Is there a geographic area that limits the enrollment at the Meredith School? We have no kids yet, but we are looking at the QV/BV area and have heard very good things about the school.
Thanks!

You better believe it. But rather than guessing at the boundaries, call the school and ask about specific addresses.

If you are not in the boundaries you can only get into Meredith by lottery. They usually have very few open spaces and many, many people apply.

Also consider McCall school, and Independence Charter School. But the charters are always on a lottery basis, so there are no guarantees there (except that once you're in, you're in).

Don't forget that these schools run through a certain grade, and then you have a new "where will my kid go" process to contend with.

i'll second this post about mccall. very great things happening. i have a kid starting next year. if you are looking near queen village you are close to other neighborhoods that go to mccall (society hill, old city, washington square west, chinatown). to be sure about any school, you do have to call the office w/the address you are considering buying. the boundry lines are not always straight lines. good luck.

For at least a ballpark estimate of whether a certain address is in a certain catchment, check out:
http://cml.upenn.edu/nbase/
You can plug in catchment areas for certain areas of the city (South Philadelphia for the QV/BV area)

So two of the places we are looking at fall within the Meredith School's area. The other falls within the Nebinger School's area. I have looked on the website and at test reports and the city seems to look at both very favorably.

In the eyes of the people here, how do these schools compare?

In addition, on the center city schools website McCall is listed at a public school instead of a charter school. I would assume it is equal hard to get into as Meredith from outside of its area.

Thanks

Check out this site:

http://www.centercityschools.com/

I grew up in Phila; went to McCall, then Masterman, then Central, then PENN. I always thought poorly of Nebinger - generally not the best pool of hard working students in that area. I would look very closely at that school before sending anyone there.

Below is is from a Phila Inquirer article earlier this year. The teacher is amazing!

Philadelphia One teacher's role

Nebinger Elementary School in South Philadelphia's Bella Vista section has undergone a dramatic change, thanks in part to the efforts of one teacher. Although only 20.7 percent of fifth graders scored proficient or above in reading in 2004, 81.8 percent did in 2006. Math scores jumped from 24.1 percent to 86.4 percent.
Administrators say the turnaround at a school with an 80 percent poverty rate stems from the personal attention possible with only 260 students from kindergarten through eighth grade. They cite extra after-school help, schoolwide writing assignments, and using testing data to tell teachers what they need to focus on for state tests.
But administrators also credit a classroom dynamo with sparking academic improvement throughout the building.
"There was a turning point with the fifth-grade teacher," said John Krause, Nebinger's long-term principal who retired in June. "It was the faculty who pulled together."
Anthony Majewski, in his first year as principal, says Margarita Wilson "bumped it up" in the fifth grade. "She is just phenomenal," he said. "She's the best of the best. She's top gun. Now she's doing the same thing in kindergarten."
Wilson's explanation sounds simple: "What I do is, I ask the kids for a commitment."
She explains the importance of the state tests for them, their class and the school.
"In September, I let them know right away that it's on our shoulders," Wilson said. "'We are responsible. I am and you are. And I believe that every one of you will make it - not just the advanced kids. All.'"
Wilson calls students' parents and visits their homes to enlist support for weekend homework and the extra assignments she sends home to help their children achieve. She later invites the parents to a classroom feast.
"The goal is to bring them in so they can be part of my classroom, and it works," she said.
Nebinger has a growing population of students from Mexico and China. Wilson promises those who pulled out of her class for the school's English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) program that they will not fall behind in her class.
Wilson said that when she arrived at Nebinger four years ago, some teachers told her test scores were low because of the ESOL students.
"I said to myself, 'I'm ESOL, too,' " recalled Wilson, who is of Filipino descent. "English is not my first language, but I'm here. I was able to go to college. I was able to get my master's, so if I can do it, they can do it."
All six ESOL students in her fifth-grade class last year scored advanced - the top level in the state tests known as PSSAs.
This year, Wilson switched to kindergarten so she could make sure the youngest students receive the foundation in reading, writing and math that is critical for academic success.
"I know the need in fifth grade," she said. "So let me start in kindergarten."

Like all Philly public elementary schools (except the magnet and charter schools), Meredith does indeed have a catchment. One would hope the School District website would have maps of all the catchments, but I don't know that they do. You have to know *exactly* what the boundaries are, even down to which sides of some streets are in & which sides are out.

If you're from out of the catchment, you would normally apply through the EH-36 transfer process. The forms are due the November *before* the school year your child would attend. It is strongly recommended that, in addition to dropping off the form at the School District office (in person, by hand), you drop off a copy at the offices of all the schools you're applying to transfer to. They do a lottery, as was mentioned, and Meredith does usually have quite a few people applying for not so many spots, but it's still worth doing.

Our daughter is in Kindergarten at Meredith. It is indeed a wonderful school. Not perfect - we're battling the loss of a teacher due to budget cuts, just as many other schools are threatened with losses - but when you're there you realize it does feel like what a public elementary school should be.

Good luck!

I heard of a family that bought one of the beautiful new houses at 3rd + Lombard and were planning on sending their children to Meredith because their real estate agent assured them that the house was within the catchment. It's not. McCall is a fine school but is not the one where the children's friends attend.

Check with the office of the school.

Do NOT go by a realtor's word. You have to get the info directly from the School District, or from Meredith itself.