ask them now, they have actually changed their minds and say they are very happy that they did move. This was really nice to hear, because all parents are probably thinking, ‘Am I doing the right thing?’ In the end, we definitely made the right decision. And both boys can attest and say that they are very happy in their current school.
Speaking for our younger son, what he appreciates most in school and what made his transition to Crescent so much easier is that he loved his cohort. Across the board, he had a nice group of kids. And I think that's the norm at Crescent. All the boys that are in his grade, they all get along really well. He had a really easy time. And I don't think it was just luck. I think he loved it from day one because he was able to find so many good friends right off the bat.
The teachers are all super nurturing and warm and gave [our son] the space to flourish and grow. He's only been there for two years and we can see a lot of growth that happened both academically and socially.
Our older son really loved the robotics program at Crescent. It is an exceptionally respected program. It's not just, ‘Oh, we have a robotics extracurricular program.’ This is a top-notch program that you can take great pride in. He worked hard to get into it. The facilities for it, the guidance is second to none; he loves that. Also, just being in an extracurricular program that is so intense has taught him a lot about how to juggle things.
Crescent is big on teaching students how to juggle your curriculum and your schedule. You still have a lot of schoolwork, but you still have other responsibilities and you manage.
Wednesday mornings, there's a late start. You think, ‘What's up with that? Why do you let these kids wake up an hour later?’ Believe me, they pack in the curriculum beautifully. There's no shortage of covering enough curriculum. But having a late start, especially for someone like our son, who is now in Grade 8 with more studying and more homework, having that one day in the middle of the week where he can sleep in about an hour later is huge, actually. It’s a brilliant idea for kids who can get very stressed or tired.
What I appreciate most about Crescent is that I find the student body to be very diverse, and I really appreciate the small class sizes that my kids have enjoyed the past couple of years.
It's hard to know which direction our boys will go in life with respect to their personalities, their interests. I love the fact that Crescent gives them the opportunity to just go in whichever curricular direction they want. I have the peace of mind that I know whichever way they'll grow, Crescent will be able to accommodate them. No question about that.
Crescent obviously values a great education, but I think they also value character and community. They have something called Character in Action, which is their way of exposing the boys to opportunities to help them develop character outside of the classroom. They have had plenty of outreach opportunities for the kids, such as clothing and food drives. They did toy drives during the holidays. Our older son also had an outreach co-curricular club, which he really enjoyed. It was called the Best Buddies Program. It's a way for them to connect with intellectually challenged individuals and form friendships and do something outside of the box.
Anytime I had any questions or concerns about the children, if I emailed the staff, they would get back to me, right away. And they were always happy to speak on the phone, too, if that's what I would like. But even better, there were lots of times when we got random emails from the teachers that just said, ‘Oh, just FYI, something great happened today.’
We applied only to Crescent. It was a very easy decision. We didn't apply anywhere else. That's how confident and pleased we were with what we saw in Crescent versus everywhere else. We didn't even try to apply somewhere else, believe it or not. And we've not regretted it one bit.
