Kestrel Heights School
Posted by Michelle on Oct 7, 2012 in Hayley
With Hayley in 8th grade, we knew we had some choices to make about HS for her coming up soon. We didn’t feel like the super big Apex or Green Hope high schools were a good fit for her so we had already begun looking at other options. While Salem Middle had a lot of things going for it, we never thought it was a great fit for her. Hayley worked very hard for (mostly) honor roll grades and had some wonderful relationships with a few teachers but it took a lot of effort for her to do well there in their more rigid system. Her learning style is different and we felt like a more flexible, smaller environment would work better for her – one that was more open to creative expression and stressed participation (in classes and activities/sports). We had applied to other schools before but ended back at Salem anyway. However two weeks into 8th grade at the year-round Salem, I reached my limit with some issues there and when a space opened up at a school she had been wait-listed at before, we made the decision to switch schools.
All that means that Hayley now attends the Kestrel Heights School, a K-12 school with about 100 kids a grade that is right over the Wake County border in Durham. Their HS was high on our list of schools we liked and by moving now she is guaranteed a slot for there. This was tough on her, she’s been with her friends a very long time. But the chance for a better academic fit for her was too good to pass up. We felt like Kestrel’s philosophies, curriculum pacing and varied teaching styles work better for her.
So far her grades are great, they moved her up a year in math to Algebra and she’s on the cross country team. She’s getting better about wearing uniforms and making friends. She’s even admiting she likes the new school a lot!
