Holton-Arms School, 7303 River Rd., Bethesda; 301-365-5300; girls 3rd–12th grades; $28,150–$29,450; 640 students.
What’s new: As part of a new program to expose students to the developing world, rising seniors spent two weeks during the summer in either Costa Rica or Senegal. The academic program included a service and, in some cases, a home-stay component.
Recent accomplishment: Both Holton’s varsity swimming and varsity ice-hockey teams won their sixth straight championship in 2008–09; swimming won the ISL Championship and ice hockey the MSHL Championship.
+ Oldfields School, 1500 Glencoe Rd., Glencoe; 410-472-4800; girls 6th grade to postgraduate; $28,800 (day), $40,100 (five-day boarding), $42,100 (seven-day boarding); 150 students.
What’s new: Oldfields is opening a middle school for 2010–11.
Recent accomplishments: Increased enrollment and new student Eco-Teams to help recycling and composting at school.
+ St. Timothy’s School, 8400 Greenspring Ave., Stevenson; 410-486-7400; girls 9th–12th grade; $25,000 (day), $43,000 (boarding); 157 students.
What’s new: The child-care center is now under the lower school and accepts ages three months through four years old. Foreign language (French) was introduced in pre-K–4th grade. The upper school will have an innovative technology program to include a technology seminar, a history and documentary filmmaking class, and an Apple-laptop leasing program. Bus transportation and a Metro shuttle are now available.
Recent accomplishments: With a 100-percent acceptance rate to college, Stone Ridge students attend a number of prestigious colleges and universities.
+ Yeshiva of Greater Washington, 2010 Linden La., Silver Spring; 301-962-5111; Orthodox; 7th–12th grades; $15,225 (7th and 8th grades), $17,500 (9th–12th); $21,750 (9th-12th with boarding); 185 students.
VIRGINIA
+ Chatham Hall, 800 Chatham Hall Cir., Chatham; 434-432-2941; girls 9th–12th grades; $16,500 (day), $38,000 (boarding); 130 students.
What’s new: Chatham Hall has completed construction of a state-of-the-art lecture hall, which houses the school’s Leaders-in-Residence program. The program brings influential women of international stature to campus to interact with students in class, in small-group discussions, over meals, and in the lecture hall. Participants have included former prime minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto and Liberian president Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf. In spring 2009, Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, the first woman president of Sri Lanka, visited Chatham Hall.
Recent accomplishments: This past spring, students journeyed to South Africa for the third consecutive year to continue the school’s annual service project working with children in the Lawrencia Primary School and developing land in townships in partnership with Soil for Life. A fourth trip is planned in 2010.
Colleges where the greatest number of 2009 graduates enrolled: Georgetown University, Duke University, College of William & Mary, Boston College, Dartmouth College, Cornell University, Savannah College of Art & Design, University of Virginia, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Virginia Tech.
+ Foxcroft School, 22407 Foxhound La., Middleburg; 540-687-5555; girls 9th–12th grade; $31,480 (day), $41,974 (boarding); 185 students.
What’s new: A $14-million athletic/student center with three gyms, a rock-climbing wall, indoor running track, and state-of-the-art fitness training room—as well as a student lounge with a fireplace, dance studio, kitchen, meeting rooms, and more. New courses include Chinese (Mandarin) I and II; AP microeconomics, which together with AP macroeconomics is a full-year course; and science electives on the chemistry of food and human nutrition. Also, the indoor and outdoor riding facilities have new footings.
